Ken Marshall

Ken Marshall runs the Development Group, LLC, an investment advisory firm so named for its focus on product and business development in absolute return investing. In the last seven years, he has brought his expertise to family offices, foundations, fund of funds, and institutional investors. DGLLC oversees approximately $400 million of client assets.

Ken formed DGLLC upon selling his equity stake in Octagon International Holdings, an ABL hedge fund and boutique investment bank ($260 million in assets) that he co-founded in 1998. Octagon was the culmination of 20 years on Wall Street, where Ken created investment management and capital markets products, designed trading platforms, and managed portfolios for the Equitable Group, Dean Witter, First Chicago National Bank, and Pru-Bache Securities. At Covenant Capital Management ($400 million), his global fund enjoyed a number-three ranking by Lipper and a four-star rating by Morningstar.

Ken holds a M.S. and A.B.D in international economics from the Ph.D program at the University of Wisconsin (Madison).

Rex Johnson, a twelve-year veteran of Bear Stearns Asset Management, brings to Development Group an expertise in systems, risk technology, and business practices. As technology officer at BSAM, he developed and sold a derivatives product company, created the world’s first real-time fixed-income offering system, and served as the de facto CTO for Bear Measurisk. He acquired, developed, and managed technology and business practices in the hedge funds space, collectively dealing in the complex asset classes of FX, CDO, CDS, and CLO. Prior to joining BSAM, Rex was a proprietary equities trader with Schonfeld Securities, where he developed and implemented one of the world’s first fully automated trading systems. He has also worked for Merrill Lynch and Citicorp, where he helped develop the Citibank ATM and Direct Access home computer banking. Rex was in the graduate program in economics at The Ohio State University and is a Certified Financial Risk Manager, a Level II candidate for the CFA designation, and a CAIA Level I candidate.

Rob Labell

Rob Labell joined Development Group in 2004. He specializes in generating and interpreting performance analytics, including customized portfolio assessments and attribution analyses (e.g. returns-based, holdings-based, risk-based). A former VP of product development at Factset Research Systems, Rob brings particular expertise in evaluating and implementing software systems to enable clients to generate in-house the critical metrics they need to succeed in the equity and hedge fund markets. Prior to joining Factset, Rob was a principal in the Global Active Equity Group of State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation. He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.A. in finance.

Melinda Meschter

Melinda Meschter oversees client relations and administration. Since joining Development Group, her specialty has been working with clients on honing their presentations and websites. Melinda is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University and a Master’s candidate at Columbia University.