Investment Team
Our leadership team provides strategic direction for investment management and operations, and sets the tone for our client-first culture. Please click on the names below for their biographies.
Dale Harvey founded Poplar Forest Capital in 2007, after 16 years with The Capital Group Companies, where he was a portfolio counselor managing approximately $20 billion in client assets at the time of his resignation for several of the American Funds mutual fund sub accounts.
During his tenure at American Funds, Mr. Harvey managed, at various times, the value components of the American Balanced Fund, American Mutual Fund, Blue Chip Growth & Income Fund, Investment Company of America, SMALLCAP World Fund, and Washington Mutual Investors Fund.
In addition to his leadership of Poplar Forest, Dale serves as a portfolio manager for the Poplar Forest Contrarian Value Strategy, which includes the Partners Fund and the Cornerstone Fund, and is co-portfolio manager for the Poplar Forest Contrarian Mid Cap Strategy, which includes the Outliers Fund. Dale earned a Master of Business Administration with honors from Harvard University in 1991, and a B.S. in Commerce with honors from the University of Virginia in 1987.
References to other mutual funds should not be interpreted as an offer of these securities.
In addition to his analyst responsibilities, Derek is co-portfolio manager for the Cornerstone Fund and the Contrarian Value Institutional Strategy. Before joining Poplar Forest in 2011, Derek spent 16 years in the financial services industry, including six years as a managing director and co-portfolio manager at Trust Company of the West. Prior to TCW, he spent four years with Provident Investment Counsel as a senior vice president and co-portfolio manager of the Large Cap Flexible Growth and Concentrated Growth Funds. He also served as a sell-side analyst covering financial services for Wedbush Securities. Derek earned a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University in 1995, and received a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego in 1991. He has held the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst since 1997.
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Before joining Poplar Forest in 2016, Mr. Ghiya spent 11 years in the financial services industry. His experiences include one year on the Long/Short equity team at PIMCO, and five years at Pine Cobble Capital as a Partner investing in long/short equities, where he also co-developed a long/short energy infrastructure MLP fund. Previously, Akash worked in private equity investing at Spectrum Equity Investors and investment banking at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Ghiya received a Bachelor of Science in Economics, cum laude, in 2002 and a Masters in Business Administration in 2009, both from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Before joining Poplar Forest in 2007, Cathy spent over ten years in the financial services industry. Her experience includes a year as Director of Research for Shafer Cullen Capital Management, following six years with Morgan Stanley in New York in both the Equity Research and Investment Banking Departments. Ms. Lloyd has also worked in the Fixed Income Trading Department at Manufacturers Hanover Company. Cathy earned a Master of Business Administration at the University of Virginia in 1993, and a B.S. in Financial Services from Oregon State University in 1987. Ms. Lloyd has held the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst since 2002.
Before joining Poplar Forest in 2007, Peter spent 13 years working in corporate finance, including eight years in the Mergers and Acquisitions departments of J.P. Morgan & Co., Lehman Brothers and Banc of America Securities. Peter earned a Master of Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1994. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as the California Bar. Peter received a B.A. in History cum laude from Holy Cross College in 1989, after which he worked in the Office of Ronald Reagan. Mr. McAniff is the co-author of The Practitioner’s Guide to Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Corporate Finance.
Management Team
Consider a brief paragraph here similar to the one above for Investment Team.
Before joining Poplar Forest in April 2015 as President of Poplar Forest Distributors, John spent 18 years at Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. For the last two years, he was President of Oppenheimer Asset Management where he was Chair of the OAM Operating Committee, Investment Committee, Portfolio Review Board and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. At the time Mr. Blau resigned, Oppenheimer Asset Management had $28 billion in AUM across multiple investment advisory fee based programs and approximately 125 employees. Mr. Blau started his career as a Financial Advisor. Mr. Blau received a B.A. in Literature from American University in 1991. Mr. Blau has held the designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst since 2001.
Before joining Poplar Forest in September 2015, Erin held the position of Senior Vice President, CCO and COO for an institutional investment firm in Pasadena, CA. She has worked in the investment industry for 30 years in compliance, soft dollars, trading operations and portfolio administration. Erin regularly participates in industry compliance forums, is a member of Southern California Compliance Group, and holds the Investment Advisor Certified Compliance Professional Program (IACCP®) designation from the National Regulatory Services’ (NRS).
Marla Mone is responsible for Poplar Forest’s administrative support, primarily for Dale Harvey and Ryan Newman. Before joining Poplar Forest in 2013, Marla spent over 20 years in the legal field, including eight as an assistant to the managing partner of a South Pasadena law firm. She received her Paralegal Certificate from Chapman University in 1990.
Chris Morphy is the portfolio manager for the Poplar Forest Comprehensive Investment Program accounts, and is responsible for client relationships and business development, with a primary focus on the West Coast. Before joining Poplar Forest in 2007, Mr. Morphy spent 21 years managing portfolios and relationships for high net worth individuals at Gamble, Jones, Morphy & Bent, where he was named a partner and President in 1995. At Gamble Jones, Chris was responsible for overseeing 21 employees and over $1 billion in client assets. He has worked for Kidder, Peabody & Co. and Hambrecht & Quist in their brokerage groups in San Francisco. He received a B.S. in Business Administration from the Menlo School of Business Administration in 1983.
Before joining Poplar Forest in 2008, Ryan spent nine years in the investment banking industry working for Bankers Trust. At Bankers Trust, she was part of the team that made real estate investments on behalf of a public pension fund client. In addition to her investment responsibilities, Ryan was the asset manager for that investment fund. She received a B.A. in Mathematics cum laude from Smith College in 1985, after which she worked for Prudential-Bache Securities in the Investment Banking Department for two years. She then earned a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. Ryan is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and holds the designation of Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional (IACCP®).
Annina is responsible for office management and administrative support at Poplar Forest, primarily for Chris Morphy and Ryan Newman, while also providing trading and client service support. Before joining Poplar Forest in 2008, Nina worked for three years as a paralegal in general business litigation and family law at Greenberg and Glusker (now Greenberg Glusker), and for two years as litigation paralegal in the Labor Department at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker. She also served as assistant to the General Manager at the Doubletree Hotel Pasadena for six years.
Nina received a B.A. in English cum laude from the University of Southern California, and a Legal Assistant Certificate from the USC Law Center (now the USC Gould School of Law) and College of Continuing Education in 1979.
Mr. Roche is responsible for client relationships and new business development at Poplar Capital, focusing on the southeastern part of the United States Before joining Poplar Forest in August 2015, John held similar positions at Gabelli Asset Management Company and Thornburg Investment Management. He also spent over a decade as an Advisory and Asset Management Specialist at Merrill Lynch. John received a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in Finance from Loyola University of Chicago. He has been a Certified Financial Planner® since 1997.
Ms. Shields is responsible for client reporting, marketing media, generating RFIs, overall client services and marketing projects at Poplar Forest. Before joining Poplar in March 2015, Patty worked in private equity for eight years at Black Canyon Capital and Balmoral Funds, in administration, client services, and operations management. Patty holds a B.A. in English with an Art Minor from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. She is an active member of The Professional Association for Investment Communications Resources (PAICR).
Thomas Jefferson was an inspiration for Poplar Forest Capital. Dale Harvey, the firm’s founder, grew up in Virginia, 12 miles from a different Poplar Forest: Jefferson’s little-known, secluded estate. There, Jefferson escaped the very public demands that surrounded him at his more famous home, Monticello. Over time, the Poplar Forest estate grew to be the third president’s creative haven for reading, writing, and the pursuit of perfection in American architecture. Like Jefferson’s retreat, Poplar Forest Capital, far from the glare of the spotlight, strives to be a place where analytical rigor enables the independent thought required to invest in a portfolio of stocks largely off the beaten path.