Natalka O. Bukalo, President
Ms. Bukalo has thirty years of experience in asset management consulting. Her investment career began at Kidder Peabody in 1982, where she was one of the founders and directors of the PRIME Asset Consulting Group. In 1989, Natalka joined Noble Lowndes, a multinational employee benefits and actuarial consulting firm, to originate and manage their North American asset consulting practice. While Managing Director of this business unit, Natalka developed the first asset consulting practice to service 401(k) plans (while working with the author/founder of the first 401(k) plan).
The formation of Chartwell Consulting, founded in January of 1994, is the culmination of Natalka's many years of consulting experience and reflects her desire to continue providing highly specialized advisory services to institutional clients. Chartwell’s client base includes mid-sized retirement plans, both defined benefit and defined contribution, endowments and foundations. The suite of asset consulting services provided by Chartwell includes: investment policy development, asset allocation, asset liability studies, LDI (liability-driven investment) strategies, manager and mutual fund selection, ongoing performance evaluation, employee education and communications meetings.
Natalka is a frequent speaker at industry conferences sponsored by Investment Management Institute and Institutional Investor. Natalka graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rider University in 1978 with a B.Sc. in Economics and a minor in Russian. She has served on the Business Advisory Board of Rider University.
Richard D. Shaffer, Principal & Director of Research
Rich is the Director of Research and a senior partner at Chartwell Consulting (USA) LLC. Founded in 1994, Chartwell acts as an independent investment consultant to a range of corporate and public retirement plans, educational endowments, and foundations. Rich is responsible for directing the firm’s efforts in strategic asset allocation, asset/liability/spending studies, and investment manager searches. He is also lead consultant to a small group of defined benefit pension and endowment/foundation clients.
Immediately prior to joining Chartwell, Rich was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division of Barclays Capital, responsible for the Energy, Utilities, & Project Finance underwriting groups. In that role he also lead-managed a $4bn sector-related investment portfolio. Prior Barclays assignments included risk management and national accounts relationship management.
Rich graduated from Cornell University class of 1977 with a B.S. in business management and finance, and pursued an MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business, majoring in international finance. He obtained his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1989, is a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts, and is a frequent speaker at various institutional investor conferences.
In addition to his consulting clients, Rich has some experience with not-for-profit enterprises. He was Treasurer and then President of his New Jersey homeowner's assocaition for a total of 7 years. He is currently on the Board of his Colorado homeowner's association, and a member of its finance committee.
Spare time activities include golfing, hunting, travel, cooking, and loafing. He is available on a moment's notice to reminisce about Sigma Nu "back in the day." His pledge class was one of the largest on record at that time - 23, all living in.
Nadine Pfeifer, Consultant
Nadine is a Consultant at Chartwell Consulting. She has been with Chartwell and in the investment management field for over eleven years.
At Chartwell, she provides asset management consulting services to mid-sized institutional defined benefit, defined contribution, endowment/foundation, and private wealth clients. She is primarily responsible for on-going report generation and performance monitoring, markets research, manager selection and due diligence, 401k Plan oversight, and employee education meetings. She graduated from Rider University in 2007 with a degree in both Finance and Actuarial Science.
She enjoys ballroom dancing and is very involved in her church community.
Irene Bukalo, Performance Measurement Analyst
Irene joined Chartwell Consulting in January of 1994. Her primary responsibility is supervising the production of client performance reports. This includes coordinating communications with custodian banks, analysis and entry of custodial data, and generation of the performance reports.
Irene has over twenty years of experience in the corporate and financial community. She began her career with Hoffmann-La Roche in 1979, where she worked in the advertising and sales department. In 1986, she joined Merrill Lynch as an executive assistant in the Corporate Systems Division, reporting to the Managing Director. Among other responsibilities, Irene trained and supported department staff on various PC-based software applications. In 1989, she joined Chemical Bank’s Global Information Technology Division as a Systems Analyst.
Michael Hislop, Investment Analyst
Michael is an investment analyst at Chartwell Consulting. His responsibilities at the firm include assisting with manager research and selection, asset allocation studies, performance accounting, and client report generation. Michael joined Chartwell in May of 2016.
Prior to joining Chartwell, Michael completed a B.S. in Finance at Montclair State University, graduating with honors. During college he interned at Goldman Sachs, UOB Kay Hian, and Verizon in varying roles that involved asset allocation, securities dealing, and business strategy.
In his free time, Michael enjoys playing in musical ensembles, lifting weights, and caring for his pet hamsters. He is an active volunteer and congregent of the Salvation Army since childhood.