People

Michael Garcia, Managing Director, Founder.

Michael Garcia is Managing Director and Founder of Ripple Advisors. He is responsible for the core strategic thinking of the firm and the delivery of advisory content to clients. Michael brings over a decade of experience in thematic and sustainability-related thinking and multi-asset class investing. His experience includes the identification of key global strategic themes and translation of themes into operational institutional investment portfolios. Michael has been involved directly in over 125 transactions where US$4 billion of capital was invested and has executed strategic advisory assignments across the full spectrum of traditional and alternative asset classes.

Prior to the formation of Ripple, he was a partner with Nordea Investment Management (NIM) in Copenhagen, a pioneer in thematic investing and major investment manager in the Nordic financial markets. While at NIM, Michael headed the Thematic Investment Strategy and Research capability that oversaw idea generation and coordination for US$13 billion in assets under management and served as co-portfolio manager for the firm's Global Core Equity and North American Equity Funds whose assets totaled US$5.5 billion. In addition, he headed the US Consumer sector, co-headed the Global Consumer sector and was a voting member of the Investment Policy and Strategy Committee.

He is the co-author of The Thematic Investment Process (Kandrups Bogtrykkeri, 2003). He earned a BA, in philosophy from Wheeling Jesuit University and an MA (Hons) in History-International Relations from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He also was a visiting fellow at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Michael is a member of the Asia Society and the World Future Society. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife Jeri and his two children, Owen and Dora.

Strategic Advisors 

Kim M. Pedersen, CFA, Founder, Arrow Point Advisors, LLC.

Kim has an extensive private equity track record including organizing and structuring new products, sourcing, evaluating and executing successful investments and delivering returns to investors. Prior to founding Arrow Point Advisors, LLC, Kim was a Partner with Park Hill Group (Blackstone) where he played a key strategic role in the build-out of their European business. Before joining Park Hill Group, Kim was Partner with Nordea Private Equity, a fund of funds, where he was responsible for organizing and structuring new products, and sourcing and performing due diligence on US private equity funds. Previously, he has held senior investment management positions at Washington State Investment Board (WSIB), Maristeth Ventures LLC., and Thomas Capital Group, LLC. Kim has previously taught private equity investing at Copenhagen Business School and holds a MBA from University of Washington, Seattle and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Said Desaque, Director of Institutional Services and Strategy, Robert W. Baird & Co.

Said has over twenty years of investment experience that includes macroeconomic and geopolitical risk analysis, interpreting multi-asset class trends and developing investment strategy. Previously, he was a senior economist with William Blair International, Limited. He also served as a Director with UBS Warburg and held senior economic and strategy positions with PaineWebber Intl. (U.K.) Ltd. He is a member of the Chatham House think-tank in London. He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Westminster and a MSc in International Business Economics from the same institution. He has also performed post-graduate study at the London Business School.