Catherine S. Woodruff, Ph.D., CFA, CIC
Managing Director, Global Equities
Avalon Advisors, LLC
Catherine is a Managing Director, Portfolio Manager and Chair of the Investment Strategy Committee at Avalon Advisors, LLC. She has over 30 years of investment management experience. Prior to joining Avalon Advisors, she spent four years as Co-Founder of Houston Global Investors, LLC, a Houston-based Registered Investment Advisor, managing global, domestic and international equity and balanced portfolios for institutions and individuals. Previously she was Managing Partner and Director of Equities at Davis Hamilton Jackson & Associates, where she managed both large cap and mid cap equities during her 15-year tenure. Past positions include Portfolio Manager at Citicorp Investment Management, Equity Analyst at Texas Commerce Bank, and Economist at the Louisiana State Planning Office. She also has several years of research and teaching experience in finance and economics at the University of Houston, Michigan State University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Catherine holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and M.S. and B.A. degrees in Economics from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a former board member of the Texas Growth Fund, where she served as Treasurer. Catherine currently serves as an Instructor in the CFP Graduate Certification Program at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University and is a Roundtable Mentor for the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston. She has been published in the Journal of Finance and has been a featured speaker at various conferences, including the Pacific Regional Investment Conference in Manila, on global equity markets and other investment-related topics. Catherine is an accomplished jazz vocalist and a member of the Piping Rock Singers. She and her husband, Michael, have two grown children and live in Houston.