Austin City Head
Sarah A. Markell
Education
- Mariko Boswell
- Susan Chen
- Kelly Klingaman*
- Denise Xue
Networking
- Anida Akhmurzina
- Jena Michels*
- Tammie Tirres
- Dianne Wade
Philanthropy
- Sarah A. Markell*
- Heather Traeger
Sarah A. Markell*
Tax Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
Austin City Head, Chairman Philanthropy Committee, Austin
Sarah is a native of New Yorker who spent time in Boston earning her undergraduate and masters degrees from Northeastern University. Sarah soon realized that the cold New England winters were not for her and traded in her snow boots for cowboy boots and moved to Austin 6 years ago.
Sarah is a tax director in the Financial Services practice, specializing in state and local taxes. She has 11 years of public accounting experience and serves clients that sit in the fund of fund, private equity/venture capital and real estate space. Sarah is a licensed CPA in Massachusetts and Texas, as well as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
In additional to her passion for state and local taxes, Sarah has a love for animals and children. She is active with the Heart of Texas Lab Rescue, a local animal rescue in Austin, where she serves as a foster mom to labs waiting to find their fur-ever home. When Sarah is not playing a round of golf herself, she is volunteering for First Tee of Austin which teaches kids and teens how to play golf along with life lessons and leadership skills.
Education
Mariko Boswell, CFA, CAIA
PIMCO
Ms. Boswell is a senior vice president and account manager in PIMCO’s Austin office and leads the local institutional coverage. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2010, she worked as an equity research associate on the energy team at Credit Suisse. Ms. Boswell was previously a senior associate covering utilities in the corporate finance group at Moody’s Investors Service. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business as well as an undergraduate degree from Yale University.
Susan Chen
Director of Public Markets, UTIMCO
Susan Chen joined UTIMCO in September 2008 as Director of Public Markets. Prior to UTIMCO, she worked as a portfolio manager and analyst at a $5 billion alternative investment firm investing in distressed debt, event-driven equity, private debt, and special assets. Previously, Susan worked in the corporate planning department of The Washington Post Company, on the risk arbitrage research team at Bear Stearns, and in investment banking at Merrill Lynch.
She received an MBA and JD, cum laude, from Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School, respectively, and an AB in economics, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard College.
Kelly Klingaman, CFP®
Regional Director, Global Client Group, Dimensional Fund Advisors
As a Regional Director in the Global Client Group, Kelly leads business development efforts across the US with state-registered RIAs. In this role she educates financial advisors on Dimensional’s investment philosophy and delivers guidance and support for various practice managements needs in order to improve and grow their practice. Kelly is also a frequent speaker for Dimensional’s live video webcast content and virtual programs, and a founding member of the steering committee for Dimensional’s financial advisor Women & Wealth Community.
Kelly graduated from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business with a degree in Finance and a concentration in investment management. She has also held the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation since 2014.
Denise Xue, MBA
Sr. Financial Analyst, Intel Corporation
Denise has been employed at Intel corporation in the FP&A (Finance Planning and Analysis) department for over seven years. She’s held a variety of Finance positions while working at Intel, including managing over $6Billion of annual budget for Intel’s Technology Development organization. Prior to joining Intel, she worked at Amazon’s Seattle headquarter in the Retail Finance team. She holds a BBA in Finance degree from the University of Washington (Seattle campus), and MBA degree with honors from the University of Texas in Austin.
Networking
Anida Akhmurzina
Senior Manager
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Anida is an audit senior manager in the Financial Services practice, specializing in investment management and broker-dealer audits. Anida has twelve years of public accounting experience, including 6 years of experience overseas (IFRS). She served hedge funds, fund of funds with various capital structures and strategies, venture capital, broker-dealer (both introducing and clearing brokers) and other financial services companies. Anida is a licensed CPA in Texas, Connecticut and Alaska, as well as member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Jena Michels
Associate, UTIMCO
Chairman Networking Committee, Austin
Jena Michels is an Associate on UTIMCO’s $10 billion hedge fund team. Since joining in 2013, Jena has focused on sourcing, due diligence and monitoring of existing long/short equity, distressed credit, event, multi-strategy and global macro hedge fund strategies. Prior to joining UTIMCO, Jena held similar positions at Ascension Health, a large non-profit hospital system based in St. Louis, Missouri and The University of Arizona Investment Office. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Finance from The University of Arizona.
Tammie Tirres
Manager
Advisor Edge, Noble Capital
Tammie Tirres is the Manager of Noble Capital’s Advisor Edge initiative. She builds and cultivates Noble Capital’s relationships with its many outside financial advisors who utilize Noble Capital’s private investment funds as an income planning tool for their clients. She is the company’s primary liaison to recruit financial advisors, provide training, and ensure ongoing support.
She came to Noble Capital in 2014 and spent three-and-a-half years as the Company’s Senior Associate of Capital Markets. In that role, she coordinated investment opportunities through Noble’s Private Lender Network (PLN). In 2017, she helped launch Advisors Edge which made Noble Capital’s real estate investment platform available to financial advisors across the country.
Dianne Wade
Client Services Associate
Durbin Bennett Private Wealth Management
Dianne supports the advisory team at Durbin Bennett Private Wealth Management and assists in a variety of client service related functions including client reporting, account maintenance and operations. Previously, she served as Operations Manager at Enclave Advisors, LLC in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the office along with providing client support and administrative duties. Prior to joining Enclave Advisors, Dianne worked as the executive assistant to the Director of Client Development for McVean Trading & Investments, LLC in Memphis, TN.
In her spare time, Dianne enjoys running on the trail around Town Lake in Austin, playing with her dog and spending time with friends and family.
Philanthropy
Sarah A. Markell*
Tax Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
Austin City Head, Chairman Philanthropy Committee, Austin
Sarah is a native of New Yorker who spent time in Boston earning her undergraduate and masters degrees from Northeastern University. Sarah soon realized that the cold New England winters were not for her and traded in her snow boots for cowboy boots and moved to Austin 6 years ago.
Sarah is a tax director in the Financial Services practice, specializing in state and local taxes. She has 11 years of public accounting experience and serves clients that sit in the fund of fund, private equity/venture capital and real estate space. Sarah is a licensed CPA in Massachusetts and Texas, as well as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
In additional to her passion for state and local taxes, Sarah has a love for animals and children. She is active with the Heart of Texas Lab Rescue, a local animal rescue in Austin, where she serves as a foster mom to labs waiting to find their fur-ever home. When Sarah is not playing a round of golf herself, she is volunteering for First Tee of Austin which teaches kids and teens how to play golf along with life lessons and leadership skills.
Heather L. Traeger
Chief Compliance Officer and Compliance Counsel, Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Heather L. Traeger serves as the Chief Compliance Officer and Compliance Counsel for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. TRS is one of the largest public pension plans in the country.
Ms. Traeger has significant experience advising a variety of financial institutions. Immediately prior to joining TRS, Ms. Traeger was a partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, in Washington, D.C., in the Financial Services Practice. Previously, she served as an Associate Counsel at the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and in several positions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including as the Senior Counsel to Commissioner Roel Campos, Counsel to Commissioner Issac Hunt, and Senior Counsel in the Division of Market Regulation (now Trading and Markets). She also clerked for the Texas First Court of Appeals.
Ms. Traeger has written numerous articles and chapters on investment adviser and broker dealer regulatory and compliance issues. She also participates regularly in industry panels. Ms. Traeger is a faculty member for the Regulatory Compliance Association’s CCO University, a member of the Board of Editors for the Investment Lawyer, and serves on the Board of the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni. She is a member of Texas Wall Street Women and participates in the National Society of Compliance Professionals, the Austin and Houston Compliance Roundtables, and the Council of Public Fund Compliance Officers. While in Washington, D.C., she was a faculty member for Operation HOPE, Banking on Our Future, as well as a member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association and Women in Housing and Finance.
Ms. Traeger is a member of the Texas and District of Columbia bars.