Meet the Full Discretion Team

Matt Eagan is a portfolio manager and head of the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He is also a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Matt has 33 years of investment industry experience as a portfolio manager and fixed income analyst. Matt joined Loomis Sayles in 1997 as a fixed income research analyst for the multisector fixed income team and became a portfolio manager in 2000. He was promoted to co-head of the full discretion team in 2012. Previously, Matt was a senior fixed income analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and a senior credit analyst at Banc Boston Financial Company. He earned a BA from Northeastern University and an MBA from Boston University. Matt is a co-founder of the Loomis Sayles Allies group, which is dedicated to supporting the firm’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and a member of the leadership council for Boston Scores, a nonprofit that helps youth build essential life skills and character through soccer and team-based enrichment programs. He is also a member of the Boston Economic Club and CFA Society Boston.

Brian Kennedy is a co-portfolio manager on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He has 33 years of investment industry experience. Brian joined Loomis Sayles in 1994 as a securitized and government bond trader. He transitioned to the high yield trading desk in 2001, where he initiated the firm’s trading of bank loans, while also trading high yield, convertibles, derivatives and equities. Brian joined the full discretion team as product manager in 2009 and was promoted to co-portfolio manager of the investment grade bond product suite in 2013. In 2016, he began co-managing the entire multisector suite of products. Brian began his investment industry career as a fund accountant at the Boston Company. He earned a BS from Providence College and an MBA from Babson College. Brian is actively involved in the Loomis Sayles Undergraduate Women’s Investment Network (UWIN) and Undergraduate Summer Internship Development (USID)Program, as well as mentorship programs at Loomis Sayles and with external industry groups, including WOMEN Unlimited.

Todd Vandam is a co-portfolio manager on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He co-manages a suite of high yield products, strategic alpha products and is the leader of the firm’s high yield sector team. Todd has 29 years of investment industry experience. Todd joined Loomis Sayles in 1994 as a member of the high yield trading desk and later became an investment strategist for the full discretion team. He was promoted to co-portfolio manager in 2009. Prior to joining Loomis Sayles, Todd completed the US Army Airborne and US Army Ranger Schools. He was a Field Artillery Officer in the US Army, most recently working as a Fire Support Officer stationed in Panama. He earned a BA from Brown University. Todd is the founder of Valor, Loomis Sayles' veteran and military families-focused employee resource group. He is actively involved in the Loomis Sayles Undergraduate Women’s Investment Network (UWIN) and Undergraduate Summer Internship Development (USID) Program as a mentor, as well as the firm’s internal mentorship program. Todd is a member of CFA Society Boston.

Peter Sheehan is a co-portfolio manager on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He co-manages the team's suite of high yield strategies. Additionally, Peter is a credit strategist focused on the bottom-up security selection process for the full discretion team. Working in concert with the customized research analyst, he oversees the underwriting and investment recommendation of the team’s largest active weight positions. Peter joined Loomis Sayles in 2012 from the MBA program at Boston College. Previously, he was an associate at CapX Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, specializing in lower middle market and stressed credit investing. Peter began his investment industry career in the credit training program at Bank of America/LaSalle Bank. He earned a BA from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

Michael Klawitter is a portfolio manager for the bank loan team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He began his investment career in 1997 in fund operations at First Data where he managed a group of fund specialists before joining Loomis Sayles in 2000 as a senior specialist in the mutual fund group. After moving to the quantitative research and risk analysis (QRRA) group for two years, providing support to portfolio managers, traders and marketing professionals, Michael joined the bank loan team, where he analyzed credits and worked on special projects. He became a strategist in 2013 and was promoted to portfolio manager in 2016. Michael earned a BA from the University at Buffalo and an MSF from Boston College.

Heather Young is a portfolio manager for the bank loan team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. She began her career in 2005 as a credit analyst at Columbia Management/Bank of America, where she analyzed loans, bonds, and structured products, and developed valuation models. Heather joined Loomis Sayles in 2008 as a vice president and research analyst covering loans, high yield, investment grade, and emerging markets credits until 2011. After earning her graduate degree, she then worked as an early-stage technology investor for Converge Venture Partners. Later, Heather was a vice president and senior analyst for ESG-forward investment grade bond manager Breckinridge Capital Advisors until 2016 when she rejoined Loomis Sayles as a senior bank loan analyst. She became a strategist in 2018 and was promoted to portfolio manager in 2020. Heather earned a BA from Boston University and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Bryan Hazelton is a portfolio manager on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where he co-manages the team’s insurance mandates. He is also an associate portfolio manager on core plus, multisector, and multisector credit mandates and serves as a strategist across the full discretion mandates, with a focus on investment grade credit selection. He has 16 years of investment industry experience. Bryan joined Loomis Sayles in 2011 as an investment analyst on the full discretion team. Previously, he was a portfolio analyst at The Hartford Investment Management Company. Bryan earned an BA from Bentley University and an MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the CFA Society Boston. Bryan is actively involved in the Loomis Sayles Undergraduate Women's Investment Network (UWIN) and Undergraduate Summer Internship Development (USID) program as a mentor.

Christopher Romanelli is a portfolio manager on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where he co-manages the team’s high yield-focused insurance and buy & maintain product. He is also an associate portfolio manager on the team’s suite of high yield products. Additionally, Christopher is a portfolio strategist for the team, working closely with the team’s credit strategist on the high yield credit portion of the team’s portfolios and directly with the portfolio management team on portfolio structuring. He has 18 years of investment industry experience. Christopher joined Loomis Sayles in 2010 as a portfolio analyst and in 2013, he joined the full discretion team as an investment analyst, covering high yield. Previously, he was a senior associate at PanAgora Asset Management where he provided operational support to the investment process. Christopher earned a BS from Gordon College and an MS from Boston College.

Steve LaPlante is a portfolio manager and securitized strategist on the mortgage and structured finance team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He is a securitized strategist for the Full Discretion team, working directly with portfolio managers to structure the allocation to the sector. He is also a co-portfolio manager and senior analyst on the mortgage and structured finance team, responsible for co-managing the investment grade securitized credit and opportunistic securitized credit strategies. Steve joined Loomis Sayles in 2017 as a mortgage and structured finance analyst and has 14 years of investment industry experience. Previously, he was a senior analyst at Manulife, responsible for the mortgage credit sector including non-agency RMBS and agency risk transfer securities. Prior to this, Steve was a senior analyst at Income Research and Management, serving as the primary analyst in commercial mortgage credit, including CMBS and agency CMBS securities. Before this, he was at White Mountains Advisors as a portfolio analyst, maintaining portfolio level analytics, evaluating pricing models, and monitoring exposures across the firm’s portfolios, which included ABS, CMBS, RMBS holdings as well as Agency, Sovereign and Corporate securities. Steve earned a BS from Union College and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Scott Darci is a portfolio manager, associate portfolio manager and equity & derivatives strategist on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He is an associate portfolio manager of the strategic alpha and strategic alpha opportunistic strategies. Scott is also a portfolio manager for the team’s flexible income strategy. Additionally, he serves as the equity & derivatives specialist for all of the full discretion products. Scott works closely with the Loomis Sayles quantitative research risk analysis group in the development of risk modeling frameworks that have augmented the team’s allocation decision-making process and also works closely with the firm's macro strategies group. He has 16 years of investment experience. Scott joined Loomis Sayles in 2008 and joined the full discretion team in 2013. Prior to Loomis Sayles, he was a senior associate at Anglo Irish Bank, where he provided interest rate and foreign exchange hedging solutions for clients. He earned a BA from Dartmouth College and a Masters in Investment Management from Boston University. Scott is actively involved in mentorship programs at Loomis Sayles, as well as external initiatives including WOMEN Unlimited. He is a member of the Loomis Sayles Allies group, which is dedicated to supporting the firm's commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives.

Hassan Malik is a global macro strategist covering thematics & CEEMEA for the macro strategies group at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, he is responsible for global thematic research and idea generation across foreign exchange, external and local debt in emerging and frontier markets. Hassan is also the liaison between the macro strategies group and the full discretion team for non-US sovereign strategy and thematic investing. He joined Loomis Sayles in 2021 and has 17 years of investment industry experience. He began his career at J.P. Morgan in New York before moving to Troika Dialog in Moscow, where he advised foreign institutions on investing in the former Soviet Union. Most recently, Hassan covered emerging, frontier and European markets at investment research boutiques and hedge fund Prince Street Capital Management. He earned an AB from the University of Chicago, a PhD from Harvard University, and held fellowships at the European University Institute in Florence and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. Hassan is fluent in Russian, Spanish, Urdu/Hindi and is conversant in French. A financial historian, he is the author of "Bankers and Bolsheviks: International Finance and the Russian Revolution" (Princeton, 2018).

Nicole Ranzinger is a senior research analyst on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where she provides deep-dive fundamental analysis focused on high-conviction investment ideas. Nicole has 12 years of investment industry experience.Nicole joined Loomis Sayles in 2015 as a senior credit research associate and was later promoted to research analyst and then to senior research analyst covering distressed and special situation credits, with a primary focus on the energy and chemical sectors. She joined customized research in 2020. Previously, Nicole was an exploration and production (E&P) research analyst at Capital One Securities, where she covered 50 E&P companies. She earned a BS from Tulane University.

Ryan Yackel is a senior research analyst on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where he provides deep-dive fundamental analysis focused on high-conviction investment ideas. Ryan has 16 years of investment industry experience.Ryan joined Loomis Sayles in 2013 as a credit research analyst and was later promoted to senior credit research analyst focused on the technology and media sectors. He also served as the high yield sector team coordinator, acting as liaison between the sector team and credit research. Ryan joined customized research in 2020. He earned a BS in finance from Boston College and an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

James Davie is a senior research analyst at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where he serves as a generalist with a focus on stressed and distressed companies. He joined Loomis Sayles in 2022. Previously, he was a senior credit analyst at Brown Advisory, where he covered all consumer-related industries. Prior to this, James was an investment analyst covering corporate credit, ABS,CMBS, taxable municipals and BDCs at Highmount Capital, which was acquired by Brown Advisory. He earned a BS from Ithaca College and an MBA from Boston University.

David Zielinski is an investment director for the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, he is responsible for articulating the team’s investment process, performance, positioning and outlook with clients, consultants and prospects. David has 26 years of investment industry experience. David joined Loomis Sayles in 2021. Previously, he was a managing director and client portfolio manager at Manulife Investment Management, where he represented the firm’s global multisector fixed income strategies. Prior to this, David was a vice president and senior product engineer for liability driven investing and fixed income index strategies at State Street Global Advisors. He earned a BS from Bryant University and an MBA from Babson College.

Cheryl Stober is an investment director at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where she covers leveraged finance, including bank loan and high yield products. She is an embedded member of both the bank loan and full discretion teams. In this role, Cheryl is responsible for articulating each team’s investment process, performance, positioning and outlook with clients, consultants and prospects. Cheryl joined Loomis Sayles in 2005 as a senior operations analyst. In 2007, she joined the bank loan team as a portfolio assistant and became the team’s investment director in 2013. She expanded her role in 2023 by joining the full discretion team. Previously, Cheryl worked in bank loan operations at Bain Capital. Cheryl earned a BA in economics from Brandeis University and an MBA from Boston University. She is actively involved in the Loomis Sayles Culture Committee and Women@Work network and serves as a mentor for the Loomis Sayles Undergraduate Women’s Investment Network.

Kristen Doyle is an associate investment director for the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, she is responsible for supporting the growth and retention of full discretion assets. Kristen has 16 years of investment industry experience. Kristen joined Loomis Sayles in 2012 as a portfolio analyst where she completed client and ad hoc reporting, prepared meeting materials and provided support to the relationship managers. She joined the full discretion team as an investment analyst in 2014. Previously, Kristen was a registered client associate at Mayflower Advisors. She earned a BS from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and an MBA from Boston University. Kristen is actively involved in the Loomis Sayles Undergraduate Summer Internship Development (USID) Program.

Matthew Green is a product management analyst for the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, he supports the growth and retention of the team’s assets. Matthew joined Loomis Sayles in 2014 as a fixed income operations analyst. He joined the client service group as a client portfolio analyst in 2018, providing client reporting, addressing ad-hoc client requests and supporting relationship managers. Matthew joined the full discretion team in 2023. He earned a BS from the University of Massachusetts Boston and an MBA from Boston University.

Shong Xiao is a senior investment analyst on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, he focuses on securitized and convertible bonds, and serves as the dedicated support for the strategic alpha strategy. Shong creates frameworks to screen for attractive investment opportunities and is actively involved in investment strategy meetings on portfolio construction, tactical trading and relative value. Shong joined Loomis Sayles in 2010 as a performance analyst, working in tandem with portfolio management teams to create and maintain GIPS composites, and leading the annual GIPS verification process with external auditors. In 2014, he joined the client service group as a senior client portfolio analyst, responsible for maintaining and supporting a diverse group of clients across multiple strategies with account types including public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and sub-advisory relationships. Shong joined the full discretion team in 2018. He earned a BA from the University of Rochester and an MBA from Boston University.

Chidie Okpoebo is an investment analyst on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company, where he focuses on corporates. Chidie joined Loomis Sayles in 2013 as a client portfolio analyst, supporting client service teams and addressing client requests for investment information. He was promoted to senior client portfolio analyst in 2016, joined the high yield trading desk in 2018 and moved to the full discretion team in 2021. Previously, Chidie was a senior audit associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He earned a BA from the College of the Holy Cross and a joint MS and MBA from Northeastern University.

Elizabeth DiTomasso is an investment analyst on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, she works with the team’s portfolio strategists to support the core plus full discretion and multisector accounts as well as duration management and investment grade corporates. Elizabeth also collaborates with the team's credit analysts on special projects that help increase the efficiency of their alpha generating process. Elizabeth began her investment industry career when she joined Loomis Sayles in 2020 after completing internship rotations in the finance department and full discretion team. She earned a BS from Bentley University.

Jack Rotondi is an investment analyst on the full discretion team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. In this role, he covers emerging market corporates and supports the strategic alpha strategy as well as the team’s insurance accounts. Jack joined Loomis Sayles in 2020 as a client portfolio analyst in the client service group, where he was responsible for providing client reporting and addressing client requests. He joined the full discretion team in 2023. Previously, Jack was an analyst at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he analyzed prospective asset managers for clients, produced investment portfolio reports and monitored plan allocations. He earned a BS from Bryant University.

Alex Thieck is an investment analyst for the bank loan team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He joined Loomis Sayles in 2016 as a portfolio administrator where he settled bank loan trades and supported the bank loan products through fund accounting. Alex later changed positions to a global settlements administrator where he executed futures trades and coordinated with brokers and custodians on allocations. He joined the bank loan team in 2018 as a data specialist, responsible for the team’s data management and completing special projects to support the bank loan investment process. In 2023 Alex became an investment analyst on the bank loan team. In his current role, he collaborates with bank loan portfolio managers, providing portfolio analysis, monitoring tools, and credit input to support the team's strategies. Additionally, Alex serves as a liaison for information, data, and special projects both internally and externally. He earned a BS in accounting from Susquehanna University.

Meredith Sweeney is an investment analyst for the bank loan team at Loomis, Sayles & Company. Meredith joined Loomis Sayles in 2016 as a portfolio administrator where she provided operational support for the firm through fund accounting and data management. She was later promoted to senior portfolio administrator, supporting the portfolio administration team in resolving issues and managing communications of firm cash flows to investment teams. Meredith joined the bank loan team in 2021 as a data specialist, responsible for the team’s data management and completing special projects to support the bank loan investment process. In 2023 she became an investment analyst on the bank loan team. In her current role, she collaborates with bank loan portfolio managers, providing portfolio analysis, monitoring tools, and credit input to support the team's strategies. Additionally, she serves as a liaison for information, data, and special projects both internally and externally. She earned a BS in finance from Roger Williams University.

Rigas Gartaganis is a portfolio specialist for the fixed income group at Loomis, Sayles & Company. He joined Loomis Sayles in 1998 as a senior marketing information analyst, and was later promoted to RFP manager for the institutional services group. Rigas earned a BS from Syracuse University and an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

Boeurn Kan-Crawford is an alternative strategies portfolio specialist for the fixed income group at Loomis, Sayles & Company. She joined Loomis Sayles in 2003 as an operations analyst, and was later promoted to business analyst. She was previously an investment accountant at Deutsche Bank, and a fund accountant at Investors Bank & Trust. Boeurn earned a BS from the University of Rhode Island.

Matt Tierney is a portfolio specialist for the fixed income group at Loomis, Sayles & Company. Matt joined Loomis Sayles in 1993 from Scudder, Stevens, & Clark, where he was a registered representative for Scudder Investment Services. Matt earned a BA from Boston College.

Amy Steede is a portfolio specialist for the fixed income group at Loomis, Sayles &Company. She began her investment industry career upon joining Loomis Sayles in 1991 as an assistant. She was later promoted to pricing specialist. Amy earned a BA from Regis College.