Investment Team
Each member of the Broadmark Asset Management LLC investment team is involved in the tactical investment process developed by Christopher J. Guptill, CIO and Co-CEO. Utilizing its members’ complementary skills, the team evaluates risk by qualitatively assessing variables such as valuation, monetary policy and investor sentiment. The team relies on its volume, breadth and momentum models, adhering to the famous words of the late Marty Zweig, “Don’t fight the tape.” Mr. Guptill and his team use investment risk management tools to determine how much equity exposure is prudent and tactically adjust the portfolio at any time. We believe avoiding major drawdowns, i.e., loss of capital, is of utmost importance. Mr. Guptill is responsible for all final investment decisions.
Christopher J. Guptill
CIO and Co-CEO
Mr. Guptill, founder and Chief Investment Officer of Broadmark Asset Management LLC, is responsible for the development of Broadmark’s investment management strategies as well as the implementation of all portfolio management decisions. As Co-CEO, Mr. Guptill shares in the oversight of the firm’s business operations.
Mr. Guptill began his career in the investment industry in 1979 as a registered representative with Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis. Over the next 15 years, he developed a methodology for identifying risk in the market, which led to the creation of a tactical investment process.
In developing this process, Mr. Guptill examined the underlying conditions present during market highs and lows over the prior 75 years. Noting the variables consistently present at market extremes, he sought to replicate a means to position a portfolio appropriate for market conditions. The resulting investment process utilizes a qualitative assessment of valuation, monetary policy and takes a contrarian view of investor sentiment.
By evaluating price, volume, breadth and momentum models, Mr. Guptill identifies market trends. He exploits directional moves in the market by tactically exposing portfolios to equity indices when trends indicate rising positive returns, while moving to a higher cash and lower market exposure position when deterioration in the factors of valuation, monetary factors, sentiment and momentum emerge. The process has always focused on a top-down, macro approach rather than bottom-up stock selection. By managing investment risk and rejecting the traditional buy and hold approach, Mr. Guptill focuses on avoiding major drawdowns and loss of investor capital, seeking to produce a positive rate of return in any market environment.
In 1994 Mr. Guptill joined McKinley Capital Management as Senior Portfolio Manager and continued his tactical investment approach as the firm’s Chief Equity Strategist. While there, he developed, launched and co-managed the firm's highly successful alternative investment portfolios. During his tenure, the firm’s assets under management increased from $80 million to nearly $2 billion.
In 1999, Mr. Guptill became founding Chief Investment Officer of the newly formed Broadmark Asset Management LLC. He firmly believes that when market risks are high and the opportunities are low, investors should reduce their exposure to equities. Avoiding major drawdowns is at the very core of all of Broadmark investment decisions.
Mr. Guptill is a graduate of California State University, Chico with a B.A. in Economics.
Ricardo L. Cortez, CIMA®
Co-CEO
Mr. Cortez is primarily responsible for business development as well as management of the firm’s sales and marketing efforts. As Co-CEO, Mr. Cortez shares in the oversight of the firm’s business operations. In addition, he is a member of the Investment Team and serves as the firm’s chief risk officer. Mr. Cortez joined Broadmark in September 2009 as President, Global Distribution and was named Co-CEO in June 2013. Before Broadmark, he was President of the Private Client Group for Torrey Associates, LLC. Additional prior roles include Vice President at Goldman Sachs serving as Product Manager of the firm’s Global Multi-Manager Strategies program, and Senior Vice President with Prudential Investments overseeing product development and sales for the Investment Management Services Division. Mr. Cortez graduated cum laude from Queens College, City University of New York with a B.A. and is former Chairman of its Business Advisory Board. He was awarded the Queens College President’s Medal in 2020, the college’s highest administrative honor. Mr. Cortez is also an adjunct faculty member at Harvard University and has been a guest lecturer on Investment Policy and Hedge Funds at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Cortez was awarded the Certified Investment Management Analyst® designation in 1993 and is the author of numerous published articles on hedge funds.
Richard P. Damico
Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Trading
Mr. Damico joined Broadmark in March 2005. As a Senior Portfolio Manager, he participates in the implementation of portfolio management. He brings over 20 years of hands-on trading experience to the firm and, as Head of Trading, is responsible for all trading functions. Prior to joining Broadmark he was a Managing Director at ThinkEquity Partners, LLC where he established and was responsible for the institutional trading desk at their San Francisco headquarters. Prior to ThinkEquity Partners, from 1997 to 2002, he was a Vice President and Senior Institutional Sales Trader at Morgan Stanley’s San Francisco office covering West Coast institutional accounts. Additionally, Rick was an Associate Director and Senior Sales Trader at Bear Stearns in San Francisco from 1990 to 1997.
J. Dyer Kennedy III, CFA, CAIA
Portfolio Manager
Mr. Kennedy joined Broadmark in September 2022, serving as portfolio manager and a member of the investment team. Mr. Kennedy began his career at Divergence Analysis Inc, a proprietary research firm focused on developing research and models for active portfolio and risk management. Building on the firm’s methodology, he co-founded Montcrest Capital LLC in 2017, a registered investment advisor managing a systematic equity strategy he co-developed for high-net worth and family office clients. Most recently, Mr. Kennedy was vice president at eVestment, a division of Nasdaq, focusing on business development with hedge funds and other alternative managers. Mr. Kennedy holds a B.B.A. in both Finance and Risk Management from the Terry School of Business at the University of Georgia. He is a charterholder of the CFA and CAIA designations.
Francis T. Mullen
Senior Managing Director
Mr. Mullen has been a member of the investment team since joining the firm in January 2002. He has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the firm’s investment process. Previously, Mr. Mullen was Managing Director and Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets at Putnam Lovell LLC. While at Putnam Lovell, he established and developed their Research, Institutional Equity Sales, Equity Syndicate and Trading Departments in San Francisco and New York. Prior to Putnam Lovell, he was the Managing Director of Western U.S. Institutional Equity Operations and a partner of the investment-banking firm Furman Selz. Mr. Mullen is a 1977 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.