Lifetime Achievement Award Nominees 2024

Nominees include a diverse set of industry leaders from a range of issuers and financial media.  

TwitterTwitterTwitter
Jeff_Benjamin
|
Wealth Management Editor
|
Reviewed by: Kent Thune
,
Edited by: James Rubin
Image
Lifetime Achievement Award - Intro
Image
Lifetime Joanna Gallegos
Image
Lifetime Achievement Award - Horsley
Image
Lifetime Achievement Award - Pisani
Image
Lifetime Achievement Award - Schlossberg
Image
Lifetime Achievement Award - Tobin
Image
Lifetime Achievement Award - van Eck
Back

Lifetime Achievement Award Nominees

The etf.com Lifetime Achievement award is presented annually to one individual for outstanding long-term contributions to exchange-traded fund investor outcomes, whether from a position of media, regulation, product provider, investor or another impactful category.

 

This year's nominees include a diverse set of leaders, from innovative issuers to financial media, all of which helped to shape the ETF industry as we know it today.

 

Finalists in this and 16 other categories will be announced at the 2024 etf.com Awards ceremony, held at Tribeca Rooftop in New York City on April 17, 2024.

 

Quotations on the following pages were taken from nomination forms submitted for each candidate.

 

Gallegos Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

“Joanna is a global leader in ETF design, distribution, and growth with an extensive track record in launching new businesses, entering highly competitive markets, and building high performing teams as an architect behind over 175 leading ETFs.” 

 

“With a career spanning over 20 years in the design and production of ETFs, Joanna is often called the ‘Mother of ETFs.’”  

 

“She is named as inventor on a patent for multi-basket structure for ETFs, developed during her time at BlackRock, and a System and Method for Dynamic Implementation of ETFs, developed during her time at JPM.”

Horsley Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

Hunter Horsley was nominated for "his continuing efforts in moving the industry towards a spot Bitcoin ETF via Bitwise's ongoing public research, advocacy for regulation, and open dialogue with the SEC as long as any other issuer has been involved in the multi-year filing campaign."

 

Hunter helped oversee Bitwise's stability in 2023 "despite concerns for the cryptocurrency market following a late surge in volatility in 2022, which saw the firm's Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ) become one of the top performers in 2023, particularly among non-leveraged ETFs.” 

Pisani Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

“It's hard to find another member of the media who has been such a proponent of the ETF industry for such a long time. From the industry's infancy more than a couple decades ago, CNBC’s Bob Pisani identified how much of a game-changer these products would eventually be to individual investors.”

 

“He covered the industry long before other outlets realized how important these investment vehicles would become and shed great light on why ETFs should be a part of any investor’s diversified portfolio. In many ways, he is his own ETF pioneer.”

 

But as the industry exploded and saw tremendous growth over the years, Bob has also been there educating investors on pitfalls or cautionary tales on why certain products may be best left to the professionals.”

Schlossberg Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

“Andrew has displayed foresight and long-term strategic acumen in leading Invesco's acquisition of Powershares. Demonstrating recognition of the significant potential inherent in ETFs, he envisioned the shape of the future asset management landscape. Andrew's belief was not merely theoretical; under his guidance, the franchise has expanded to encompass an impressive global asset base of over $500 billion.”

 

“Being one of the pioneering legacy asset management companies to venture into the ETF arena through strategic acquisition, Invesco has significantly benefited from Andrew's leadership. He has continuously been at the helm, undertaking varied responsibilities since the inception of this venture.” 

Tobin Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

“Rory Tobin has been a leader in the ETF industry for over 20 years. Joining Barclays Global Investors in 2004, as co-CEO, Rory orchestrated the rise of iShares from a challenger brand to ETF powerhouse and led negotiations in their game-changing 2009 merger with BlackRock.” 

 

“Rory joined State Street Global Advisors in 2014. He segmented SSGA’s suite, creating SPDR Portfolio ETFs for buy-and-hold investors.” 

 

“When peers vociferously opposed the suggestion that bonds could be traded in an equity wrapper, Rory was a first mover in ETF adoption for fixed income.”

van Eck Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

Jan van Eck is recognized for “shepherding” 2023's ETF industry push toward the introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs, which would finally launch in January of 2024.

 

"Among the ETF issuers in the race to dominate this soon to be nascent category, no one was earlier to the [spot bitcoin ETF] battle than VanEck, and that is thanks to the vision and foresight Jan brought to this project, just as he brings to all of the firm's efforts.” 

 

In Jan's own words: "Over the past twenty-five years or so, I have worked on three major projects: starting a fund management joint venture in China, building our hedge fund business, and launching our ETF business in 2006. I enjoy working on funds that help investors provide types of portfolio exposure that might be valuable in tomorrow's markets."

Jeff Benjamin is the wealth management editor at etf.com, responsible for coverage related to the financial planning industry. This includes writing, hosting podcasts, webinars, video interviews and presenting at in-person events.


Jeff is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years’ experience covering the financial markets. He has won more than two dozen national and regional awards for his reporting. He most recently worked as a senior columnist at InvestmentNews where he wrote about investment products and strategies, as well as the broader financial planning industry. Prior to that, Jeff worked as an analyst at Cerulli Associates where he researched and wrote reports on the alternative investments industry. Jeff also worked as a money management reporter at Dow Jones Newswires, where he covered the mutual fund industry.


Based in North Carolina, Jeff is a former Marine and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Central Michigan University.

Loading