assetmark
Leadership Team

Natalie is Chief Executive Officer of AssetMark and leads the strategic vision for the firm, which encompasses its platform of curated investment and technology solutions, business consulting and operations support, and strategic acquisitions that serve the best interests of financial advisors and their investors. Natalie also serves on the Board of Directors for the CFP Board and has been featured in CNBC, Barron’s, ThinkAdvisor, FA Magazine, Financial Advisor IQ, RIA Intel, and InvestmentNews.

Prior to becoming CEO, Natalie was the Chief Solutions Officer at AssetMark, focused on bringing new products and capabilities to advisors and investors. Prior to joining AssetMark, she held several leadership positions including Head of Marketing for New York based asset manager First Eagle Investment Management, and Head of Product Management and Development for Pershing. She also spent several years at Charles Schwab in product development, marketing, and strategy roles.

Natalie earned her MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael is President of AssetMark and leads the firm’s Client Success Group which is focused on creating opportunities that expand and deepen AssetMark’s engagement with advisors and help advisors enhance their business and client experiences. AssetMark’s Client Success Group includes sales, sales strategy and enablement, enterprise sales and distribution, marketing, business consulting, new channel development, and client segmentation.

Michael has over 25 years of experience working with financial advisors in various capacities. Prior to joining AssetMark, he was a Senior Vice President at Fidelity Investments, responsible for Sales Management, Relationship Management and Practice Management. Michael started his professional career at Coopers & Lybrand, LLC.

Michael received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UCLA and is a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Gary oversees Finance at AssetMark and joined the company as CFO in 2011. Since that time, Gary has built a world-class finance team, leading the company through its 2013 Leveraged Buyout, its 2016 sale to HTSC and its 2019 initial public offering. Gary also led Human Resources for 7 years at AssetMark. Gary’s prior experience includes roles at Genworth Financial in both the Corporate and U.S. Life Insurance segments, where he led the Capital Management team and served as Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis. Prior to joining Genworth, Gary was an actuary and financial analyst in New York and Washington, DC.

Gary received his MBA in Finance from the University of Maryland and his Bachelor’s degree in Math and History from the State University of New York-Binghamton.

Carrie is responsible for leading the firm’s service and operations functions, including advisor service, trade operations, account operations, reporting, billing, and facilities, while also overseeing all custodial relationships, including AssetMark Trust Company where she is Chair of the Board. Carrie also serves as President and Chairman of the Board of AssetMark's proprietary mutual fund family, directing three fund trusts, comprising 17 mutual funds, for which AssetMark serves as adviser. Carrie is also President of AssetMark's proprietary broker-dealer, AssetMark Brokerage, LLC.

Carrie joined the firm in 2000 and has held various key roles including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to joining AssetMark, Carrie worked for Barclays Global Investors where she headed the Investment Operations Group in the Tokyo, Japan office. She also spent several years at Coopers and Lybrand where she was an Audit Manager.

Carrie received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. She is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and holds her series 6 and 26 licenses.

Mukesh (Muk) is responsible for leading the firm's technology and digital strategy, implementing systems and solutions that help advisors achieve success. Muk’s teams are also responsible for identifying and incorporating system enhancements to improve AssetMark's existing technology and operational capabilities, to better support advisors and investors.

Prior to joining AssetMark, Muk was the Chief Information and Technology Officer at Cetera Financial Group. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director and Corporate CIO at TD Ameritrade and was also SVP and CIO of Schwab Institutional. Muk has been featured in Barron's, InvestmentNews, RIABiz, and Marketwired.

Muk received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Economics from Rutgers University and is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program. He holds series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.

Esi is the head of AssetMark’s Human Resources and Program Management teams. In this role, she works with the executive team and their functional leaders on the firm’s strategic initiatives. This includes developing and executing on human resource strategy to support the organization and overseeing a scalable structure for project delivery. Working across the organization, Esi drives execution and navigates challenges, ensuring the right talent and skill sets are in place to support the organization’s goals.

Esi joined AssetMark in 2005 as the Project Management Office Leader. Under her leadership the team grew as her responsibilities expanded to encompass program management across the entire organization including digital platforms, client experience operations, technology, and mergers and acquisitions. This also included managing the capital budget associated with these initiatives. Previously, Esi was an SVP at Wells Fargo overseeing international operations project delivery, and a Partner Integration Manager at Peoplesoft. She previously held management consulting roles at Grant Thornton International and PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly Coopers & Lybrand).

Esi earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and Management Information Systems from Northeastern University.

David is responsible for leading AssetMark’s product and investment strategy. David’s teams are focused on identifying, delivering, and managing the investment solutions and experience required to meet evolving advisor and investor needs.

David brings more than 20 years of product and investment management experience to AssetMark. Prior to becoming EVP, Investment Solutions, David was SVP, Product Strategy and Management, which focused on developing and delivering new product solutions to AssetMark’s platform.

Prior to joining AssetMark, David was with Russell Investments responsible for investable, smart beta index product business and worked closely with strategic partners and the institutional sales organization to educate clients on the application of smart beta strategies. David also spent more than 8 years at Charles Schwab as the Managing Director of Product Strategy and Development.

David received his BA in Finance with a minor in Economics from the University of South Florida and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of San Francisco.

Mike is responsible for analyzing acquisition and growth opportunities that support advisor and investor needs. He also leads strategic projects for the senior leadership team.

Mike joined the firm in 1994, and has held several key leadership roles at Genworth Financial and AssetMark, ranging from investment and product development, operations and service, project management and business development.

He earned his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Ted is responsible for leading the Legal and Compliance teams at AssetMark.

Ted has over 20 years of experience providing legal services to financial services companies. Prior to joining AssetMark, Ted was Vice President, Associate General Counsel at Charles Schwab, providing legal and regulatory counseling to a variety of Schwab business enterprises. Ted started his professional career at two law firms as a securities litigator, primarily representing financial services companies in securities arbitrations, SEC investigations and shareholder class actions.

Ted earned his JD from the UC Hastings College of the Law and his Bachelor of Arts in History and Economics from UCLA.

Barrett Ayers is the President and CEO of Adhesion Wealth as well as one of its original founders. He has dedicated his career to advancing and promoting the fee-based advisory business by helping independent advisors deliver conflict-free investment advice to the investment public. Adhesion Wealth allows advisors to focus on client relationships and build their practice by offering a robust outsourced managed account solution.

Barrett has unparalleled insight into the inner workings of model-based and managed account platforms and is an innovator and thought leader in the industry. He is a frequent speaker, presenter, and author on topics ranging from the state of the advisory market, outsourcing investment management, advisory best practices, leveraging behavioral finance in investment management, and custom index design for taxable client portfolios.

Prior to Adhesion Wealth, Barrett served as Senior Vice President of Product Management at Wachovia Securities and held several senior-level strategic posts with Fidelity Investments and Broadridge.