Team
150+ Years of Collective Industry Expertise
James Francis
Founder, President & CEO
James Francis has guided Paradigm from business concept to industry leader in the area of data- driven investing by leveraging his technology and consulting experiences to create an entirely new approach to alpha discovery and portfolio management. Mr. Francis is responsible for the oversight and development of Paradigm and all of its strategies.
Paradigm's data science approach has been acknowledged by numerous publications and television programs including CNBC, CNN, Fox Business, Pensions Investments, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Business Week, Black Enterprise, Institutional Investor and Plan Sponsor. Throughout his career Mr. Francis has been active on the speaking circuit worldwide, taking on such topics as Ensemble Theory, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, 130/30, hedge funds, portable alpha, asset allocation, style management, as well a host of general industry issues. He is a strong advocate for diversity, inclusion and equity across race, ethnicity, gender, disability and LGBTQ.
Prior to founding Paradigm Asset Management Company, Mr. Francis was responsible for the development of an in house business unit for Oppenheimer and Company designed to serve the needs of institutional investors in the area of investment management, cash management, and equity and fixed income trading for public and private accounts. Previously, Mr. Francis was an executive with Shearson Lehman Hutton where he worked with the Consulting Services Division providing asset management consulting to the private and public market. Mr. Francis worked in the National Accounts Division of the IBM Corporation where he was responsible for meeting the technology needs of select fortune 100 companies. .
Mr. Francis received his BA from Morehouse College. He serves or has served on various boards, including the Council of Urban Professionals, Community Financial Resource Center Corporate Leadership Board, ArtsConnection, Wall Street Project, and the C J Francis Sickle Cell Foundation. He is a member of the New York City Partnership, National Association of Security Professionals, NASP-NY, New American Alliance, Council of Institutional Investors, and National Council on Teacher Retirement.
Gregory Pai
Partner, Managing Director & Chief Compliance Officer
Greg Pai is a member of the firm’s equity investment team that oversees research and product development initiatives. He also serves as the Chief Operating Officer.
Prior to joining the firm full-time in 1996, he served as a frequent consultant, which included support and advice on the management buyout of the firm from M.R. Beal & Company. Mr. Pai accumulated over 10 years of experience occupying senior positions in the entertainment industry with responsibilities ranging from corporate finance, M&A, and strategic planning. His last industry post was as Executive Vice President of Speer Communications where he reported directly to Roy Speer, co-founder of the Home Shopping Network.
Mr. Pai’s earliest professional experience was as a Senior Management Consultant at Price Waterhouse & Company in New York, where he developed his skills in both small business consulting and financial services. His areas of expertise focused on the strategic, operational, and financial development of emerging companies (early stage and turnarounds), with annual revenues between $5 million and $50 million. In addition, Mr. Pai held a senior level post in Price Waterhouse’s Financial Services Special Practice Unit, where he oversaw projects integrating PC based technology at custodial banks such as State Street Bank and mutual fund managers.
Mr. Pai’s formal education was at the University of Maryland where he majored in computer science. Mr. Pai completed the AIMSE/Wharton Investment Institute Program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Odalisse Sosa
Partner & Chief Administrative Officer
Odalisse Sosa joined Paradigm Asset Management in June 1995. Her responsibilities include maintaining full command of purchasing guidelines, accounting instructions, policies and practices, personnel issues, compliance to company guidelines, interaction with building operations and all internal and external organizations to ensure effective office management.
Prior to joining Paradigm Asset Management, Ms. Sosa was the Staff Manger of Operations at the NYNEX Systems Marketing Customer Presentation Center. She was responsible for creating a comfortable atmosphere for the clients at the center by managing the facilities, being available to support any operational level requests made by the client, inputting, purging, delegating and solving all operant conflicts to ensure effective management of all center activities. She also was responsible for training new employees in organization and office procedures and responding, escalating and tracking all administrative conflicts relating to the facility and required level of quality.
Previously, Ms. Sosa was a Database Manager at E F Hutton Company, Inc. She assisted in departmental capital and development and control of budget functions pertaining to administration and operations.
Jeffrey Marcus
Partner & Senior Portfolio Manager
Jeff Marcus joined Paradigm in May 1991 and has been instrumental in its growth. His activities include portfolio implementation, trading, performance review and general operations. In addition to assisting in the development and optimization of efficient, well-diversified and highly risk-controlled portfolios (both domestic and international), he is responsible for rebalancing those portfolios and managing client cash flows.
Mr. Marcus also performs index and investment style analysis, evaluates risk and return characteristics for various portfolio strategies, and ensures that accounts are fully invested and in compliance. Moreover, he maintains trade order management and portfolio accounting systems, evaluates and selects executing brokers, and manages various other trading activities such as block trades, allocations, and settlements. Administrative responsibilities include staff training and development, establishment of operating procedures and documentation, and preparing for and managing GIPS audits and SEC reviews.
Prior to joining Paradigm Asset Management, Mr. Marcus was a Pension Investment Analyst at Warner Lambert Company. His duties consisted of working on a broad range of pension related functions including analyzing stock and bond portfolios, real estate, and venture capital investment opportunities. He was also responsible for providing performance analysis of pension fund managers’ performance, reviewing rates of return, investment trends and asset allocation.
Mr. Marcus received his BA Degree in Finance from Howard University.
Chaoxie (Charles) Liu
Data Science Research Analyst
Chaoxie Liu joined Paradigm in February 2015 as a Data Science Research Analyst. Mr. Liu is responsible for the support of all data engineering and analytics efforts at Paradigm.
Prior to joining Paradigm Asset Management Company, Mr. Liu worked as a Quantitative Analyst at Australia and New Zealand Bank, Singapore, where he performed quantitative support for the rates options trading desk, actively contributed to building the pricing analytics library and improving existing trading tools.
Mr. Liu is a graduate of New York University’s (NYU) Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences with an MS in Mathematics in Finance. During his time at NYU, Mr. Liu experienced a tightly integrated curriculum that provides an efficient introduction to the theoretical and computational skills that are genuinely used and valued in the industry.
He did his curricular practical training at Investment Technology Group as an Algorithmic Trading Analyst. Mr. Liu completed his Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Finance at the National University of Singapore.
Jarius DeWalt
Chief Strategist
Jarius DeWalt serves as Chief Strategist, focusing on special projects, consulting, financial analysis, modeling, research and product development. Areas of expertise include the banking and financial services industries, where he has overseen special assignments such as Google's technology enhancement pilot for African American Banks and Financial Agent to the U.S. Treasury’s TARP and SBLF programs.
Prior to joining Paradigm, he was a Managing Director of Siebert Cisneros & Co., and worked on corporate transactions for firms such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, AT&T, General Motors, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. He previously served as Executive Vice President at M. R. Beal & Co., a Wall Street investment banking firm where he headed the Corporate Investment Banking Department. His experience includes debt, equity, acquisitions, divestures, cross-border strategic partnerships and privatization transactions for clients across a spectrum of industries, including banking and financial services, telecommunications, media, entertainment, consumer products, healthcare, utilities, REITS, energy and insurance.
Mr. DeWalt began his financial services career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where for six years he held a number of positions in research, internal analysis, and marketing. He also served as Assistant Collector-Treasurer of the City of Boston, where he assisted in the financial turnaround of the City and restoration to an “A” credit rating. He subsequently joined Freedom National Bank of New York, where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and assisted in the operational and financial turnaround of the bank. He holds an A.B. in Government and Economics from Harvard College.