Our Team
David Nicholas
Portfolio Manager of FIAX
Chief Executive Officer of Nicholas Wealth Management
Mr. Nicholas is the CEO and Founder of Nicholas Wealth Management. Mr. Nicholas has over 17 years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to founding BluePath Capital Management (dba Nicholas Wealth Management) in 2016, Mr. Nicholas spent 4 years as the President& Founder of Nicholas & Company, Inc, where he provided insurance and capital preservation strategies to retirees.
Mr. Nicholas received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Kennesaw State University and a Master’s degree in Financial Planning from the University of Georgia
Jay Pestrichelli
Portfolio Manager of FIAX
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, ZEGA Financial
Jay Pestrichelli is co-founder and managing director of ZEGA Financial. Mr. Pestrichelli leads the development and execution of the firm’s investment strategies, which are designed to help investors successfully navigate volatile and uncertain markets through innovative hedging strategies.
Mr. Pestrichelli has over 20 years of experience in the financial markets. Prior to launching ZEGA, he spent 12 years managing and growing the online brokerage business for TD Ameritrade. During this time, he led this business unit to become #1 in trade volume among U.S. brokers.
ZEGA’s founding principles grew out of the bestselling book Mr. Pestrichelli co-authored entitled, “Buy and Hedge, the Five Iron Rules for Investing Over the Long Term.” His book highlights how to bridge the complicated nature of options investing with the needs of the everyday investor.
Michael Venuto
Portfolio Manager of FIAX
Chief Investment Officer, Toroso Investments
Michael Venuto is the Chief Investment Officer of Toroso Investments and Portfolio Manager of the Nicholas Fixed Income Alternative ETF (FIAX). Mr. Venuto is an ETF industry veteran with over a decade of experience in the design and implementation of ETF-based investment strategies. Previously, he was Head of Investments at Global X Funds where he provided portfolio optimization services to institutional clients.
Before that, he was Senior Vice President at Horizon Kinetics where his responsibilities included new business development, investment strategy and client and strategic initiatives.
Charles A. Ragauss, CFA
Portfolio Manager of FIAX
Portfolio Manager, Toroso Investments
Charles A. Ragauss, CFA, is a Portfolio Manager at Toroso Investments and Portfolio Manager of the Nicholas Fixed Income Alternative ETF (FIAX). Through Toroso, Mr. Ragauss also provides support services to CSat Investment Advisory, L.P., doing business as Exponential ETFs (“Exponential”). Mr. Ragauss previously served as Chief Operating Officer and in other roles at Exponential from April 2016 to September 2020. Previously,
Mr. Ragauss was Assistant Vice President at Huntington National Bank (“Huntington”), where he was Product Manager for the Huntington Funds and Huntington Strategy Shares ETFs, a combined fund complex of almost $4 billion in assets under management. At Huntington, he led ETF development bringing to market some of the first actively managed ETFs. Mr. Ragauss joined Huntington in 2010.
