Investment Team

What makes Horizon an industry-recognized investment management firm? Meet the talented team of professionals working together to fulfill Horizon’s mission to Empower the Advisor® to help their clients reach their financial goals.

Investment Team Leadership
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Scott Ladner

Chief Investment Officer
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Scott Ladner

Chief Investment Officer

Scott Ladner

Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Ladner serves as Chief Investment Officer and is the Chair of the Investment Committee for Horizon. In these capacities, he oversees all aspects of the Investment Management division for the firm. He also provides the Investment Management division with macro analysis and interpretation of global derivatives, credit, foreign exchange, equity, and funding markets. His previous roles at Horizon included Head of Risk and Director of Quantitative & Alternative Strategies.

Prior to joining Horizon in 2010, Mr. Ladner was a founder of Charlotte Global Advisors and Principal Guard, LLC. Mr. Ladner helped to launch an equity index volatility and dispersion trading unit at PEΔK6 Investments in Chicago, a proprietary listed option and volatility trading firm. Previously at First Union/Wachovia, Mr. Ladner founded and ran the equity swap and forwards portfolio while also managing equity option and volatility portfolios. He also co-founded and managed the Risk Arbitrage and Special Situations portfolio. Mr. Ladner then managed the swaption and cap/floor portion of the bank’s interest rate derivatives portfolio.

Mr. Ladner received his B.A. in Economics and Russian Language & Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Mike Dickson, Ph.D.

Head of Research & Product Development
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Mike Dickson, Ph.D.

Head of Research & Product Development

Mike Dickson, Ph.D.

Head of Research & Product Development

Dr. Dickson serves as Head of Portfolio Management and in this role oversees all investment strategies managed by Horizon. He also conducts research on the development of quantitative methods and strategies that support Horizon’s investment process and new product development. His research is published in scholarly journals and he frequently speaks on these topics at industry conferences. In previous roles at Horizon, he served as Director of Structured Financial Solutions and as a portfolio manager with an emphasis on retirement income and protection strategies.

Dr. Dickson specializes in the areas of empirical asset pricing, portfolio construction, and factor models. Both during and after his Ph.D. studies he taught undergraduate and graduate school coursework in finance and portfolio management at UNC Charlotte. Prior to earning his Ph.D. he worked in financial analysis support roles at Premier, Inc. and Global Compliance. Dr. Dickson received his BS in Chemistry from Winthrop University and both an MS in Economics and Ph.D. in Finance from UNC Charlotte.

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Zach Hill, CFA®

Head of Portfolio Management
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Zach Hill, CFA®

Head of Portfolio Management

Zach Hill, CFA®

Head of Portfolio Management

Mr. Hill is part of the Investment Management division at Horizon Investments focusing on and providing investment insight on a broad range of asset allocation decisions from a global macro and derivatives perspective.

Prior to joining Horizon, Mr. Hill served as a Portfolio Manager for Cold Spring Asset Management in New York and was a director, foreign exchange option trading, with Wells Fargo.

Mr. Hill holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Physics from the University of Virginia. Mr. Hill is also a CFA® Charterholder.

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Morgan Smith, CFA®

Head of the Portfolio Strategy Group
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Morgan Smith, CFA®

Head of the Portfolio Strategy Group

Morgan Smith, CFA®

Head of the Portfolio Strategy Group

Mr. Smith is part of the Consulting team at Horizon Investments focusing on Fixed Income and Options strategies.

Prior to joining Horizon Investments in 2017, Mr. Smith was a portfolio manager for NBT Bank, managing assets on behalf of private wealth as well as institutional clients from 2013-2017.

Mr. Smith holds an MBA and a BS in Management with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

Investment Team
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Austin Fitch, CFA®

Managing Director, Consulting Solutions
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Austin Fitch, CFA®

Managing Director, Consulting Solutions

Austin Fitch, CFA®

Managing Director, Consulting Solutions

Mr. Fitch joined Horizon Investments in January 2011. Serving as the senior portfolio analyst for the Horizon One Consulting team, he oversees a team within the Investment Management division focused on asset allocation, security selection, and portfolio construction for customized client solutions. In addition to helping these clients manage a goals-based investment process, he provides fund research and manager due diligence to the Investment Management division at Horizon.

Prior to this role, Mr. Fitch was a research analyst at Horizon providing fundamental research to the Investment Management division in addition to supporting the firm in its trading operations and performance measurement functions. He has also worked on Horizon’s retirement platform offerings and supported the firm’s product development initiatives. Mr. Fitch holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Tennessee and a BS in Mathematics and a BA in Finance from Wofford College.

Mr. Fitch is also a CFA® charterholder.

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Kevin Blocker, CAIA®

Managing Director, Custom Portfolios
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Kevin Blocker, CAIA®

Managing Director, Custom Portfolios

Kevin Blocker, CAIA®

Managing Director, Custom Portfolios

Mr. Blocker is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and has been a portfolio manager on several strategies throughout his tenure at the firm. Along with his portfolio management duties, Mr. Blocker supports the firm’s digital solutions strategy as a member of the software products team.

Mr. Blocker holds a BA in Spanish and a BS in mathematics and computer science from Wofford College. Mr. Blocker also holds the CAIA designation. Before Horizon, Mr. Blocker played shortstop for the Colorado Rockies organization.

Mr. Blocker received a BA and BS in mathematics, computer science, and Spanish at Wofford College. Mr. Blocker also holds the CAIA designation. Before Horizon, Mr. Blocker played shortstop for the Colorado Rockies organization.

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Ron Saba, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Manager
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Ron Saba, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Manager

Ron Saba, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Manager

With three decades of investment management experience, Mr. Saba is responsible for the management of Horizon’s dividend and equity portfolio strategies and also contributes bottom-up, fundamental research for the investment team. Prior to joining Horizon in 2009, Mr. Saba was Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Charlotte Capital, LLC where he was lead portfolio manager for the firm’s two institutional investment products. Prior to Charlotte Capital, Mr. Saba was a Portfolio Manager with Pioneer Investments. Before Pioneer he served as a Portfolio Manager and Analyst with Heartland Advisors. Mr. Saba regularly contributes to the financial media. He has appeared on CNBC and has been featured in Barron’s magazine.

Mr. Saba holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a BS in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

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Steven Clark, Ph.D.

Managing Director, Quantitative Research
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Steven Clark, Ph.D.

Managing Director, Quantitative Research

Steven Clark, Ph.D.

Managing Director, Quantitative Research

Dr. Clark is an Associate Professor of Finance at UNC Charlotte where he conducts research in the areas of mathematical finance, derivative securities, asset pricing, and financial econometrics. His work at Horizon focuses on volatility forecasting models, dynamic factor models, and other quantitative methods with an emphasis toward the Quantitative investment team and toward the firm’s Risk Management suite of products.

He has a Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences (with a concentration in applied probability and stochastic modeling) and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics (with a concentration in financial economics), both from Clemson University. He has been published in numerous scholarly journals including Review of Derivatives Research, Review of Futures Markets, Journal of Risk and Insurance, and Journal of Asset Management.

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Clark Allen, CFA®

Director, Quantitative Research
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Clark Allen, CFA®

Director, Quantitative Research

Clark Allen, CFA®

Director, Quantitative Research

Mr. Allen is part of the Investment Management division at Horizon Investments focusing on portfolio allocation & strategy.

Prior to joining Horizon Investments, Mr. Allen managed the investments at a multi-billion-dollar single-family office. Mr. Allen has also worked on the portfolio management team at a large insurance company as well as at a consulting firm doing M&A and valuation work.

Mr. Allen holds a Masters of Accountancy and BS in Accounting from Georgia Southern University. Mr. Allen is also a CFA® Charterholder, CPA and a CAIA® Charterholder.

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John Bryant, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Strategist
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John Bryant, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Strategist

John Bryant, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Strategist

Mr. Bryant is a member of the consulting team at Horizon Investments, focusing on asset allocation, security selection, and portfolio construction for customized client solutions.

Prior to joining Horizon Investments, Mr. Bryant served as Client Relationship Consultant with TIAA in their Individual Advisory Services group. He managed relationships with high net worth and mass affluent clients, focusing on building books of businesses for the Wealth Management Advisors he supported.

Mr. Bryant holds a BS in Finance from Wake Forest University and holds FINRA Series 7 and 66 registrations. Mr. Bryant is also a CFA® Charterholder.

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Casey Hazen, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Strategist
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Casey Hazen, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Strategist

Casey Hazen, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Strategist
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Dzhan Yusnyu

Senior Analyst
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Dzhan Yusnyu

Senior Analyst

Dzhan Yusnyu

Senior Analyst
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Savannah Bryant

Analyst
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Savannah Bryant

Analyst

Savannah Bryant

Analyst
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Dmitry Shlyapnikov

Analyst
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Dmitry Shlyapnikov

Analyst

Dmitry Shlyapnikov

Analyst
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Alyson Strode

Trader
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Alyson Strode

Trader

Alyson Strode

Trader

Alyson Strode is a Trading Portfolio Specialist. She is responsible for all trade related functions including best execution.

Prior to joining Horizon Investments in October 2016, Mrs. Strode was an equity and ETF trader with Curian Clearing for 10 years. She had various roles in middle and back office support as purchase and sales, corporate actions and internal controls.

Mrs. Strode graduated from the University of Denver with a BA in Finance.

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Scott Albright

Trader
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Scott Albright

Trader

Scott Albright

Trader
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Steven Averitt

Quantitative Software Developer
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Steven Averitt

Quantitative Software Developer

Steven Averitt

Quantitative Software Developer

Mr. Averitt joined Horizon Investments in April 2012. He supports the firm’s quantitative research efforts including model development, testing, and validation. Previously, Mr. Averitt worked as a senior consultant and lead software engineer for Kalsi Engineering, a high technology engineering consulting firm. His expertise is in the development of proprietary engineering software products. His experience includes a broad range of software development skills including mathematical modeling, interface design, programming, integration, testing, and marketing.

Mr. Averitt received his MS in Mathematical Finance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

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Eric Anthony

Portfolio Implementation Analyst
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Eric Anthony

Portfolio Implementation Analyst

Eric Anthony

Portfolio Implementation Analyst
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Tom Lyons, CFA®

Portfolio Strategist
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Tom Lyons, CFA®

Portfolio Strategist

Tom Lyons, CFA®

Portfolio Strategist
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