Contributors
Sustainable Wealth is proud to host an esteemed group of site contributors.
As seen on major financial networks such as FOX News and CNBC, the breadth and depth of expertise you’ll find at Sustainable Wealth is remarkable. Together, we offer expertise in personal finance, macroeconomic trends, international investing, real estate, economics, banking, equity analysis, Wall Street, and much more.
Axel Merk
Axel Merk is the author of Sustainable Wealth: Achieving Financial Security in a Volatile World of Debt and Consumption, to be released in the fall of 2009, and is President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk Investments, a Palo Alto, California based mutual fund management company.
Axel’s 2009 book Sustainable Wealth synthesizes the macro trends and their effects on individual wealth, and explains how to build and preserve financial security in this volatile environment. For more information on the book, click here.
Axel is an expert on personal finance. Known to put his money where his mouth is, he not only warned about the credit crisis early, but showed investors how to seek shelter. He is also a recognized leader on macroeconomic trends, hard money and international investing.
Axel Merk is a sought after speaker at conferences and frequent guest on popular TV, radio and internet programs. Top tier journalists from around the world seek his input on a regular basis.
Axel lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and four children. He is a private pilot and marathon runner.
Please click here to inquire about speaking engagements, interviews and permission requests.
Hanna Tikkanen Merk
Hanna is one of the lead contributors of the “Your Wealth” section of www.sustainablewealth.org. As her day job, Hanna is Executive Vice President at Merk Investments, a Palo Alto, California based mutual fund management company.
At Merk Investments, Hanna is responsible for corporate strategy and organizational development. Prior to joining Merk Investments, Hanna was a director at a boutique M&A company. In her earlier career, she was a business strategy consultant at Bain & Company in Munich and Stockholm, as well as an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch in London and New York.
Hanna holds a B.A. in Engineering and Economics from Brown University, Rhode Island and an MBA from INSEAD, France.
Hanna and Axel Merk live in the San Francisco Bay Area with their four children. Hanna is a private pilot, who enjoys karate and serving on boards of non-profit educational organizations.
Please click here to inquire about speaking engagements, interviews and permission requests.
William Poole
William Poole is Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, Senior Adviser to Merk Investments and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Delaware.
Poole retired as President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in March 2008. In that position, which he held from March 1998, he served on the Federal Reserve’s main monetary policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee. He directed the Bank’s main office in St. Louis and its three branches in Memphis, Little Rock and Louisville.
Before joining the St. Louis Fed, Poole was Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University. He served on the Brown faculty from 1974 to 1998 and the faculty of The Johns Hopkins University from 1963 to 1969. Between these two university positions, he was senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington. He was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Reagan administration, from 1982 to 1985.
Poole received his AB degree from Swarthmore College in 1959, and MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago in 1963 and 1966, respectively. Swarthmore honored him with the Doctor of Laws degree in 1989. He was inducted into The Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2005 and presented with the Adam Smith Award by the National Association for Business Economics in 2006. In 2007, the Global Interdependence Center presented him its Frederick Heldring Award.
Poole has engaged in a wide range of professional activities, including publishing numerous papers in professional journals. He has published two books, Money and the Economy: A Monetarist View, in 1978, and Principles of Economics, in 1991. During his 10 years at the St. Louis Fed, he gave over 150 speeches on a variety of topics. In 1980-81, he was a visiting economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia and in 1991, Bank Mees and Hope Visiting Professor of Economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. At various times, he served on advisory boards of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York, and the Congressional Budget Office.
Poole was born and raised in Wilmington, DE. He is married to Geraldine Poole; they have four sons.
Please click here to inquire about speaking engagements, interviews and permission requests.
Kieran Osborne
Kieran Osborne is Senior Analyst and member of the portfolio management group at Merk Investments, a Palo Alto, California based mutual fund management company. He is an expert on macro trends and currencies and has significant international market experience. Prior to Merk Investments, Kieran worked as an equity analyst for New Zealand based Brook Asset Management, where he worked in both the Australian and New Zealand markets. He has also worked in New York for MCM Associates, a U.S. hedge fund.
Kieran holds a Master of Business (Distinction) from the University of Otago, New Zealand, along with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Tourism. He has successfully passed Level III of the CFA examination.
Kieran lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife. He enjoys surfing, tennis, running and is an avid follower of rugby and cricket.
Please click here to inquire about speaking engagements, interviews and permission requests.
Hannes M?§ki-Uuro
Hannes M?§ki-Uuro is a consultant to Merk Investments. Hannes’ extensive international experience provides him with a unique insight into global issues.
Hannes holds a Masters of Business and Economics from Uppsala University, Sweden. During his studies, Hannes has gained international experience from studying and living in various countries around Europe and the U.S. His thesis work centered on stock market analysis. Hannes is a Level I candidate in the CFA program.
An avid traveler, Hannes also enjoys sailing and golf. He is fluent in four languages.
Please click here to inquire about speaking engagements, interviews and permission requests.
Peter Battiste
Peter Battiste is an Analyst and part of the portfolio management group at Merk Investments, a Palo Alto, California based mutual fund management company. Prior to joining Merk, Peter gained experience in financial analysis working for Wells Fargo & Co. and Del Monte Foods.
Peter holds a B.S. in Finance (magna cum laude) and a B.A. in French from Siena College in Loudonville, New York. He studied international finance at CEFAM in Lyon, France for one year and is fluent in French. His thesis work examined spillover between foreign currency and capital markets. Peter is a Level I candidate in the CFA program.
Peter’s interests include language, traveling and playing tennis. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Please click here to inquire about speaking engagements, interviews and permission requests.
