Leadership

Director & Advisory Board

Mara Derderian, CFP®

Director

Professor Derderian graduated from Bryant University with a B.S. in Finance. She went on to pursue her masters from Bentley University and received an M.B.A. in finance.

At Bryant University, Derderian teaches courses in financial management, risk management and insurance and securities brokerage. In addition to courses, Professor Derderian serves as the Director of the Financial Planning Program for undergraduate students working towards their CFP® designation. Furthermore, she will be serving as Director of the recently launched Center for Women in Finance and Leadership.

Prior to teaching, Professor Derderian was a Vice President at Citi Private Bank and HSBC Bank USA Private Bank for over a decade.

She holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and currently serves as the Chairperson of the Financial Planning Association of Rhode Island.

Email: mderder@bryant.edu
Phone: (401) 232-6548

Eileen Hayes

Vice President; Third Party Models Lead, Aladdin Wealth Tech at BlackRock

Eileen is responsible for the development of strategy and activation of partner firms across the third party model business as well as enlisting, educating, and driving adoption of BlackRock’s digital capabilities across the US. Specializing in the digital distribution tech working with Asset Managers, Strategists, Broker Dealers, TAMP’s and RIA’s.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Eileen was responsible for deepening relationships with Asset Managers across Envestnet suite of services. In addition, she focused on Institutional Distribution and Business Development for U.S. Boston Capital Corp, Contravisory Investment Management, and Advisors Asset Management. Eileen received her BS in Finance from Bryant University and served roles such as President of Student Senate and Chair of the Regional Alumni Council both in New York and Massachusetts.

Samantha Merwin

Head of Markets Advocacy for ETF & Index Investing (EII) at BlackRock

Samantha Merwin is the Head of Markets Advocacy for ETF & Index Investing (EII) at BlackRock. In this role, she works to address a wide range of issues related to indexing and ETFs with policymakers and other stakeholders worldwide. She also leads a Research & Analytics content strategy designed to elevate the dialogue around the role of indexing and ETFs in financial markets.

Prior to this role, Samantha was a member of the Strategic Partner Program team, responsible for ensuring all BlackRock capabilities were featured at some of the firm’s largest clients. Samantha began her career at BlackRock in the Regulatory Thresholds Reporting team within the Portfolio Compliance Group in 2012.

Samantha earned a BS degree in International Business with a dual concentration in Finance and the Spanish language, magna cum laude, from Bryant University in 2012.

Samantha is a member of the Bryant University Wall Street Council and the Bryant University College of Business Dean’s Council. She is also a CFA Charterholder.

Pamela A. Gold, CFP®

Executive Director, Branch Manager at Morgan Stanley

Pamela Gold is a Market Manager in the Wealth Management Division at Morgan Stanley. She manages the West Hartford, CT office and oversees the Springfield, Westborough, and Worcester, MA locations. She is responsible for a $63mm business with 76 Financial Advisors and 35 staff members as of August 30, 2023. Prior to her current role, Pam was the Associate Complex Manager for Southern New England working with 300 Financial Advisors in thirteen offices across three states. In that role, Pam successfully recruited and transitioned several highly productive Financial Advisors from the competition and consistently led one of the top performing Financial Advisor Associate training and development programs. Pam also previously held roles as a Complex Business Development Manager, where she lead sales initiatives across the Complex and as the Associate Regional Officer for the Greater New England Region, with responsibility for a variety of Training, Supervisory, Service, and Risk functions related to the nine Complexes in Greater New England. Pam joined Morgan Stanley in 2004 and held a succession of Branch and Complex management roles prior to the Region. She started her career in the industry in 1998 and held management positions at Prudential Financial Services and Lincoln Financial Advisors. Pam has an MBA from Bryant University and is a Certified Financial PlannerTM. She and her husband Chris Stone live in Shrewsbury, MA and have two grown children, Haley and Alex. Pam enjoys being active in the community and currently serves on the board of Girls on the Run of Central MA. In her spare time she likes to travel and run and has completed many marathons and half marathons.

Asli Ascioglu, Ph.D.

Professor of Finance, Coordinator for the Financial Markets Center and the Archway Investment Fund

Professor Ascioglu earned her doctorate degree from University of Memphis. Her research interests have been focused on market microstructure such as market liquidity, information asymmetry, order execution quality, and more recently on the integration of ESG metrics in portfolios. She has published papers in academic and practitioner journals such as the Financial Review, Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Banking and Finance, the Journal of Trading and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. She has presented her work at over 25 national and international conferences.

At Bryant University, Ascioglu has taught courses in investments, trading, corporate finance and social finance areas at the graduate and undergraduate level, including in the honors program. She also taught in the Ph.D. program at Bogazici University, Istanbul. Her advising to honors students’ thesis includes investments and trading areas such as an analysis of the flash crash of 2010, the announcement impact of companies going green on their stock prices, and the change in the mission of microfinance companies that go public. She has given numerous lectures and workshops around the world, including the Executive MBA Program at Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey and at Universidad del Pacifico, Lima, Peru.

Professor Ascioglu has served as the coordinator of the C.V. Starr Financial Markets Center educational trading room and the Archway Investment Fund (AIF) Program since Fall 2015. Under her leadership, significant achievements of AIF students include placing third in the local CFA Challenge competition and taking first place in growth category in the Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum.

Meghan Connolly

Vice President at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Meghan graduated from Bryant University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in International Business, a concentration in Finance and a minor in French. She has worked at JPMorgan Chase for 10 years, starting her career in the Chase Leadership Development Program. Meghan has had multiple roles in the finance department at JPMorgan Chase and she currently works on the Consumer and Business Banking Deposit Pricing team, focusing on pricing analytics. She recently moved to Columbus, Ohio after beginning her career in New York, NY.