EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Constance Teska, Co-Founder
Connie is a co-founder of Pluscios. She has over 30 years of experience in capital markets and alternative asset investing and serves as the firms CIO. Prior to founding Pluscios, Connie served as President of JPMorgan Capital Management the Bank’s hedge fund investment group which invested both proprietary and client assets in portfolios of hedge funds. In her role as President, Connie set the strategic direction of the business, headed the Investment Committee and oversaw all aspects of due diligence, manager selection, portfolio construction, portfolio management, risk management and distribution of the client funds. Connie was a founding member of this proprietary investment group and successfully managed it for nine years achieving top quartile performance.
In the mid-1990s, Connie was an instrumental part of the team that spearheaded a Corporate Investments Group for the Bank (legacy First Chicago Capital Corporation). The group’s strategy was to access the best managers, both internally and externally, through direct investments and investments in funds. The group initially entered the alternative asset class through investments in private equity, tax-oriented investments (e.g., leveraged leases, energy investments, etc.), structured value investments (e.g., CMBS, CDOs, etc.) and market value investments (e.g., hedge funds). Connie was instrumental in launching each investment class and served on the Investment Committee and Management Committee for each asset class. The Corporate Investments Group successfully managed over $8 billion in assets.
Kelly Chesney, Co-Founder
Kelly is a co-founder of Pluscios. She has 25 years’ experience in capital markets and alternative asset investing and serves as the firms COO. Prior to founding Pluscios, Kelly was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Capital Management (formerly Banc One Capital Management) (the “Bank”), the Bank’s hedge fund investing group which invested both proprietary and client assets in portfolios of hedge funds. Kelly was one of three voting members of the Investment Committee responsible for all aspects of portfolio management including portfolio construction, manager selection and on-going manager monitoring. Kelly was also a member of the group’s Management Committee. Additionally, Kelly had primary responsibility for product design and development, product launches and lifecycle management, and had oversight for all aspects of the business operations.
Kelly also spent several years in the mid-nineties as a lawyer for the Bank’s Corporate Investments and Capital Markets Groups. Kelly structured and negotiated complex domestic and international commercial finance transactions including tax-related transactions, derivatives, foreign exchange transactions and hedge fund, venture capital, asset backed and collateralized debt obligation investments. She participated in the strategy development and directed the creation of offering documents for a hedge fund of funds; structured the first foreign tax credit transaction for the Bank; and participated in the development and launch of new derivatives products.
Kelly began her career as an Associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom and Mayer, Brown & Platt.