By |Published On: September 15th, 2017|Categories: MFTF Training Series, Business Updates|

This weekend around 70 of us from the finance community (many from “finance twitter”) will be meeting at the National Guard Training Center in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania.

A picture from the course

Folks are flying and driving in from around the country to torture themselves on a 28-mile ruck march alongside active/reserve service members. This is arguably the first time — ever — that a quantitative finance summit was assembled in this fashion.

I’m humbled and honored to see so many people come and represent.
We’re sure to have an epic adventure, build camaraderie, and geek out on finance until our brains are fried…but this isn’t our real mission.

Our mission is to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Each member of the Alpha Architect March for the Fallen team will be wearing a dog tag during the March that is engraved with the name of a service member. For example, Chris Mendez will be marching for his cousin, David Mendez Ruiz, who died in Iraq in 2005.

Service Members We are Honoring on the March


David Mendez Ruiz 

NEOPAT discussion


Trevor Johnson


Mark Engel 


Merrit Edson


Nathan Krissoff


Almar Fitzgerald


Warren Frank


Max Galeai


Joshua Booth


Pat Tillman


Michale Cable 


Megan McClung


Donnell Hamilton 


Travis Manion 


Eric Jones 


Ralph Mena 


Florence Choe 


Doug Zembiec


Kyle Miliken 


William Owens 


Collin T. Thomas 


Robert Cox


Ryan Sorensen 


David Warsen 


Nicholas Checque 


Jason Workman 


Jon Tumilson 


Daniel Daly 


Michael Monsoor 


Jesse Melton


Michael Murphrey 


Bruce G. Johnson 


Shawna Morrison 


Tomas Garces 


Jon T. Hicks 


Carlos Gil Orozco 


Carl L. Anderson 


Hannah Gunterman 


Brian Arsenault 


Terry Vernadore 


Matt Mattingly 


Philip Windorski


Matthew Kelley 


Edwin Rivera 


Joseph McCloud 


Ron Winchester 


Nic Madrazo 


Stephen W. Booth


George Bannar


No pictures


William E. Reel


Philip Montoro


John C. Stock 


Norman L. Bundy 


Lawrence Peters


James M. Finley


Gary Leo Rehm


Nic Willis 


Walter Foulke 


Robert Barbee


Ben Larson


Father Judge 27


John H. Bliss


T. Basset Powell


Mike O’Malley 


Michael J. Holtz


Shaun M. Blue


Ernest Bowman


Sgt. Bowman


Johnathan Kirk 


Dale Peterson


James Watson 

Semper Fidelis,
Wes

About the Author: Wesley Gray, PhD

Wesley Gray, PhD
After serving as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, Dr. Gray earned an MBA and a PhD in finance from the University of Chicago where he studied under Nobel Prize Winner Eugene Fama. Next, Wes took an academic job in his wife’s hometown of Philadelphia and worked as a finance professor at Drexel University. Dr. Gray’s interest in bridging the research gap between academia and industry led him to found Alpha Architect, an asset management firm dedicated to an impact mission of empowering investors through education. He is a contributor to multiple industry publications and regularly speaks to professional investor groups across the country. Wes has published multiple academic papers and four books, including Embedded (Naval Institute Press, 2009), Quantitative Value (Wiley, 2012), DIY Financial Advisor (Wiley, 2015), and Quantitative Momentum (Wiley, 2016). Dr. Gray currently resides in Palmas Del Mar Puerto Rico with his wife and three children. He recently finished the Leadville 100 ultramarathon race and promises to make better life decisions in the future.

Important Disclosures

For informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific investment, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Certain information is deemed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Third party information may become outdated or otherwise superseded without notice.  Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor any other federal or state agency has approved, determined the accuracy, or confirmed the adequacy of this article.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Alpha Architect, its affiliates or its employees. Our full disclosures are available here. Definitions of common statistics used in our analysis are available here (towards the bottom).

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