Michelle Watson (CFA, CAIA) is Partner and Executive Vice President of the Family Office at Evergreen Gavekal. Previously, she was the Chief Investment Officer of First Republic Investment Management. In her role at First Republic, which she assumed in 2009 after spending more than two years as Director of Research, Ms. Watson was responsible for setting the strategic vision of the firm’s investment process and platform. She maintained oversight of an open architecture investment process that included internally developed equity and fixed income solutions as well as the external, third-party manager platform—chairing the investment approval committees for traditional and alternative investment solutions. She also chaired the First Republic’s asset allocation committee.
Ms. Watson has an expansive career spanning more than 25 years in the investment management industry. Prior to joining First Republic, Ms. Watson worked for U.S. Trust Company as a key contributor in the development and growth of its multi-strategy, open architecture program. Previously, she worked in investment consulting and manager research at CTC Consulting Inc. Her career began at Northwest Capital Group, a partnership at Salomon Smith Barney. A graduate of the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Ms. Watson holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. She is also the former Chair of Friends of San Francisco Animal Care & Control and a mentor for SHE-CAN.