About Us

Luis Maizel, MBA, Co-Founder, Senior Managing Director and Member of the Investment Strategy Group (ISG), has been investing in the global fixed income markets since 1984, when he began managing mostly tax-exempt portfolios for high-net-worth individuals. Mr. Maizel was born and raised in Mexico City and received his BS in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Industrial Engineering from the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and his Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School in 1974, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar, the school’s highest academic honor. His experience includes being the Vice President of Finance for Grupoventas, S.A., serving on the faculty at the Harvard Business School, and a tenure as President of both Industrias Kuick, S.A. and Blount Agroindustrias, S.A., manufacturers of agribusiness equipment. After structuring a favorable buyout of Kuick, Mr. Maizel relocated permanently to San Diego and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Mr. Maizel has been a leader in the Hispanic community throughout his adult life, and previously served as a Director of United PanAmerican Financial Corporation, Pacific Commerce Bancorp, and Vibra Bank, the first Hispanic community bank in San Diego. He has also been a board member of the United States Board of Directors of Nacional Financiera (NAFIN, Mexico’s National Development Company), and was Board Chairman of the Hispanic National Mortgage Association. In addition, he held a seat on the Wells Fargo San Diego Community Board. Mr. Maizel is equally devoted to education and was President of the Investment Committee for the Board of Trustees and on the Executive Board for the University of San Diego. Currently, he is a member of the Board of the American Montessori Institute.

John Chalker, Co-Founder and Managing Director, has been investing in the global fixed-income markets since 1980. His professional experience includes 15 years as Vice President, Senior Financial Consultant with Merrill Lynch & Co., where he distinguished himself as a member of the firm’s Chairman’s Club. Mr. Chalker received his Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and then served as a carrier based fighter pilot in the U.S. Naval Service. He received an honorable discharge in 1979. Mr. Chalker was a founding member and former Chairman of the Alliance in Support of Airport Progress in the 21st Century (ASAP21) 2001-2010, a member of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors 2001-2010, and a Commissioner on the California Transportation Commission (CTC) 2005-2011. He also served as a member of the State of California’s High-Speed Rail Independent Peer Review Group, as well as the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee for Transnet until 2013.

Mario Modiano, Senior Portfolio Manager, joined the firm in 2004. He was also a consultant to LM Advisors for three years. Mr. Modiano’s experience includes an intern position at the World Bank Group; Head of Department of Operations Research at the Banco de Comercio in Mexico; and President/Chief Executive Officer of EPI S.A., a financial systems software developer and marketing firm. Mr. Modiano has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Mathematics from University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Science degree from Cornell University, and a Master of Business of Administration from Harvard Business School. He also serves as a Board Member for the San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union.

Rachel Wilson, CFA, Director – Fixed Income Trading, Senior Portfolio Manager, joined the firm in 2004. Prior to joining LM Capital Group, she was a fixed-income trader at AIG Advisor Group, responsible for recommending bond strategies and securities for clients. Her professional experience includes Portfolio Manager for fixed-income index funds for Barclays Global Investors and Assistant Portfolio Manager at U.S. Trust Company of California. Ms. Wilson is a CFA® charterholder, a member of the CFA Society San Diego and has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, San Diego, with a major in Quantitative Economics and Decision Science.

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is offered by the CFA Institute. To obtain the CFA charter, candidates must pass three exams demonstrating their competence, integrity, and extensive knowledge in accounting, ethical and professional standards, economics, portfolio management, and security analysis, and must also have at least four years of qualifying work experience, among other requirements.  CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

Patrick Faul, CFA, FRM, Director of Research, joined the firm in 2017.  Prior to LM Capital, he was Vice President, Head of Credit Research at Calvert Investments, where he led a team of credit analysts responsible for analyzing fixed income securities for prospective purchase and sale. At Calvert, he also served as Portfolio Manager for the Calvert High Yield Bond Fund and was an active member of the Valuation and Fixed Income Strategy Committees, and Strategic Accountability Taskforce.  His professional experience further includes serving as Senior Treasury Analyst and Senior Investment Accountant for ICMA Retirement Corporation.  A CFA® charterholder and certified Financial Risk Manager, Mr. Faul is a member of the CFA Society San Diego, and the Global Association of Risk Professionals.  Mr. Faul received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics with a concentration in Finance, from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is offered by the CFA Institute. To obtain the CFA charter, candidates must pass three exams demonstrating their competence, integrity, and extensive knowledge in accounting, ethical and professional standards, economics, portfolio management, and security analysis, and must also have at least four years of qualifying work experience, among other requirements.  CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

Michael Chalker, joined LM Capital Group in July 2014. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Chalker was an Analyst at Altegris Investments in La Jolla, California, where he oversaw portfolio analysis, strategy, and manager evaluations for the entire lineup of multi-manager mutual funds and select private placement hedge fund products, as well as providing general market analysis and commentary. During his tenure, he was closely involved with the creation of and strategy behind a new fixed-income, long-short fund, now a leading product on the platform. He received an undergraduate degree in Marketing from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Investment Finance from the University of San Diego School of Business. He is a graduate of LEAD San Diego and a member of the LEAD Alumni Association.

Vikrant Khadilkar, CFA, FRM, Portfolio Manager, Senior Analyst, and Member of the Investment Strategy Group. Mr. Khadilkarjoined LM Capital Group in September, 2018. Prior to joining the firm, he spent five years at Wilshire Associates, where he led efforts to develop new risk and attribution reports for investment consulting clients and assisted with management evaluations. During his tenure at Wilshire, he consulted with clients regarding asset allocation, investment structure, factor-based risk and attribution analysis.  Mr. Khadilkar earned a Master’s of Science in Financial Engineering from the Drucker School of Management at the Claremont Graduate School, an undergraduate degree in Engineering from the University of Mumbai, and is a CFA® charterholder, a member of the CFA Society San Diego, and Financial Risk Manager – Certified by the Global Association of Risk Professionals, and a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is offered by the CFA Institute. To obtain the CFA charter, candidates must pass three exams demonstrating their competence, integrity, and extensive knowledge in accounting, ethical and professional standards, economics, portfolio management, and security analysis, and must also have at least four years of qualifying work experience, among other requirements.  CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

Denise M. Madruga, Director – Client Service, joined LM Capital Group in 1999 in Operations. Her previous experience includes Client Associate with Merrill Lynch in the Private Client Group, and as the Vice President of Investment Services for the Mann Family Trust and the Ted Mann Foundation. Her last position at LM Capital Group was Director – Operations. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from San Diego State University. Ms. Madruga formally served on the Board of Directors for Summerbridge San Diego, a non-profit for under-privileged youth.

Shirley Prieto, Vice President – Client Service, joined LM Capital Group in 2015. Her previous experience includes Operations and Office Manager for CapitalWorks Investment Partners, Assistant Vice President in Operations specializing in Bank Loans with Caywood-Scholl Capital Management, and Associate in Operations at Allianz Global Investors. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting and Masters of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from Chaminade University of Honolulu.

Cheryl King, Senior Vice President, Business Development, joined LM Capital Group in October 2017. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. King was Head of Marketing and Consultant Relations at Symphony Asset Management (SAM). Before joining SAM, she was Managing Director in charge of business development at Symphony Financial Partners and has held similar positions at Victory Capital Management, Dresdner RCM Global Investors, and Fidelity Investments. She is also a former board member of the Association of Investment Management Sales Executives and past advisory member for the Institutional Investor Roundtables. Ms. King received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Gerry Dodd, Senior Vice President – Business Development, joined LM Capital Group in March 2023.  Prior to joining the firm Mr. Dodd was a Financial Advisor at Prudential Advisors focusing on small businesses and family financial solutions.  The majority of his career was spent building alternative sales and research businesses at a number of investment banks, including CIBC, State Street, Bank of Montreal and JP Morgan.  He started his career at JP Morgan on the foreign exchange desk and then spent 12 years at State Street Corporation where he was Global Head of Relationship Management for Hedge Funds and Private Equity.  Mr. Dodd received a Bachelor of Arts degree from London Metropolitan University and an MS in Business Finance from Brunel University.

Angie M. Vargas, Assistant Vice President of the Business Development Team, joining LM Capital Group in February 2018. Prior to joining the firm Ms. Vargas previously worked as an Executive Assistant at local financial firm in the San Diego area. Ms. Vargas has over 15 years of operations and administrative experience in the financial industry. Ms. Vargas studied at San Diego City College.

Tobias Gorodzinsky, Comptroller, is a principal of the firm. Prior to joining LM Capital Group, he spent several years in manufacturing and sales at Industrias Kuick, S.A. Mr. Gorodzinsky has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Pan American Institute for Senior Management.

Jeffrey M. Frankel, Chief Compliance Officer, manages the compliance affairs at LM Capital Group. Mr. Frankel joined the firm in January 2010. Prior to the firm, he served as Assistant Vice President – Compliance at LPL Financial in San Diego. Mr. Frankel supervised financial advisors and Registered Investment Advisors and was responsible for writing, testing, and implementing various firm compliance policies and procedures. His other professional experience includes Vice President – Equity Trading at Security Investment Company of Kansas City and Account Executive on Instinet Corporation’s OTC trade desk in New York. Mr. Frankel received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Hartford.

Carlos Osuna, IT Manager, joined the firm in 2010. Mr. Osuna is also a consultant for LM Advisors, supporting both firms with his IT experience. Prior to joining LM Capital Group, he held the position of senior IT consultant for the Hispanic National Mortgage Organization for five years. Mr. Osuna also has several years of experience in the manufacturing, communications, and consulting fields. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science Engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico.

Trader Ezra Betech joined LM Capital Group in March 2012. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Betech worked as a Business Analyst for Sempra Energy, where he provided analytical support to the Energy Risk Management team and was responsible for the modernization of Sempra Generation’s Risk Management System. He joined LM Capital Group as vice president of Client Services. He then transitioned to Operations in June 2015 and was promoted to the Director of Operations a year later. In 2022, he moved to the Trading floor. Betech received a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Security and Conflict Resolution with a specialization in Global Systems from San Diego State University. He has a California Real Estate license.

Marcos Saade, Operations Analyst, joined LM Capital in April 2021. Prior to joining the firm, he completed a finance internship with AVAULTE. Marcos graduated with a B.A. in Finance and Business Economics from the University of San Diego in 2021, and he recently obtained his MBA from the same institution in 2024. Initially hired as a Marketing and Research Associate, he was promoted to the Research group as a Research Associate in 2022. Marcos is currently pursuing the CFA Level I designation.

Ross Foster, Director of Operations, – Ross joined LM Capital Group in March 2024. Ross has over 15 years’ experience in the Operations space of Financial Services.  Prior to joining the firm, Ross worked at Chandler Asset Management in San Diego as the Operations Team Leader providing account reconciliation services, trade and settlements processing, training and project leadership among other tasks. Ross received his B.S degree with a concentration in Finance and a Minor in Economics from Sonoma State University and his MBA from Golden Gate University.

Frank Hacklander, CFA, Senior Credit Analyst, joined the firm in July, 2022. Prior to LM Capital, he was an independent credit research consultant at FEH Analytics for four years. As a seasoned high-yield and distressed credit professional since 1999, his professional experience includes senior credit research roles at Calvert Investments, Guggenheim Partners, Société Générale and as an analyst at Fleet Securities and Bank of America Securities, LLC. Mr. Hacklander received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in Economics and Philosophy, then served as an officer in the US Navy for five years. Following his honorable discharge, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he received his Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Accounting. He is a CFA® charterholder.

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is offered by the CFA Institute. To obtain the CFA charter, candidates must pass three exams demonstrating their competence, integrity, and extensive knowledge in accounting, ethical and professional standards, economics, portfolio management, and security analysis, and must also have at least four years of qualifying work experience, among other requirements.  CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

Pablo Barrientos joined LM Capital on November 1, 2022, as a Senior Credit Analyst. Prior to joining the firm, he had focused his professional career on capital markets origination with Citigroup in New York. He was most recently a Director in the Latin America Debt Capital Markets group and regional leader of the Global ESG Debt Capital Markets team.  Pablo’s experience includes advising, structuring, and executing international bond and syndicated loan transactions for Latin American sovereign and corporate borrowers. These transactions were across industries and credit ratings.  Pablo graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with two degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He is currently working towards his CFA level 3.