Mr. Welle joined Optima in 2007 and currently serves as the firm’s International sector head with responsibility for manager allocations across Europe, Canada and global emerging markets with an emphasis on hedged equity and global macro allocations. Further, Mr. Welle is a member of the firm’s portfolio management committee. Prior to joining Optima, Mr. Welle was an equity analyst at Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley, a $19 billion investment management firm located in Richmond, Virginia. There he was a member of the energy and industrials group and responsible for both fundamental and quantitative analysis.  Mr. Welle is a graduate of Washington and Lee University where he received a B.S. in Business Administration.