OUR TEAM OF PROFESSIONALS

Michael W. Tryon

Michael W. Tryon

Chief Executive Officer, Founder

mwtryon@tryonfinancial.com

Michael is a former CEO and President of six business turnarounds (privately-held, wholly-owned divisions of foreign / domestic holding companies, publicly-traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ). They ranged in size from $300m to $2.2b.


Former owner of Tryon Capital, LLC (private equity firm) and is a former Board of  Directors member for the Veridian Credit Union. He was a speaker and roundtable participant with Chief Executive Publication in New York, NY. Michael is a sought after motivational speaker on leadership and a published author, 1993 (“Follow Me … Beyond the Top”). He’s conducted over 250 presentations to small businesses, Fortune 500 firms and numerous Board of Directors, on effective leadership and the essentials of failing business “turnarounds”. He launched another publication (“Looking for an Angel”) in September 2014.


He graduated from Iowa State University in 1978 (serving as captain and quarterback of the Cyclone football team) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Education.


Michael is securities licensed and a fiduciary with a Series 65 license; plus Series 7, 63, and 62 licenses.



Cynthia L. Tryon

Cynthia L. Tryon

Chief Operations Officer, Director of Client & Advisor Services, Founder

ctryon@tryonfinancial.com

Cindy is the Operations Manager and coordinates all public and private speaking engagements. Cindy oversees our emphatic mantra of servicing our clients & advisors. She leads daily office activities such as processing new business, account transfers, scheduling client appointments, billing, and all other client and advisor service items. She is responsible for making sure the enterprise runs smoothly and keeps our clients and advisors comfortable, informed, and pampered. She proactively communicates with our advisors to ensure they are informed throughout all client-driven processes.


Cindy is a graduate of Iowa State University where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design. She founded Interior Innovations in Austin, TX, and Ambiance Home Décor in Iowa, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. She also had a highly promoted business career with Jacobson Stores and Parts Company of America.


Andrew Charipar

Andrew Charipar

Investment Advisor Representative

Andrew@tryonfinancial.com

Andrew joined Tryon Investments, LLC as an independent Investment Advisor Representative in January 2016. Andrew is a recent graduate from the University of Iowa with a BA in Economics & a certificate in Entrepreneurial Management. After passing the Series 65, and becoming an Investment Advisor Representative with fiduciary responsibility, Andrew is heading the trading desk and assists in the research function of the firm. In addition, Andrew puts together retirement analysis, social security projections, and portfolio analysis. He shares our strict philosophies to provide financial freedom to clients.


In his free time, Andrew enjoys working out and spending time outdoors with family and friends. He is an avid Chicago Cubs and Iowa Hawkeye fan. Andrew holds the Series 7 and 63 licenses.


Andrew Tryon Jr.

Michael Tryon, Jr.

Executive Vice President

Michael@tryonfinancial.com

Michael is rejoining Tryon Investments, LLC as an independent Investment Advisor Representative (sitting for the Series 65 exam). Michael graduated from Western Illinois University with a BS in marketing and finance. Michael was formerly with Tryon Financial Group as Managing Director of the insurance division. He holds an Insurance license for Life, Accident & Health, and Auto. Michael was a Client Relationship Manager with Businessolver and a Supervisor, Client Services Analyst with Mercer for 6 years. Michael was highly promoted, a proven leader, and exceeded all expectations in his roles. Michael will lead Tryon Investments, LLC’s marketing, television programs, communications, performance reporting; and analytics/research / client interactions, as a fiduciary (upon passing his Series 65).


Michael is married to Courtney and has three children (Audrey 7, Carter 3 and Magnolia 1). He enjoys golfing, working out, and spending time outdoors with family and friends. 


Our New Investment Team

Capital Market Consultants, Inc.

TRYON INVESTMENTS

In our commitment to establish and maintain a sound investment philosophy for our clients at Tryon Investments, LLC, we have vetted, invested in and retained a leading third-party institutional investment consultant to assist our investment committee in making portfolio decisions.


In order to provide the leading expertise, analytical power and reporting capabilities that we believe our clients deserve, we have engaged Capital Market Consultants, Inc. (CMC) to provide us capital market and economic research that powers our investments. In general, CMC is tasked with the responsibility to assist Tryon Investments, LLC in developing our high net worth investment programs. Specifically, CMC provides the following:


• Asset allocation guidance

• Model portfolio research

• Investment policy guidance

• Monthly / Quarterly client communications


The following talent is now a crucial (and expansive) addition to our team. This relationship will only add additional talent, oversite and proven research; without any additional costs / fees to manage our clients’ portfolios. We made this investment commitment to expand our team of investment professionals. More talent = more value, for our precious clients.


Our investment committee consists of Mike Tryon, Andrew Charipar, and CMC’s exhaustive management team. Together, we meet weekly / monthly to discuss current market / economic conditions in order to keep a current and opportunistic investment policy for our clients.

Barry K Mendelson, Tryon Investments Iowa City

Barry K. Mendelson,CIMA®

CEO, Senior Investment Analyst

barry@cmarkc.com

Barry is responsible for leading Capital Market Consultants, guiding its direction, and developing and managing the implementation of CMC’s business strategy. Barry is also directly involved on a day-to-day basis in most aspects of CMC’s business.


Barry has worked in the financial services industry for over thirty-four years. He brings a wealth of practical management, business building, teaching and investment management consulting experiences to client engagements. He has spoken frequently at industry events over the years on subjects ranging from investment analysis, client profiling, money manager style analysis, investment consulting, advisor training, and other topics. He is the author or co-author of a number of articles on various aspects of the practice of investment management consulting.


Barry earned his Certified Investment Management Analysts designation (CIMA®) from the Investment Management Consultants Association and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School in 1990. He has been a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association since 1989. Barry earned a BS from Palmer College in Davenport, Iowa in 1976.


Barry’s charitable activities include Flour Power of Milwaukee which re-purposes fresh baked goods from local bakeries for the Milwaukee Rescue Mission.





Abdur R. Chowdhury, Tryon Investments Iowa City

Abdur R. Chowdhury, PH.D.

Chief Economist

abdur@cmarkc.com

Abdur serves as the firm’s Chief Economist and is primarily responsible for global economic analysis and forecasting including creating client communications like quarterly newsletters, monthly economic update reports, interpretive news alerts, monthly client conference calls, and public speaking engagements for CMC clients. Dr. Chowdhury is actively involved in the development of the firm’s forecasted capital market assumptions. Abdur is a Professor of economics in the College of Business Administration at Marquette University. Dr. Chowdhury also serves on the Chicago Federal Reserve Board’s Academic Advisory Council.


Abdur has over 27 years of experience as an economist. He was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts from 1983-1989, and an Associate Professor of Economics at Marquette University from 1989-2002. He taught at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand as a Senior Fulbright Scholar from 1995-1996. He was a visiting Professor at the School for Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. in 1996. He was a visiting Researcher at the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations in Helsinki, Finland in 1998 and 2001. He was a Consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy from 1998-1999. He was a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Transition Economics for the Bank of Finland from 2002-2003 in Helsinki, Finland. Most recently he was the Chief Economist and Director, Economic Analysis Division for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva, Switzerland from 2003-2007. Abdur has been widely published in academic journals.


Abdur was educated at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh earning a B.A. (Honors) in 1976 and an M.A. in Economics in 1977. He earned an M.A. in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kentucky in 1983.



Robert Cumminsford, Tryon Investments Iowa City

Nick Ihn

Senior Research Analyst

nick@cmarkc.com

Nick joined CMC in 2008 and is critically involved in a broad range of proprietary and client research projects. Nick is involved in investment manager and mutual fund research and ongoing due diligence of these investment products for our institutional clients. He is actively involved in our economic research, target date funds, and client communications.


Nick received his BS in Finance and Marketing and successfully completed the prestigious applied investment management program from Marquette University in 2008.


Tom Hansen, Tryon Investments Iowa City

Tom Hansen, CFA

Senior Investment Analyst, Chief Compliance Officer

tom@cmarkc.com

Tom joined CMC in November 2015 as a Senior Investment Analyst and our Chief Compliance Officer. Tom’s primary responsibilities to our institutional clients include investment manager research, portfolio modeling, and asset allocation guidance among other services. Tom is also responsible for producing a number of the firm’s frequently updated research reports which are distributed to advisors for use in their practices.


He has worked in financial services for twenty-two years (22). He brings a broad range of investment-related experiences and skills to the firm. Prior to becoming part of the investment side of the financial business,  Tom had ten(10) years of experience in securities and advisory compliance


Tom earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in 1990 and an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1993. Additionally, he completed the Investment Management Certificate Program (ICMP) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Finally, he has earned the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).





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