ELITE Portfolios believes that Financial Advisors and their clients need access to superior investment portfolios to achieve their end goals. ELITE offers a suite of portfolios that target the risk and sophistication of the end client. Portfolios are designed to provide investors a much smoother investment pathway, which in turn fosters better outcomes through turbulent markets. This enables clients to stay on track in meeting financial goals. ELITE is funded from the investment managers utilized in our portfolio allocations. This assures Financial Advisors can deliver valuable, efficient and cost effective solutions.
The ELITE team is comprised of leaders in the investment industry with over 150 years experience, direct management in excess of $10b, 2 CFAs, CAIA, 2 CFPS, & 4 MBAs.
The team has vast expertise in derivatives, alternatives, portfolio optimization, quantitative research, real estate & tax planning.
Our Investment Committee
Justin Balas, CAIA
Justin Balas is Chief Investment Officer and President of Elite. Prior to Elite, Justin served as Private Wealth Advisor and Director with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Within this role with SVB, Justin advised wealthy families on asset allocation and alternative investments, working closely with SVB’s investment team and CIO to curate private and liquid alternative offerings for SVB’s investment platform. Prior to SVB, Justin served as Operating Partner and CFO of The Harbinger Group and Misionero. As Operating Partner with Harbinger, Justin served as strategic interface with Harbinger’s Board, Corporate Venture, Family Office and Individual LPs, led due diligence efforts on M&A transactions and shaped strategy with Harbinger’s Board. Prior to Harbinger/Misionero, Justin held various leadership and investment roles for 15 years with Welton Investment Partners, a Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund based in California and New York. As Head of Investments and Chair of the Investment Committee for Welton, Justin led and mentored a team of cross functional investment professionals. Justin served as Welton’s lead portfolio management interface with investors helping grow AUM from $50m to $1.2B. Early in his career, Justin served as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development for Software Development firm, Monarch Media Inc. Justin holds an M.B.A from Northeastern University with an emphasis in Finance and Entrepreneurship, is a graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business' Executive Program and holds a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Justin holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation as a Charter Member.
Gavan Duemke
Gavan has been the Chief Investment Officer with Carden Capital, LLC since 2014, located in Little Rock, AR.
His responsibilities include Carden Capital’s options income strategy and quantitative investment strategies. his past responsibilities include top: Senior Manager Derivatives Structuring and Trade Execution, at Chatham Financial Europe, in London; Principal, Business Development and Treasury for Deutsche US-Forst Treuhand; and, Chief Investment Officer, for a Colorado based asset management firm.
A dynamic speaker, Gavan Duemke, has been a guest, and keynote speaker at a number of high profile events, including: The Global Association of Risk Professionals; The Colorado School of Mines; JP Morgan Center for Commodities, Continued Professional Education Program; the University of Colorado; Colorado State University; Regis University; the University of
Oxford; Estonian Business School.
Gavan has a BA in Management and Economics from the University of Cologne, in Cologne, Germany; and an MBA from the University of Oxford in Oxford, UK.
Greg Rutherford, CFP
Greg’s 18 years of experience as a Financial Advisor is a strong assurance that ELITE recognizes the portfolio needs of advisors. Greg understands that delivering great performance while differentiating services, is instrumental in the success and growth of an advisory practice. Prior to founding ELITE Portfolios, Greg founded ThePARTNERS Wealth Management, 2021, Adaptive Investments, 2015, and FolioMetrix/RiskX, 2012. Greg was also the co-founder of Tagge*Rutherford Financial Group, a financial services firm founded in Omaha in 1992. Greg holds a designation as a Certified Financial Planner™ and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska – Omaha and a Master of Business Administration from Golden Gate University. Greg resides in Carmel, California with his wife, Jennifer. He has been involved on many charitable boards and community organizations. Greg coached youth sports for many years and continues to find time to attend many sporting events including baseball, basketball and football, as his youngest son is playing all at Carmel HS. He travels to Tennessee where his youngest daughter attends UT, and to Omaha, where his other three children live. He truly enjoys the game of golf although his inconsistent swing, and horrible chipping, provides a considerable amount of frustration.
Scott Wetherington, CFA®
Scott is an accomplished member of the ELITE Investment Committee. Scott has 25+ years of experience in portfolio management, trading, research encompassing equities, fixed income, alternatives, and derivatives. Scott serves as Chief Investment Officer for Adaptive Investments and is responsible for leading the research and investment strategies for Adaptive’s ETFs. He also serves as Portfolio Manager for Adaptive’s Tactical Rotation, Tactical Outlook, and Hedged Multi Asset Income Funds. Scott joined Adaptive after serving as Senior Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Strategist for Cardea Capital, a TAMP. From 2003-2009 Scott was a Portfolio Manager within fixed income for ING Investment Management (Voya). Prior to Voya, Scott worked for APAM Inc. a multi billion dollar fixed income derivative hedge fund and institutional money manager.
Scott is a frequent speaker at conferences on Portfolio Management and has been honored as a guest speaker at Georgia Institute of Technology. Scott earned his Bachelor of Business Administration at James Madison University. He resides in Roswell, Georgia with his family. Scott also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA) and is a member of the Atlanta Society of Finance and Investment Professionals.
Steven Wruble, CFA®, AAMS
Steven is the Director of Portfolio Solutions at Amplify based out of Scottsdale, AZ. Steve is responsible for providing bespoke investment lineups and portfolio solutions to firms utilizing the platform by uniting them with best in class Investment processes, strategies, and asset managers.
Previously, Steve was the founder and owner of InvestBetter Consulting, located in Omaha, NE, where he has curated solutions to broker/dealers, RIA’s, product sponsors, financial advisors, he also, was the Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Head of Research, and Portfolio Manager for RiskX Investments, Formerly FolioMetrix.
Mr. Wruble has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry building relationships with the best and brightest industry leaders, by leveraging his deep practical experience in a proven consultative sales capacity. He is known to perform extraordinary well making critical decisions during challenges. Steve is a dynamic leader and strategist in tune with industry trends, needs, and opportunities.
Steve holds the Chartered Financial Analyst [CFA], and the Accredited Asset Management Specialist [AAMS] designations, is a member of the CFA Society of Nebraska, and a renowned speaker for the IPA Institute.
Mr. Wruble Has a BS in Finance from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and a Masters of Security Analysis and Portfolio Management from Creighton University in Omaha, NE.
Robert Joel, CFP
Robert is the Co-Founder of Salvus Wealth Management and serves as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of the firm. He is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee and Investment Strategy Team.
Bob has over 25 years of experience in managing relationships for high net worth families, private foundations and institutions. His specialties include the oversight and implementation of comprehensive wealth management services, manager due diligence and selection and the construction of tax efficient investment portfolios.
Prior to founding Salvus, Bob was a Principal at Arcus Capital Partners and Partner at HighTower Advisors, two wealth management firms that cater to high net worth clients. Previously, he served as Vice President of Timucuan Asset Management, a single family office and value equity manager.
He holds a BA in History from Florida State University and was awarded the Certified Financial Planner designation in 1996. Bob is a member of the Financial Planning Association, the largest membership organization for CFP® professionals in the United States. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for two non-profit organizations located in Jacksonville: Youth Crisis Center Properties and amplify, Inc.
Bob and his wife, Tina, reside in Jacksonville, Florida with their two daughters. Bob is also a diehard Chicago Cubs fan and, despite a glaring lack of talent, has played acoustic and electric guitar for over 25 years