Senior Personnel
Derrick M. Grava, CIMA®
President, CEO, CIO, and Chief Compliance Officer
Kiawah Island, SC
c: 404.402.7016
Derrick has primary responsibility for sourcing and performing ongoing due diligence on the managers on the Palmetto platform.
Derrick began his career in the asset management and financial services industry in 1984 and started Palmetto after leaving Boston based 2100 Capital Group, where he was Head of U.S. Sales and Marketing. While at 2100, Derrick structured funds of hedge funds that were registered mutual funds and distributed those funds for 2100's parent firm, Old Mutual Asset Management. Prior to 2100 Capital Group, Derrick was a Senior Vice President at UBS Wealth Management and a senior professional in the Alternative Investment Group. At UBS, Derrick assisted in the launch of over 25 alternative funds and helped raise over $8 billion for funds created and managed by the Alternative Investment Group. While Derrick was at UBS, the firm was the largest manager of funds of hedge funds in the world.
Prior to UBS, Derrick was a Vice President at Smith Barney, where he worked for the Consulting Group, was part of the senior staff at the Consulting Group's Atlanta Tech. Center. Prior to being recruited to the Consulting Group, Derrick was a Financial Advisor and managed retail and institutional client accounts at various brokerage firms including Smith Barney, Shearson Lehman Brothers and Drexel Burnham Lambert. Derrick started his career on the trading floor of Trust Company Bank in Atlanta, where he ultimately worked as a Portfolio Manager and part of a team that managed over $4 billion for SunTrust Banks, Inc.
Derrick received his CIMA® designation from the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) after completing coursework at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Derrick earned a BA in English and History from Northwestern University. While in college, Derrick started and coached the Northwestern Crew (rowing team), which is currently the largest club sport at the university.
Derrick has been married to Joan since 1985 and they have two sons, Nicholas and Christopher. Nick graduated from Northwestern in 2011 and Chris graduated from Vanderbilt in 2014. Chris lives in Cape Town, South Africa and manages the day to day operations of a U.S. based non-profit Intsikelelo, which was created for the purpose of helping orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. Nick, and his wife Nokwanda, live in West Lafayette, IN, where Kwanda is a PhD Candidate at Purdue University. Nick co-manages Intsikelelo.
Derrick and Joan are avid sailors with extensive offshore and international sailing experience. When not working they enjoy sailing, skiing, diving, tennis and squash. Derrick is the Honorary Lifetime Director on the board of the Bubbly Creek Rowing Foundation, which was established to support the Northwestern crew. He is the past Chairman of the Choate Rosemary Hall Volunteer Admissions Network, former member of the CRH Alumni Executive Committee, and has been a member of IMCA since 1995.
Joan K. Grava
Principal and Operations Manager
Kiawah Island, SC
c: 404.626.8348
Joan began her career at CNN in 1983. When Joan left CNN she was a Director for CNN International and a Technical Director at CNN domestically. Joan worked at Robinson Humphrey and was the Operations Manager at Tiffany & Co. in Atlanta. After raising the Grava’s two sons and extensive involvement in volunteer activities, Joan took over the operations of Palmetto in 2008. Joan graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Radio, Television and Film. Joan studied at Harvard University, where she learned to scull, and subsequently was a founding member of the Northwestern Crew, where she initially rowed and ultimately helped coach the team during its first few seasons.
Joan is a founding member and serves on the Board of Intsikelelo, a 501c3 non-profit charity founded in 2014 to help vulnerable children in South Africa.
Christopher C. Abbott
Managing Director
Boston, MA
617.462.0525
Chris is responsible for institutional business development and for business development in New England. Chris has almost 40 years of professional asset raising experience in marketable securities, hedge funds and private equity, and can assist in the design and implementation of a Go-To-Market distribution strategy.
He has been actively involved in raising funds in global agribusiness since 2008. Most recently, Chris was a Managing Director with NCH Capital Inc., a global agribusiness company that aggregates, farms and distributes row crops and oil seeds from 880,000 hectares (approximately 1.6 million acres) equally split between Ukraine and Russia with smaller holdings in Romania, Latvia and Kazakhstan. NCH manages ~ US $1.5 billion in agribusiness assets that were raised in two funds. Chris focused on non-government and sovereign investors, foundations, endowments, and family offices globally with a concentration on clients in the North America, the United Kingdom and Europe.
Chris has held senior corporate roles at Merrill Lynch, Putnam Investments, Pioneer Investments, State Street Research & Management Company, and 2100 Capital Group, an alternative fund manager that was a subsidiary of Old Mutual, all in Boston and New York City. He was responsible for new business development and investment consultant relations, client service, product development and strategy design and implementation. During his tenure with these organizations he worked with global institutional investors including corporate pension plans, public funds, foundations and endowments, insurance companies, sub-advisory relationships, family offices and high net worth individuals and the consultants that serve them. He has been engaged in capital raising, client retention, strategy development and execution. He has raised over $32 billion in institutional assets in his career and participated in over 350 “Final Presentations.”
Chris graduated with honors from St. Lawrence University with a major in Government and a minor in Canadian Studies, and completed graduate work at New York University Stern School of Business.
Chris is the parent of two children. His daughter works in San Francisco and his son in NYC. Chris enjoys travel and has seen >40 countries for both business and pleasure. Originally from Manchester, MA, Chris has split is time in business between Boston and New York City in nearly equal proportions. Chris enjoys boating and has cruised and raced extensively, including a Trans-Atlantic crossing in 2007. He is also an active tennis player, golfer and has recently taken up Pickle Ball! An active and life-long skier, Chris has skied all over the world. Chris is a jazz devotee and enjoys music of all kinds. He grew up playing the drums and regularly attends concerts throughout the country and locally. Chris is also an avid reader who prefers non-fiction with a particular focus on historical events globally.
Chris served two terms as an elected member of the St. Lawrence University Alumni Council, has been a Trustee and President of the Alumni Association of Brooks School in North Andover, MA and served seven years as a Trustee of Shore Country Day School. He has also been an officer of the Manchester Yacht Club and is active in civic activities in Manchester.
Thomas C. Giordano
Managing Director
Atllanta, GA
o: 770.559.5741
c: 404.573.6460
Tom is primarily responsible for business development in the South. Tom began his career in the financial services industry in 1985 at Merrill Lynch in New York City as a pension consultant, providing retirement planning services to business owners. In 1986 he completed Merrill's training program and became a Financial Consultant, advising retail and institutional clients. In 1993 Tom accepted the position of VP Investments with Smith Barney in Atlanta, where he provided financial advice and service to clients seeking college, retirement, and estate planning. Tom later became an independent Financial Advisor where he continued to specialize in portfolio management.
A native of Princeton New Jersey, Tom holds a BS degree in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia where he met his wife Mimi. They married in 1987 and enjoy traveling, hiking and spending time with their 4 grown children.
Michael J. Laubinger
Managing Director
Charleston, SC
508.982.3491
Mike is responsible for business development in the Mid-Atlantic states and North Carolina. His career began in Boston in 2003 as a Financial Advisor where he focused on financial planning and wealth management. Prior to joining the firm Mike spent 9 years with Charles Schwab & Co. as a VP Financial Consultant serving high net worth families in Charlotte, North Carolina. Most recently Mike was a Vice President at Victoria Capital with responsibility for institutional relationships.
Mike served in the United States Coast Guard and graduated from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.
John H. Lauderdale
Managing Director
Milwaukee, WI
262.719.2196
John is responsible for business development in the Midwest and California. John began his Financial Services career in 1991. Before joining Palmetto, John was an Institutional Investment Consultant with the Schilffarth-Schnoll Group of RBC Wealth Management. Prior to RBC, John was a Senior Vice President with the North Track Funds / The Ziegler Companies, Inc. As a Senior Vice President, he lead North Track's mutual fund sales and marketing efforts for over fifteen years.
John earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, where he majored in Communications and minored in Business.
Ron Witkowski
Managing Director
Wall Township, NJ
732.580.7232
Ron has primary responsibility for business development in the Northeast. Ron has vast and diversified Financial Services experience and has helped Financial Advisors navigate many different market environments by providing varied and appropriate investment solutions across the traditional and alternative spectrum using a consultative approach that has focused on timely and relevant emerging manager solutions since 1986. He joins Palmetto after over 6 years as a Regional Business Consultant at James Alpha Asset Management, a New York City based hedge fund seeding firm and mutual fund complex that manages a diversified family of traditional and liquid alternative mutual funds. Prior to James Alpha Ron was an independent Consultant at Sea Oaks Capital. From 1997-2013 Ron worked for the MetLife Broker-Dealer Group where he was a Senior Regional Vice President and held several senior management roles, including National Sales Director. Ron started his career at PaineWebber's Mitchell Hutchins Asset Management where he ultimately was a First Vice President with responsibility for the development, launch, growth and support of PaineWebber Mutual Funds.
Ron graduated from Fairfield University with a BS in Psychology. He and his wife Patricia have 4 children and he enjoys spending time with his family and doing anything related to water, including surfing, swimming, fishing and boating.