Our Philosophy
At Annova, we are delighted to offer a wide range of financial services, placing our clients at the heart of everything we do. Our team of highly skilled advisors, proficient in various aspects of financial planning, such as public and private market investments, life insurance, and retirement planning, is here to guide you. We take pride in building enduring relationships with our clients, going beyond the realm of financial advice to foster deeper connections. Our commitment to innovation and cutting-edge ideas ensures that we stay ahead of the latest trends, providing you with unprecedented support.
Fiduciary Investment Advisors
Li (Leo) Ma Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer and Fiduciary Investment Advisor
Wilmington, DE
Li leads the firm’s overall operation and is responsible for investment process due diligence, asset allocation, and discretionary investment management for the firm’s Portfolio Management Accounts. He also manages the firm’s Institutional Investment Advisory businesses. Before joining the financial industry, he worked as a Principal Engineer for Axalta Coating Systems LLC (NYSE: AXTA) and a Senior Research Engineer for Dupont Companies (NYSE: DD) for nine years.
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Li earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2001 and a Master of Arts in Information Systems from the City University of Hong Kong in 2005. Li obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010. Li is a Series 65 license holder certified by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an Investment Advisor Law Exam administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).​
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Partners
Michael Binger CFA
Minneapolis, MN
Michael Binger serves as the President of Gradient Investments, LLC. Binger brings over 31 years of investment management experience to Gradient Investments and its affiliated advisors and clients. He has extensive experience working directly with financial advisors designing and actively managing portfolios. Binger has successfully invested in numerous market and economic cycles giving him a level and depth of experience that is rare in this industry.
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Binger started his investment career in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Lutheran Brotherhood in 1987 and gained experience managing assets in a variety of asset classes including convertible bonds, small-cap equities, and large-cap equities. When Lutheran Brotherhood and Aid Association for Lutherans merged in 2001 to become Thrivent Financial, Binger was selected to work as one of the senior portfolio managers on the Large Cap Growth Team and Large Cap Alpha Team managing over $3 billion in assets. As a senior portfolio manager, he developed and oversaw the tactical investment strategies utilized within mutual funds, variable annuities, pension funds, and insurance company products. These investment processes included proprietary portfolio construction strategies, security selection metrics, and volatility control parameters.
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Binger graduated from the University of Minnesota earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration-Finance. He graduated with honors and was the University of Minnesota's Wall Street Journal Award Winner. Binger is a CFA® and a member of The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts. Binger's media highlights include numerous appearances, providing market insight on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and Fox Business. He has also been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Smart Money, Reuters, Business Week, and numerous other local, national, and global investment publications.
William Liu Ph.D.
New York, NY
William Liu, a principal at DoubleTree Investment Partners, is a 20 years veteran of Wall Street. As a managing director, business partner, head of risk management, senior vice president, vice president, financial consultant, financial engineer, and senior analyst, Dr. Liu worked respectively for Credit Suisse First Boston, Bank of New York Mellon, Provident Group Asset Management, Ivy Asset Management (AUM of $14 billion), Lyra Capital LLC (AUM of $1.9 billion), family offices and financial consulting firms in New York.
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Over the past fifteen years, Dr. Liu’s focus has been on multi-asset portfolio investment, the asset allocation of CTA, ETFs and liquid strategy funds, global investment of multi-billion hedge funds, and risk management of multi-strategy fund platform. He specialized in the development of customized investment solutions and multi-strategy fund products for family offices, HNWs, and institutional investors, implementation of risk policies and investment guidelines, hedge fund due diligence and selection, negotiation of fund contracts, quantitative analysis, and application of machine learning to multi-asset investments, that includes principal protection investments, insured portfolio trading, investable index management, and risk minimization of blending investment of public and private funds for wealth management firms.
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Prior to joining financial firms on Wall Street, Dr. Liu worked as a visiting scholar and then a Post-Doctoral research scientist at Columbia University, New York. Dr. Liu is a frequently invited panel speaker of executives’ training programs and international conferences of multi-asset portfolio investment, financial risk management, and fund of hedge funds.
Joe M. Maas
CFA, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC, MSFS, CCIM™, CVA, ABAR, CM&AA
Bellevue, WA
Joe Maas is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer for Synergy Asset Management LLC (SAM). A highly trained financial analyst, Joe is responsible for analyzing current and potential investments for the firm through fundamental analysis, researching industry trends, speaking to industry experts and through a thorough understanding and application of quantitative methods and technical analysis. Mr. Maas is certified in many areas of expertise including, financial analysis, valuation, mergers and acquisition, financial and estate planning, etc. With over two decades of financial industry experience, his core specialty is providing comprehensive investment management services for individual investors, business owners, and financial advisors. Mr. Maas established SAM as a 360-degree financial services firm, providing a variety of solutions under one roof. With a team of experienced professionals, Synergy provides a complete mix of integrated financial services.
Endorsement Disclosure:
This endorsement of Gradient Investments, LLC is provided by an investment advisor who refers clients to Gradient Investments, LLC. A conflict of interest exists because this investment advisor receives a portion of the annual management fee charged by Gradient Investments, LLC, based on the assets under management of this investment advisor’s clients. This endorsement could assist in the investment advisor increasing the assets placed with Gradient Investments, LLC, and therefore their compensation. These investment advisors are not affiliated with or supervised by Gradient Investments, LLC.