People

Haig Ariyan is the Chief Executive Officer of Arax Investment Partners.

At Arax, Haig oversees all operations, strategic direction, and leadership of the firm. Prior to joining Arax, Haig was the President and CEO of Alex. Brown, America’s first investment banking firm. While at Alex. Brown, Haig oversaw 220 Financial Advisors in 18 offices and $70B in client assets. Haig was the Head of Global Wealth Solutions, the product and solutions platform supporting all of Raymond James’ more than 8,000 affiliated advisors. Prior to leading the sale and integration of Alex. Brown to Raymond James Financial, Haig was the head of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management in the Americas.

Haig joined Alex. Brown & Sons in 1996 as a client advisor in Greenwich, Connecticut. After several years of building a successful practice working with high-net-worth families and playing an integral role in Deutsche Bank’s acquisition of BT Alex. Brown, Haig was named Regional Executive of the Greenwich office. In 2005, he was promoted to manage the midtown New York City office, while continuing to oversee the Greenwich business. He was also responsible for opening Deutsche Bank’s Wall Street branch. In 2009, Haig served as Head of the Eastern Region of Private Client Services and one year later was appointed the Head of the American wealth management franchise. Haig started his career at Dean Witter Reynolds.

Haig is active on the board of trustees of the Diocese of the Armenian Church as well as the central council of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU). He has served as chairman of the Armenian Church Endowment Fund’s investment committee and is a member of the board of the Dadourian Foundation, a private family foundation based in New York. Haig is also a member of the board of the MassMutual Trust Company. 

Haig holds a B.S. from Rutgers University.

Diego Galan is the Chief Financial Officer of Arax Investment Partners. 

At Arax, Diego is responsible for all financial-related activities, operations, and the company’s medium-to-long term strategy. Prior to joining Arax, Diego was the co-founder and COO of Bento Engine, a FinTech that combines a powerful advice engine, a proprietary content library and timing expertise to make Financial Advisors more impactful and efficient.

Between 2016 and 2021, Diego was the CFO and Head of Strategy of Alex. Brown and Raymond James Global Wealth Solutions, which provides the investment solutions platform for the Private Client Group’s 7,400 financial advisors. Diego was responsible for financial operations, strategy and broad change initiatives, including product strategy and roadmap, technology, acquisitions, and joint ventures.

Prior to Raymond James, Diego was the Head of Strategy and Corporate Development for the Deutsche Bank Wealth Management business in the Americas, leading a team responsible for strategy and business development for Deutsche Bank’s Private Bank and Brokerage businesses in the US and Latin America. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Diego was a Project Leader with The Boston Consulting Group, where he managed BCG and client teams on large-scale strategy and process improvement projects in the US, Europe and Latin America.

Diego holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Accounting from the Universidad Catolica Argentina, a Masters in Finance from the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John O’Connor is the Chief Operating Officer of Arax Investment Partners.

At Arax, John is responsible for overall operations and technology strategy and execution. Prior to joining Arax, John was President and COO of Brosnan Risk Consultants where he developed a small, regional, security and consulting firm into an innovative, industry leading, national business growing 15x over 10 years with over 6000 employees in 48 states.

John’s other previous leadership experiences include: KPMG Partner, where he was responsible for the build-out of the U.S. insurance operations consulting practice, COO of Endurance Specialty Insurance (now Sompo International), where he was responsible for building and running a global shared services organization to support the company’s geographic and product line expansion, and Accenture Partner, where he was responsible for strategic client relationships, alliances and multi-year transformation programs within the global financial services industry, including post-merger integration, shared services and technology strategy and implementation.

John holds a B.S. from Fairfield University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Fellow of the Life Management Institute.

Sumit Handa is the Chief Investment Officer at Arax Investment Partners.

At Arax, Sumit is responsible for the day-to-day investment activities. Prior to joining Arax, Sumit served as Managing Director/Partner, and Co-Head of the investment committee at Pennington Partners & Co., a multi-family office. Before Pennington, Sumit was the Head of Asset Allocation at Tiber Capital/Insight Investment/BNY Mellon, where he was responsible for structuring of transactions, and managing assets for global insurance & reinsurance companies. Prior to joining Insight Investment, Sumit served as the Chief Investment Officer for the City of Philadelphia Board of Pensions Retirement Plans and was also a portfolio manager primarily at DKR Capital.

Sumit is active in the community, and currently sits on the Board of Young Audiences.

Sumit holds a BS in Finance and a JD from St John’s University.

Amy Rizzo is the Chief Growth Officer of Arax Investment Partners.

At Arax, Amy leads recruiting, integration, and business development efforts. Amy’s 20 years in financial services began with roles at PaineWebber and Legg Mason, followed by 16 years at Alex. Brown where she acted as Regional Executive in South Florida. Most recently, Amy transitioned to the independent advisory space, consulting with advisors looking to break away from the wire house environment, as well as independent advisors seeking change for various reasons. Amy led due diligence efforts and supported advisors in some of their biggest life decisions. Subsequently, she became a Regional Director at Apollon Wealth Management, a fast-growing RIA where she led M&A efforts and spearheaded operational and platform enhancements.

Amy holds a B.A. from the University of Miami.

Zbynek Kozelsky is the Head of Compliance and Supervision of Arax Investment Partners.

At Arax, Zbynek oversees the firms regulatory and legal work, and helps leverage compliance and risk management resources from acquisitions. Prior to joining Arax, Zbynek oversaw supervisory and operational functions of Deutsche Bank International Private Bank, including US and Latin America Investment Advisory. He had been with the bank for 23 years, including working with Key Client Partners of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management.

Zbynek holds a B.A. from New England College, and an MBA from Sacred Heart University.

Christiana Didizian is an Associate of Arax Investment Partners.

At Arax, Christiana is actively involved with all stages of the acquisitions across the company. Christiana is also part of the investment team and is responsible for the marketing strategy.

Christiana holds a B.S. from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

David Vertsberger is the Controller of Arax Investment Partners. 

At Arax, David is responsible for cost structure optimization across the Arax ecosystem for middle- and back-office functions including billing, accounting reporting, IT and more. Prior to joining Arax, David was the Legal Entity Controller of Summit Health, an approximately $9bn healthcare company, where he focused on financial reporting and accounting. David began his career at City MD and has a proven track record, successfully centralizing the finance function within HoldCo. David is CPA certified. 

David holds an M.S. in Accounting from Yeshiva University.

Emma Verhaegen is the Executive Assistant of Arax Investment Partners.

Prior to joining Arax, Emma was a recruiter at WhiteCap Search, where she helped companies find talent for their teams in various services areas within the financial services sector. Before that, Emma was a talent acquisition manager at Premiere Response.

Emma holds a B.S. from The Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College of New Jersey.