Who We Are

     

    ROBO Global is an index, advisory, and research company wholly focused on helping investors capture the unique opportunities of fast-growing robotics, artificial intelligence, and healthcare technology companies around the world. Our investment strategies adhere to the ROBO Global ESG Policy and are long-term sustainable growth opportunities that benefit both society and investors.

    ROBO is our robotics & automation portfolio, HTEC tracks the universe of healthcare technology companies, and THNQ is a portfolio of AI innovators. These unique and research-managed indices support investment products globally.

    As experienced investors, we know just how difficult it is to pick the winners over the long term. To tackle that task, our team spends the bulk of our time deep in research, identifying new trends, understanding new innovations, and exploring every company on the radar—and even some flying below the radar—regardless of size, market cap, or technology.

    Our Team

    Travis Briggs

    Travis Briggs

    CEO - US

    Travis Briggs

    CEO - US

    Travis is CEO and Partner of ROBO Global. A veteran of the finance and wealth management industry, Travis is responsible for managing daily operations and ...

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    Richard Lightbound

    Richard Lightbound

    CEO - EMEA & Asia

    Richard Lightbound

    CEO - EMEA & Asia

    Richard Lightbound joined ROBO Global in 2014. In addition to managing daily operations in Europe and Asia, he is responsible for executing the firm’s ...

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    William Studebaker

    William Studebaker

    President & CIO

    William Studebaker

    President & CIO

    Bill Studebaker joined the ROBO Global team in 2015 after more than 20 years in capital markets and investment management. For more than a decade, he served ...

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    Jeremie Capron

    Jeremie Capron

    Director of Research

    Jeremie Capron

    Director of Research

    Jeremie Capron joined ROBO Global in 2017 with more than ten years of experience as an equity research analyst in Asia, Europe, and the United States, with ...

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    Lisa Chai

    Lisa Chai

    Partner - ROBO Global Ventures

    Lisa Chai

    Partner - ROBO Global Ventures

    Lisa brings more than 20 years of experience investing in disruptive technology companies in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining ...

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    Clay Shepherd

    Clay Shepherd

    Chief Financial Officer

    Clay Shepherd

    Chief Financial Officer

    Clay joined the ROBO Global team at the firm's founding in 2013 and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer. Outside of his financial ...

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    Brad Baker

    Brad Baker

    COO & CTO

    Brad Baker

    COO & CTO

    Brad joined Robo Global in March of 2018 as Chief Technology Officer and Director of Operations. Prior to joining Robo, he spent the previous 16 years at ...

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    Lauren Hein

    Lauren Hein

    Head of Advisor Relations

    Lauren Hein

    Head of Advisor Relations

    Lauren Hein brings over a decade of ETF distribution experience to her role as ROBO Global’s Head of Advisor Relations. 

    Prior to joining ROBO ...

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    Axel Belorde

    Axel Belorde

    Head of Business Development EMEA & Asia

    Axel Belorde

    Head of Business Development EMEA & Asia

    Axel Belorde joined ROBO Global in 2021 from data & analytics company Palantir Technologies where he was responsible for building new commercial ...

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    Erin Martinez

    Erin Martinez

    CMO

    Erin Martinez

    CMO

    Erin was recruited to the ROBO Global team after adding impressive value as a consultant with iris Concise in Atlanta. In her role as Director at Concise, ...

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    Zeno Mercer

    Zeno Mercer

    Research Analyst

    Zeno Mercer

    Research Analyst

    Zeno brings nearly a decade of experience in research, due diligence, growth strategy, and partnership development across enterprise SaaS, healthcare, ...

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    Isaac Green

    Isaac Green

    Senior VP of Sales

    Isaac Green

    Senior VP of Sales

    Isaac Green has over 11yrs of Financial Services experience that he brings to Robo Global. Isaac started his career at Northwestern Mutual and held various ...

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    Shachi Merchant

    Shachi Merchant

    Vice President, Index Specialist

    Shachi Merchant

    Vice President, Index Specialist

    Shachi Merchant brings his expertise in ETF sales, risk management, and financial planning to his role as ROBO Global’s Vice President, Index Specialist. He ...

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    Erica Allaby

    Erica Allaby

    Product Marketing Manager

    Erica Allaby

    Product Marketing Manager

    Erica first joined the ROBO Global team as a content marketing specialist in 2014 and currently serves as the firm’s product marketing manager. She oversees ...

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    Kelsie Thurman

    Kelsie Thurman

    Visual Brand
    Designer

    Kelsie Thurman

    Visual Brand
    Designer

    Kelsie joined ROBO Global as a Communications Coordinator in 2021 and currently serves as our Visual Brand Designer. She manages our social media ...

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    Our Strategic Advisors

    Henrik Christensen

    Henrik I. Christensen,
    PhD

    Henrik I. Christensen,
    PhD

    Dr. Henrik I. Christensen is the Qualcomm Chancellor’s Chair of Robot Systems and a Distinguished Professor of  +

    Raffaello D'Andrea

    Raffaello D’Andrea,
    PhD

    Raffaello D’Andrea,
    PhD

    One of the world's foremost leaders in robotics and machine learning, Raffaello D'Andrea is the founder and CEO of Verity, providers of the world's ...

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    Ken-Goldberg

    Ken Goldberg,
    PhD

    Ken Goldberg,
    PhD

    Ken Goldberg is a Professor and Chair of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department at UC Berkeley, and he has secondary appointments in ...

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    Manish Kothari

    Manish Kothari,
    PhD

    Manish Kothari,
    PhD

    As president of SRI International, Manish Kothari, Ph.D., jointly develops SRI strategy with the CEO and oversees SRI ...

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    Wyatt Newman

    Wyatt Newman,
    PhD

    Wyatt Newman,
    PhD

    Wyatt Newman is a leading researcher in the areas of mechatronics, robotics and computational intelligence, in which he has 12 patents and over 130 ...

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    Illah Nourbakhsh

    Illah R. Nourbakhsh,
    PhD

    Illah R. Nourbakhsh,
    PhD

    Illah R. Nourbakhsh is K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University, inaugural Executive Director of ...

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    Daniela Rus

    Daniela Rus,
    PhD

    Daniela Rus,
    PhD

    Daniela Rus is the Director of CSAIL at MIT. She serves as the Director of the Toyota-CSAIL Joint Research Center and is a member of the science advisory ...

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    Louis Vincent-Gave

    Louis-Vincent Gave

    Louis-Vincent Gave

    After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and studying Mandarin at Nanjing University, Louis joined the French Army where he served as a ...

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    Morten_Paulsen

    Morten Paulsen

    Morten Paulsen

    Morten Paulsen is the Head of Research and a Managing Director at CLSA Japan. He has covered the Japanese robotics and machinery industry as a Tokyo-based ...

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    Raff

    Trust The Experts

    “There are still many tasks that are repetitive and not cognitively demanding, making them ripe for automation.”

    Raffaello D’Andrea, Professor of Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH
    Daniela

    Trust The Experts

    “Advancements in robotics and AI are turning healthcare support and virtual nursing from concept into reality at just the right time. Augmenting human teams via eldercare robotics and AI is one of the most efficient ways to increase the quality of care for the elderly and fill that gap.”

    Daniela Rus, Director of CSAIL at MIT
    Illah

    Trust The Experts

    “All too often, the “race to AI” is viewed as a drag race, with the winner defined as the first one to reach the finish line. What we’re learning today is that speed does not always equal success. Perhaps the most important lesson AI has to teach us is this: in everything we do, humans matter. It’s that simple.”

    Illah Nourbakhsh, Professor of Robotics, Director of the CREATE lab and Associate Director for robotics faculty at Carnegie Mellon University
    Raff with Drone-1

    Investing in Innovation

    The coverage team incorporates full-time financial and research professionals supported by industry entrepreneurs and academic leaders who specialize in global developments across robotics, artificial intelligence, and healthcare technologies.

    The strategic advisory board, including more than 7 PhDs and some of the most highly respected technology visionaries, works closely with our management team to identify early key industry trends and associated companies. Their constant research and influential insights have been a driving force of our outstanding performance to date.

    Every time we hear our team talk about what’s next, we love that we’re not just looking at numbers when we build the ROBO Global Industry Classification and our indices. With the work of a growing team of intellects, we’re combing the technologies of tomorrow to identify the companies that are poised to drive the most growth and innovation.

    Team at NYSE with gavel-1

    A History of Innovation

    From the beginning, ROBO Global has been all about innovation.

    Like any great idea, the concept of an index focused exclusively on robotics, automation, and AI was a foreign concept at the time. But as we began to look more closely at the companies that were focused on these technologies and applications, we soon realized the sheer scope of the opportunity. 

    We created an investment strategy in 2013 that provided unique, diversified exposure to a universe of robotics stocks. And we made real industry research a cornerstone of our process, leveraging the insights of established industry visionaries—not just Wall Street stock pickers—to select index members based on their potential to drive change in the future rather than what they had already achieved in the past.

    Since then, ROBO Global remains dedicated to innovation by remaining focused on the world’s greatest innovators in robotics, AI, and healthcare tech. Won’t you join us?