ROBO GLOBAL

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 executing the firm’s business strategy.

Prior to joining ROBO Global in March 2014, Travis served as managing director at Smith Group Asset Management in Dallas, where he created and led the firm’s Private Client Group. Before joining Smith Group, Travis served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Business Development at Dallas-based hedge-fund Discovery Management. Earlier in his career, Travis was the Director of Investor Relations at Triton Energy and worked as an analyst at Bank of America.

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 global business strategy.

Richard has worked for 20+ years within the financial services sector with Wells Fargo and Standard Chartered Bank in senior management positions with responsibility for Institutional and Corporate clients across Europe, MENA and Asia. He enjoyed a 7-year break from banking to join an early cloud computing company funded by Warburg Pincus where he launched and managed operations across Asia and Europe.

A frequent speaker at Robotics & Automation conferences and events, he has lived and worked in Hong Kong, USA, Europe, and Sri Lanka.

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 as a portfolio manager at Apex Capital where he covered industrials and the economies of supply chain management. Earlier in his career, he held a number of positions at Merrill Lynch, including as a trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and as a director in institutional equity sales, and he was an analyst in the structured finance group of Cargill.

Bill received his BA in Political Science and International Relations (double major) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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 a focus on industrial technology.

Most recently, Jeremie led CLSA’s industrial research out of New York. For the prior seven years he served as a Senior Research Analyst with CLSA in Singapore and Japan, receiving a No.1 stock picker award from Nikkei/Starmine and ranking No.1 for Japan Materials Research in Asiamoney Brokers’ Poll for three consecutive years. Earlier in his career, he was a project manager with Veolia Environment in Europe and Asia.

Jeremie is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder, holds a Master’s Degree in Science and Executive Engineering from the École des Mines de Paris, and holds FINRA series 7, 63, 87 licenses. He is fluent in French and Japanese.

Lisa brings more than 20 years of experience investing in disruptive technology companies in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining ROBO Global, Lisa was a corporate strategy partner at Bluemont Partners where she worked with emerging technology companies in building out technology vision and strategy, new business incubation, and helping drive the overall innovation community. She also spent 10 years at Palisade Capital Management and Angelo, Gordon & Co. where she was a sector head of technology. Earlier in her career, she served as a Senior Analyst/Portfolio Manager at Tavistock Group and Ridgecrest Partners.

Lisa is currently a member of the Empire Angels, a NY-based angel group investing in early-stage ventures focused around technology and healthcare. Lisa is active in the entrepreneur and investment communities as a board member and provides mentorship to various accelerator funds. 

Clay joined the ROBO Global team at the firm's founding in 2013 and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer. Outside of his financial responsibilities, Clay assists with developing and executing on strategic initiatives at the firm. He has a decade of experience in financial services at ROBO Global and as a financial analyst at Bamford Partners.

Clay holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with honors in business from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

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 Smith Group Asset Management, a Dallas-based investment advisor, where he was the head of the firm’s technology, software development, and trading operations and a member of the quantitative research team.

Brad earned a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington, graduating Summa Cum Laude.  He was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2004 and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Dallas-Ft. Worth.

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 Global, she worked with State Street Global Advisors, First Trust Portfolios, and Global X ETFs where she gained a deep understanding of how disruptive technology and thematic investing contribute to the art of building innovative portfolios. A skilled relationship manager and sales professional, her mission is to extend the global reach of ROBO Global’s products and advisory services. 

Lauren graduated from Wheaton College where she received her BA in Economics. She holds FINRA licenses series 7 and 63. 

Axel Belorde joined ROBO Global in 2021 from data & analytics company Palantir Technologies where he was responsible for building new commercial partnerships. Axel worked with customer operational and technical leadership as well as data engineering teams to best leverage Palantir Foundry’s analytics and AI capabilities to solve operational business problems.  Prior to Palantir, Axel spent 7 years in investment management in London at hedge fund investor Liongate Capital, BlackRock, and LGIM. Axel joined LGIM, UK’s largest investment management firm, in 2015 and led the provision of investment solutions to private banks, asset managers, wealth managers and other organisations across French-speaking Europe and Italy.

Axel is an MSc in Management & CEMS graduate from the London School of Economics (LSE) and HEC Paris. He also holds an MSc in International Relations from the LSE and an Institut d’Etudes Politiques degree in France. Axel has followed the executive programme on Artificial intelligence at MIT. Axel is a dual French – British national, originally from Brittany, and speaks Italian.

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, she partnered with clients to drive the commercial performance of leading brands such as IHG, Shell, and Zaxby’s, as well as ROBO Global. Prior to joining Concise, she worked in NYC developing integrated marketing campaigns designed to drive awareness, brand love, and customer retention in the retail space.

Erin holds an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and a BS in Business and International Studies from Wake Forest University.

Zeno brings nearly a decade of experience in research, due diligence, growth strategy, and partnership development across enterprise SaaS, healthcare, artificial intelligence and blockchain. He currently resides in Palo Alto, California after living in New York City for seven years. 

Prior to ROBO Global, Zeno worked at Bluemont Partners as a Principal Consultant supporting clients across numerous industries and stages with fundraising, growth and partner strategy, research, due diligence and project management. 

Prior to Bluemont, Zeno worked in enterprise SaaS at Transperfect, the world’s largest provider of language and LegalTech services, and HighQ, a London-based enterprise collaboration SaaS company acquired by Thompson Reuters. In these roles he helped build out cross-selling capabilities, integrating new AI and security technologies, conducted go-to market research and strategy work, and honed product design for clients in private equity, venture capital and Fortune 500. 

Zeno started his career in Investor Relations and Portfolio Monitoring at Stepstone Group, a global private markets firm with over $100 billion in AUM covering venture capital, growth equity, real assets and large buyout strategies. Zeno graduated from the University of Tennessee Gary Rollins College of Business.

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 roles at Fidelity Investments. Most recently he spent the last 3.5yrs as a Managing Director at Pacer ETF’s for the Northern California, NV, and Hawaii territory. During his time at Pacer ETF’s he played a big part in helping the company grow AUM from 2billion to 8.5billion. He has a passion for building strong relationships while helping advisors and their clients find innovative, unique, and disruptive ideas. 

Isaac graduated from Westminster College in Salt Lake City in 2010 with a Bachelors in Finance. He is series 7 and 63 licensed. Outside of work Isaac loves to spend time outdoors playing soccer, golf, and enjoying quality time with his family.

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 began his career at Charles Schwab & Co. working with high net-worth clients as an Investment Specialist where he helped grow assets from $3.65 trillion to over $6 trillion.

Shachi currently holds a Series 7 & 63 and attended Texas State University’s McCoy Business School where he received his Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Finance. In his free time, Shachi enjoys hiking, swimming, and playing the piano.

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 the development of ROBO's content from ideation to delivery, packaging research reports, designing newsletters, and writing digestible articles on themes that lie at the convergence of investing and robotics.

Erica graduated from High Point University as a Presidential Scholar with a BA in Journalism and has bylines in both print and digital media. Prior to ROBO, Erica dedicated three years to editorial, research, and social media internships. She also enjoys volunteering her marketing expertise to help support local non-profits' social media campaigns.