BrightScope is a financial information company providing services for retirement planning and wealth management through web-based software.
BrightScope, Inc. is a financial information company that brings transparency to opaque markets. Delivered through web-based software, BrightScope data drives better decision-making for individual investors, corporate plan sponsors, asset managers, broker-dealers, and financial advisors. BrightScope primarily operates in two major segments: Retirement Plans and Wealth Management.
Retirement Plans:
BrightScope is the leading independent provider of retirement plan ratings and investment analytics to participants, plan sponsors, asset managers, and advisors in all 50 states. The company maintains a comprehensive database of information on the retirement plan market and adds additional value and insight by quantitatively rating 401k and 403b plans across critical metrics. The BrightScope Rating developed in partnership with leading independent 401k fiduciaries, reviews more than 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculates a single numerical score which defines 401k and 403b plan quality at the company level. BrightScope also publishes distribution rankings for funds in the retirement marketplace, giving asset managers better visibility into how they stack up to others. The company markets a suite of data analytics software products to Fortune 1000 companies, asset managers, broker-dealers, financial advisors, and other market participants. Public ratings for over 55,000 401k and 403b plans as well as rating definitions, criteria, and methodologies are available for free to retirement savers at www.brightscope.com.
Wealth Management:
On April 26, 2011, the company launched BrightScope Advisor Pages, the first comprehensive and publicly available directory of Financial Advisors. Advisor Pages help consumers discover information and conduct due diligence on their financial advisors.
The BrightScope Rating is a quantitative 401k plan rating developed by BrightScope, Inc. in partnership with some of the country’s top independent fiduciaries, finance professors, and 401k experts. BrightScope Ratings take into account over 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculate a single numerical score to define 401k plan quality at the company level.
The ratings algorithm runs thousands of simulations for each 401k plan in order to determine how quickly each plan will propel the average 401k participant to retirement. Using this rigorous approach, BrightScope ensures that every factor that affects retirement outcomes such as company generosity, fees, investment menu quality, vesting schedules, and more is accurately reflected in a company’s rating. The BrightScope Rating has been featured by over 100 mainstream media sources including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.
Mike is Co-Founder and CEO of BrightScope and responsible for the strategic vision and leadership of the company. Previously, Mike was the Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager of Alfred Capital Management LLC, an independent registered investment firm located in La Jolla, CA. He has been a Financial Advisor and Portfolio Manager since 2003.
Mike is a dynamic thinker capable of developing and implementing cutting-edge business models and effective marketing strategies. He is also a proven relationship builder who excels at establishing key partnerships. A noted and quoted 401k and financial expert, Mike has appeared on CNBC, ABC News, Fox Business News, National Public Radio and in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, US News and World Report, CNN/Money Magazine, SmartMoney, theStreet.com, Pensions & Investments, Employee Benefit Adviser, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and The San Diego Business Journal.
Ryan Alfred is Co-Founder, President and COO of BrightScope and responsible for the day to day operations of the company. Ryan is a noted expert and frequent speaker on financial industry regulation and is actively engaged in the debate in Washington DC about issues relating to retirement. Ryan has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BusinessWeek, USA Today, Pensions & Investments and numerous other national and industry publications. In 2012 Ryan was named to Forbes Top 30 under 30 in Finance and to the Smart Money Power 30.
Previously, he was the Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer of Alfred Capital Management LLC, an independent registered investment firm located in La Jolla, CA.
In addition to his work endeavors, Ryan and his brother, BrightScope CEO Mike Alfred, teach financial literacy to minority students through the Links Achievers Program, the Pathways to College Network, and Jack and Jill of America.
David is a software platform architect with management, design, and development experience in multiple languages, technology platforms, design paradigms, and team sizes.
David is particularly interested in solving business needs through technology integration, and has extensive implementation and design experience with Python, Ruby, modern Javascript/CoffeeScript, Java, C, and Objective-C. Additionally, David has broad and extensive experience with web applications and web services design, large-scale system administration, database administration, and cloud technologies.
David’s technical background is in machine learning and natural language processing, with a focus on document classification and tagging of unstructured content.
Oscar Hackett joined BrightScope as the Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel and is responsible for all financial and legal aspects of BrightScope’s business, including fundraising, strategic partnerships and investor relations. A recent addition to the San Diego business community, Oscar previously managed the finance and legal affairs for Consumers United, a Boston-based company engaged in the sale of personal financial products ranging from life insurance to auto loans, using the collective buying power of its members to negotiate group discounts.
Prior to Consumers United, Oscar worked in the Boston office of Lazard Freres, advising software and internet companies on public and private fundraising, mergers & acquisitions, and IPOs. Advisory roles included Kenexa’s acquisition of Salary.com, Siperian’s sale to Informatica, and IntraLinks’ IPO. Oscar received his J.D.
Sonia Ahuja joined BrightScope in August 2012 as Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategy. She is responsible for driving growth and developing new relationships with key customers and partners across the companys various channels. Sonias sterling reputation, high-level relationships, and deep background in the financial services industry are a tremendous asset as the company moves to capitalize on significant opportunities with banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, and custodians.
Prior to joining BrightScope, Sonia was the Chief Strategy Officer at First Allied Securities and led the development of strategic corporate plans to drive revenue, improve profit margins and stimulate growth. She brings more than 12 years of experience in managing business performance improvement initiatives for multiple organizations including Wells Fargo Advisors, First Allied Securities and Bank of America.
Jessica is Senior Vice President of Client Success at BrightScope and leads BrightScope’s growing customer support organization. Jessica joined BrightScope as a Data Analyst and quickly rose to a leadership role in the company’s Spyglass business for retirement focused financial advisors. She is a recognized expert in business development and assists BrightScope’s clients in effectively turning data into dollars.
Jessica graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University in Economics with a minor in Business.
Jason is Chief Technology Officer of BrightScope and responsible for the technological strategy of the company, leading the development team, and overseeing all aspects of software development. He joined BrightScope in early 2010 and quickly displayed his capabilities as a developer and leader while working on several core systems. Jason has a demonstrated ability to bridge the spectrum of low-level implementation details and big picture vision.
Previously, Jason worked at Parasoft in the areas of static code analysis, automated code refactoring, and metrics. He has participated in panels for undergraduate students entering STEM fields and is a frequent attendee of local technology events.
Jason graduated from University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
Former Micromuse and WysDM executive
Mr. Tim Tokarsky served as Chief Operating Officer of WysDM Software Inc. (formerly SysDM Inc.) and also served as its Vice President of Business Development since January, 2004.
Mr. Tokarsky was responsible for developing and managing SysDM’s technology partner and reseller relationships while managing its marketing programs.
His IT career began at Goldman Sachs, where he was responsible for the global systems monitoring design and rollout. In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as Vice President of Distributed Systems Management with responsibility for the design and implementation of Merrill Lynch’s global distributed systems management strategy.
Mr. Tokarsky joined Micromuse’s executive team in 1997, pre-IPO, as Vice President of Application Development.
JIM CACCAVO is the Founder and Managing General Partner at Steelpoint and has managed transactions in consumer products, retail, apparel, food and beverage, nutraceutical and supplements, business services, software, technology and communications.
Jim is a proven entrepreneur with deep operating and financial experience. Prior to forming Steelpoint, Jim was the Managing Director of Moore Capital Managements Private Equity Group. Before joining Moore in 1999, he was president and CEO of Tickets.com. From 1988 to 1996, Jim was a founder and senior executive of Sullivan Communications, helping to build it into a leading graphic arts company. Jim has also operated several business units for Sullivan, including: software packaging and distribution; digital imaging; and a special effects business he founded. Jim began his career in finance at Merrill Lynch and GTE Corporation.
Jim is a proven entrepreneur with deep operating and financial experience.
John Sarkisian is the Founding Investor of BrightScope. John also chaired the Board of Directors from inception through the companys 3rd round of funding in September 2012.
John is the Chief Executive Officer of Pro Performance Sports, LLC. The company is the industry leader in delivering innovative athletic training products, instructional content and programming to athletes worldwide under the brand name SKLZ.
John formerly lead Pat and Oscar’s restaurants as well as Semtek Innovative Solutions, a company providing credit card security technologies.
John received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jeremy is Executive Vice President of Institutional Sales at BrightScope. He is responsible for driving adoption of BrightScope’s industry leading suite of products and services that drive more effective sales and retention strategies for top financial institutions by leveraging an unparalleled fusion of proprietary data, analytics, and engineering expertise.
Jeremy is a dedicated community volunteer as a member of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Board of Directors and former Chair of the San Diego Race for the Cure, raising over $1 million annually in the battle to end breast cancer forever.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis in Finance and Marketing.
Brooks is Head of Data and Research at BrightScope and is responsible for leading BrightScope’s Data Organization and Research team. He oversees the Data Organization as it acquires, processes, and normalizes raw data from more than 50 sources and manages the data flow into BrightScope’s product set. In addition, he is responsible for the development, writing, marketing, and sales of research based on BrightScope’s robust retirement plan and financial advisor data sets. Brooks has worked extensively with multiple departments at BrightScope and is an expert in the Defined Contribution space.
Brooks has been cited in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, CNN Money, Bloomberg, Reuters, and The Financial Times. Previously, Brooks worked at ARCH Venture Partners and Rockefeller & Company in New York.
Bruce Hansen is Chairman of the Board at BrightScope. He brings over two decades of experience innovating in the information and analytics business, with a particular focus in payments and financial services. In 2002, Bruce co-founded and led ID Analytics as its Chairman and CEO from inception until its sale to LifeLock in March 2012. At ID Analytics, Hansen raised $45 million in venture financing and built the company from concept-stage into a high growth, profitable firm serving over 280 enterprise clients and 5 million consumers.
Prior to founding ID Analytics, Hansen was President at HNC Software Inc. (NASDAQ: HNCS), a $1 billion+ global provider of analytic software solutions for financial services, telecommunications and healthcare firms. HNC was acquired by Fair Isaac (FICO) in 2002. Prior to HNC, Hansen held executive roles at the Center for Adaptive Systems Applications (CASA), Citicorp (now CitiGroup), Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
Co-Founder at BrightScope