Luke P. LaValle, Jr.
President and Chief Investment Officer
Luke is the founder of American Capital Management, Inc. He began his career in 1967 at the U.S. Trust Company of New York and was a Senior Investment Officer in the Investment Division. During this period, he specialized in smaller company investing and research and managed a pooled fund of smaller company investments for over a decade. His responsibilities also included the management of pension portfolios and he served on the Stock Selection Committee. He has a BS from Boston College and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts. Luke is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Military Intelligence, U.S. Army Reserve and served with the 101st Airborne Division and on the Army Staff, The Pentagon.
David H. Carnahan, Jr.
Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager
David was with the U.S. Trust Company of New York from 1962 to 1980 where he became a Senior Vice President and Manager of the Personal Trust and Investment Division. He also served as Chief Pension Officer and Manager of the Pension and Institutional Group. In 1980, he joined Vilas-Fischer Associates, a registered investment advisor, as a General Partner and Portfolio Manager. The firm was later acquired and David served its successor, Friends Ivory & Sime Trust Company, as Executive Vice President and Chief Trust Officer, with investment responsibility for the private client group, including trusts and estates, and their related fiduciary services. He served as a member of the Investment Strategy and Stock Selection Committees of the prior organizations with which he was affiliated. David is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and served with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Catherine McRae
Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager
Cathy joined American Capital Management, Inc. after eight years as a Managing Director and Principal at European Investors where she was the head portfolio manager of a U.S. equities fund and Chairperson of the U.S. and Global Investment Committees. Cathy was also a portfolio manager of a mid sized hedge fund at Ridgecrest Partners and the lead manager of two small cap core funds at the Guardian Life Insurance Co. For a number of years, she was a research analyst covering various industry sectors including small cap technology companies at Bear Stearns, Drexel Burnham, Furman Selz and NatWest Securities. Her investment career began in 1975 in the Corporate Finance Department of the Irving Trust Company where she was a financial consultant for six years. Cathy graduated from Dartmouth College, magna cum laude, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Thomas W. Vail
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager
Tom was with U.S. Trust from 1993 to 2007 where he became a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager in the Equities division. His responsibilities included managing an equity mutual fund, a common trust fund and portfolios for private clients. He spent his first two years at U.S. Trust in the Economics Department working closely with the Chief Economist. Tom has a BA from Boston College and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.
David M. LaValle
Vice President and Analyst/Portfolio Manager
Previously, David worked at Morgan Stanley for two years in their Leveraged and Acquisition Finance Group where his responsibilities included analysis for underwriting and syndicating high yield bonds and leveraged loans. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, David served as a Captain in the U.S. Army and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He coordinated with foreign militaries in the Pacific region on missile defense measures and deployed to Iraq the Army’s first weapons system designed to identify and destroy incoming mortar and rocket rounds. David graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Political Science.