Founding Partners
Maury Fertig
Co-founded Relative Value Partners LLC (RVP) in 2004 with Bob Huffman and currently serves as the firms Chief Investment Officer. Prior to starting RVP, Fertig spent 17 years at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup working in institutional fixed income and eventually as Head of Midwest Corporate Bond Sales. Maury holds an MBA from Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Accountancy from University of Illinois where he graduated with high honors. Maury is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Maury serves as a member of the Board of Directors, Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and has previously served as Vice President-Finance of Solomon Schechter Day Schools of Chicago. He also served as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Hillel Board president and as a member of the International board of directors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. In 2004 Maury was named an Exemplar of Excellence, an award that recognizes individuals whose work for Hillel sets a standard for others to emulate.
Maury is the author of The Seven Deadly Sins of Investing: How to Conquer your Worst Impulses and Save your Financial Future (AMACOM, 2006). He is a frequent guest on CNBC and in many leading business publications.
Bob Huffman
Co-founded Relative Value Partners LLC (RVP) in 2004 with Maury Fertig and currently serves as the firms Chief Executive Officer. Before RVP, Bob spent 20 years at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup. At Salomon Brothers/Citigroup Bob worked in various roles within corporate bond sales until eventually becoming Head of Midwest Institutional Fixed Income Sales in 1999. In his experience at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup, Bob worked closely with Chief Investment Officers and senior portfolio managers at many major financial institutions across the country. Bob holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BSBA from Marquette University.
Bob serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Northwestern Mutual Series Fund. In this role, Bob helps oversee and evaluate the money manager selection process for the 25 funds in the Northwestern Mutual Series Fund. Bob also serves on the Freedom to Learn Board of Trustees. Previously Bob served on the Board of Trustees for both Loyola Academy (Finance Chair) and The Cove School.
Investment Professionals
John Russell
Joined Relative Value Partners in 2007 after a successful career at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup. From 2004-2006, John was head of Midwest Institutional Fixed Income Sales for Citigroup. Prior to that role, John was in charge of Structured Product Sales in Chicago at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup. Before John joined Salomon Brothers in 1984, he was a Certified Public Accountant at Arthur Anderson for 3 years. John graduated cum laude with a BSBA from University of Notre Dame.
John is a founder of Freedom to Learn Illinois, in addition to serving on their board of trustees. John is also a member of the Undergraduate Experience Advisory Council at the University of Notre Dame.
Catherine Goel
Joined Relative Value Partners in 2005 and currently holds the position as Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to RVP, she worked as an analyst on the Interest Rate Derivatives Sales desk at Credit Suisse First Boston. Catherine graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering.
Gregory Neer
Joined Relative Value Partners in 2009. Previously, Greg was a proprietary trader at JPMorgan where he focused on closed-end funds. Before JPMorgan, Greg was the Senior Equity Analyst covering the closed-end fund sector at Stifel Nicolaus. Greg has been featured in various main stream publications including the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money Magazine, Kiplingers and theStreet.com. Greg graduated with a BSBA from American University.
Brian Callahan
Joined Relative Value Partners in 2010 after a 20 year career at the Chicago Board of Trade. He spent the bulk of his career as a self employed proprietary trader at the CBOT, primarily transacting in interest rate futures. Brian graduated with a BS from Loyola University in Chicago. Brian is on the board of the Wilmette Hockey Association.