Retirement Advisors of America

Our Investment Team

Ronald E. Simmons
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Ron has been in the investment industry for 22 years, and has worked with retiring crewmember families since 1989. He is the co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Retirement Advisors of America, A PHH Investments Company. Ron is a national speaker on Leadership and Entrepreneurship and is very involved with the charitable organization Equip. He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University with a Bachelors degree in Business. He is married to his wife Lisa for 28 years and has three children, Justin, Daniel and Allie Beth.

John B. (Bart) Roberson
President & Chief Operating Officer

Bart has been in the investment industry for over 20 years. Bart served as Vice President, Director of Sales for American Beacon Advisors and the American Beacon Funds until 2006. His responsibilities included new business development and client services. Bart joined American Beacon Advisors from Henry S. Miller’s Real Estate Securities Corporation in August 1988. He started his career with the accounting firm of Touche Ross & Co. in Dallas after receiving a BBA in Accounting and Finance from Baylor University. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas.

William F. (Bill) Hubble, CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Bill has been in the securities and investment management business since January 1977, when he started working for the Wall Street firm of Blyth Eastman & Dillon. In 1979, he began working with American Airlines pilots helping them manage their retirement fund assets. In 1986, he joined Balanced Financial Asset Management Corporation as its President, and left in 1988 to start LAMP Advisors, Inc., a firm that worked with retiring commercial airline pilots in managing their retirement assets. In 1994, LAMP Advisors, Inc. merged with Pritchard, Herr and Associates to form Pritchard, Hubble and Herr, Inc. Bill is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a Certified Financial Planner and has a MBA degree in Finance. He is a member of the CFA Institute, the parent organization for financial analysts.

Jeremy W. Merchant
Vice President, Investments & Operations

Jeremy has been in the securities and investment management business since March 2000, where he worked for American Beacon Advisors. Jeremy was previously responsible for assisting with the oversight of approximately $6 billion in international assets, $3 billion in small cap value assets, $400 million in high yield bond assets and $20 million in treasury inflation protected securities assets. Jeremy’s primary involvement was with the assets from American’s Fixed Benefit Plan and Pilots Variable Plan (“B Plan”) as well as the American Beacon Funds. He is currently a Level II candidate in the CFA program and is a member of the CFA Institute. Jeremy holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington. Jeremy is also the co-founder of Hospice and Palitave Care of America.

Kent R. Herr, CFA
Consultant

Kent received a Finance Degree from Rider College, Trenton, New Jersey in 1971 and attained the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst in 1982. He is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), and is past president and currently active member of the AIMR member society, the Financial Analysts Society of Tampa Bay. Kent is also a graduate of Florida Trust School.

Kent’s initial portfolio management training and trust investment experience was acquired at Fulton Bank, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After moving to Florida in 1974, he initially worked for Ellis Bank in Bradenton, Florida, and managed the investment division of the trust department. Following that, Kent was employed with Landmark Union Trust Bank in St. Petersburg, Florida. He began as a Trust Investment Officer and was promoted to manage the investment division, with approximately $500 million in trust and pension funds. During his tenure, the performance of the collective funds under his supervision consistently ranked in the top quartile. Kent subsequently moved to Palm Beach, Florida, to manage $200 million in personal trust and retirement portfolios for Bankers Trust Co. (subsidiary of Bankers Trust Co. New York). He returned to St. Petersburg in 1983 to manage Park Capital Management, a bank investment advisory subsidiary, which led to the formation of his own firm, First Guardian Investment Management. In 1988, along with Howard Pritchard, Kent established Pritchard, Herr & Associates, Inc. The company merged with LAMP Advisors, Inc. in 1994 to create Pritchard, Hubble & Herr, Inc. Kent also served as a member of the Charles Schwab Institutional Advisory Board for the 1996-1997 term.

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