Investment Team

Stephen Hammers is a 30-year veteran of the investment management industry. Stephen Hammers is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of PlanRock Investments.

Prior to starting PlanRock, Mr. Hammers retired as the Chief Investment Officer/Strategist of VictoryShares, the multi-billion-dollar ETF platform of Victory Capital Management. Prior, Mr. Hammers founded Compass EMP (CEMP) and grew the company to over $1 billion in assets under management prior to merging with Victory Capital Management. Compass EMP created and managed over 25 mutual funds and ETFs. Before Compass EMP, Mr. Hammers was an Executive Vice President of Merrill Lynch responsible for high net worth and institutional investment consulting with an emphasis on asset allocation, risk management and investment policy.

Mr. Hammers is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) through the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and the Investment Management Consultants Association. Mr. Hammers is a sought-after speaker, and has been quoted in numerous publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Smart Money, as well as a former regular guest on the closing bell show at CNBC and Fox Business. Mr. Hammers earned his bachelors in Aerospace at Middle Tennessee State University.

Alex Pazdan is a Portfolio Manager and partner for PlanRock Funds.

Mr. Pazdan also served as a portfolio manager for Compass EMP (CEMP), Victory Capital Management and VictoryShares ETFs from 2010 -2017. The mutual funds and ETFs he helped managed had assets totaling over $2.5 billion. He helped design the firm’s systematic index methodologies and quantitative strategies that the firm uses in its funds. As of his departure from Victory in September 2017, many of the funds where 4 and 5 star according to Morningstar.

Mr. Pazdan is also a Principal and Portfolio Manager for Persistent Capital Management, a Commodity Trading Advisor cofounded in 2002.

Mr. Pazdan earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and Psychology from Vanderbilt University located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dan Banaszak, CFA is a portfolio manager and partner for PlanRock Investments.

Mr. Banaszak also currently serves as portfolio manager with Persistent Capital. Previously, Mr. Banaszak was a portfolio manager for Victory Capital Management from 2015 to 2019. While at Victory he developed the trading and implementation processes for the firm’s ETF business and helped build systematic quantitative investment strategies for the firm’s mutual fund and managed accounts business.  Prior to his time at Victory, he worked as an analyst and portfolio manager for Compass EMP from 2011 to 2015. In his role at Compass EMP, Dan worked in developing custom index methodologies and managing the firm’s index-tracking ETF and mutual fund suite.

Prior to Compass, Mr. Banaszak worked in Chicago as an options market maker for the Lerner Trading Group beginning in 2007.

Mr. Banaszak graduated with a B.S.B.A in finance from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Banaszak has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 2011.