Meet Our Leadership Team

John Pesce

CEO & Co-Founder

John Pesce is TCG’s visionary co-founder and manager in charge. John leads a team of experienced, principled advisors in the sustained effort to provide an unprecedented level of customer service in the finance industry.

In 1987, John started his first business managing private wealth for professional athletes across the country. After selling the business in 1990, he became a Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at a firm in Houston, TX, where he was head of their investment and marketing divisions and focused on individual wealth management and government pension plans. After he and his partners sold the company in 1995, John moved to Austin, TX. In Austin, John deepened his knowledge of government retirement plans and managing institutional money, and he was ready to use that knowledge to start something new.

John joined forces with Mike Cochran to start TCG Group Holdings LLP in 1999. Because of his passion for investing and trading options, John still manages a few portfolios in addition to overseeing the strategic direction of the entire company.

Mike Cochran

Chairman & Co-Founder

Throughout his career, Mike has managed all types of retirement plans, and served as an officer in two Fortune 500 companies before co-founding TCG with John Pesce. He works primarily with institutional investors and provides financial planning and compensation advice for most of TCG’s public sector executive clients.

Mike has worked hard to forge a customer-driven culture at TCG, characterized by consistent fairness, unrivaled expertise and outstanding service for every client of the company. He is in demand as a speaker on investment fiduciary issues and author of several articles on retirement and compensation matters in well-known trade magazines.

Jeff Montgomery

President

Jeff comes to TCG after spending 8 years as the Chairman and CEO of AFAM Capital, an institutional money manager overseeing several billion in assets. Prior to building AFAM and acquiring its Innealta ETF Division, Jeff was the CEO and COO of the operating companies of National Financial Partners for seven years—including NFP Investments, NFP Benefits, and NFP Insurance. Jeff was part of the leadership team that took the company public in 2003.

Previously, Jeff was CEO of the investment division and broker-dealers of ReliaStar—a Fortune 500 company and division of ING. Prior to that, he was General Counsel for PrimeVest Financial Services and President of PrimeVest Mortgage.

Jeff received his finance degree with honors from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his law degree from the University of Oregon.

Chris J. Jamail

Chief Marketing Officer

Chris oversees all advisor functions and operations and, as CIO, operates as head of the investment committee, oversees a team of professionals who have responsibilities such as managing and monitoring investment activity, and directs the investment strategy for the firm’s clients. These managed assets include private wealth, retirement plan assets, foundation/endowments, and operating capital for organizations.

Chris graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing, and started his professional career as a benefit enrollment specialist in 2002 with The Paragon Group, LP, a former subsidiary of TCG. Throughout his career he has increased his focus on investment management and financial planning moving to an investment advisor role in 2004 with TCG Advisors, and then later named as Chief Investment Officer. He has acquired insurance and securities licenses and earned the Certified Financial Planner™ designation in 2010.

Additionally, Chris specializes in working with clients in the public and private sectors. He frequently gives presentations to school districts and administrator organizations nationally, focusing on educating them about retirement planning issues and how to maximize benefits in state retirement systems.

Scott Hauptmann

Chief Operating Officer

Scott Hauptmann is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for TCG Group Holdings, LLP. and is a Partner at TCG Group Holdings, LLP. Scott is responsible for the oversight and day-to-day operations of all retirement plans administered by TCG Administrators, and he works to maintain the relationships TCG Administrators has with its clients, participants, outside vendors, and financial representatives.

Scott graduated from the University of Texas with a BBA in Finance and a minor in Sociology. He’s an active member of the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) and the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA).

Jaime Barraza

Chief Technology Officer

Jaime is responsible for the array of digital solutions that power the TCG service companies. He specializes in integrating people, processes, and technology to solve our challenging and unique business problems.

Jaime joined TCG in 2001 shortly before graduating from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Minor in Business Administration in 2002. He has ushered the company through more than a decade of fast paced technological change and tremendous growth.

Kevin McNeill, CPA®

Chief Financial Officer

Kevin McNeill is the Chief Financial Officer, Vice President, and Chief Compliance Officer at TCG Group Holdings. He began his career in public accounting with EY in Denver, CO, 22 years ago and has worked in the financial services/banking industry since 2012. As a result of his experience in both privately held and publicly traded corporations, Kevin impressively orchestrated the IPO of his last company before joining TCG.

As VP and CFO, Kevin is in charge of all the accounting and finance functions for TCG Group Holdings and its subsidiaries; he manages the company’s finances, including accounting, financial planning and budgeting, management of financial risks, financial reporting, banking and lending relationships, and overall responsibility for the stewardship of company assets. As CCO, he oversees TCG’s compliance with rules and regulations pertaining to the Registered Investment Advisory business.

Kevin has a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting and a Master’s of Accountancy from the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business.