A founder of a quantitative ETF strategist in Texas is handing over one of his hats. Yet he's staying on to advise the shop.

MFWire has learned that Gerald Buetow, founder and former chief investment officer of Austin-based Innealta Capital, now serves as senior advisor to the firm. Vito Sciaraffia, formerly co-CIO alongside Buetow, now serves as the sole CIO for Innealta, which is a unit of AFAM Capital [profile].

Dr. Gerald Buetow Innealta Capital Consultant

MFWire could not immediately reach Buetow for comment on the change.

As part of the change, Buetow is stepping down as one of the PMs of two Innealta mutual funds: the one-star, $41.8-million Innealta Capital Country Rotation Fund, and the two-star, $16.3-million Innealta Capital Sector Rotation Fund. Sciaraffia and Mark Mowrey, senior vice president, joined both funds as PMs in October and will continue to PM both funds.

Sciaraffia tells MFWire that the CIO shift at Innealta has been a long time coming. After a year-and-a-half-long search, last summer Sciaraffia, a former senior research at DFA, joined Innealta as vice president of investment strategy. Buetow and Sciaraffia then served as co-CIOs alongside each other.

Dr. Vito Sciaraffia Innealta Capital Chief Investment Officer

"He recruited me last year," Sciaraffia says of Buetow. "We have a very good working relationship."

The idea behind the shift, Sciaraffia says, is for him to take on the daily responsibilities at Innealta so that Buetow will have more flexibility and more time for things like research, writing papers, and teaching.

"Gerald is still an integral part of the firm ... He remains a large stockholder," Sciaraffia says. "He won't be interacting on a daily basis with the investment team."

Sciaraffia is an alumnus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the University of Chile, and UC Berkeley. Prior to joining DFA, he was a finance professor at UT Austin and worked at Citigroup and J.P. Morgan.

Buetow is an alumnus of UT Austin and Lehigh University. He previously served as a nuclear engineering officer in the U.S. Navy. He also worked at XTF GAM, Atlantic Asset Management, the Association for Investment Management and Research, and Prudential's quant group. He also previously was a professor and director of James Madison University's quantitative finance program. 

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