Lee S. Kowarski - Principal
Born in Maryland, Lee grew up in the Roland Park section of Baltimore. After twelve years of attending the all-boys Gilman School, Lee moved to Greenwich Village in New York City.
While studying Finance at New York University's Stern School of Business, Lee met two people who changed his life: his future wife, Melinda, and his future business partner, Steven Miyao. After working for Steven in RSM McGladrey's mutual fund consulting practice, Lee joined Steven when kasina was founded in 1999.
Lee serves as a principal with kasina. In this capacity, Lee is involved in overall strategic planning in addition to numerous other aspects of the business, including:
- Consulting: Lee works with senior executives to innovate distribution in the financial services industry. He has worked with companies seeking to develop effective strategies for interacting with their shareholders, intermediaries, and other audiences. Lee has led projects ranging from comprehensive reviews of a client's distribution initiatives to tactical support for an executive's board presentation.
- Relationship Management: Lee is responsible for supporting a number of kasina's clients, including American Century Investments, JPMorgan Asset Management, Ivy Funds, MainStay Investments, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and Russell.
- FA Vision: Lee oversees the FA Vision service. Developed by kasina and Horsesmouth, FA Vision's sole purpose is to help asset managers gain a better understanding of financial intermediaries' opinions, behaviors, and preferences and make distribution decisions.
- Speaking Engagements: Lee is a frequent speaker at both industry conferences and client events. Firms frequently engage Lee to address their senior management team or sales force about topics ranging from macro-level distribution trends to wholesaler compensation to the needs of financial intermediaries.
Lee is frequently quoted in the industry press, including The Wall Street Journal, Ignites.com, Investment News, etc. Additionally, Lee is involved in numerous industry associations, including serving as co-chair of the National Investment Company Services Association's (NICSA) Annual Conference Committee.
Through the kasina Youth Foundation, of which he serves as President, Lee has become active with Cents-Ability, which provides financial literacy education to high school students.. Lee also supports other organizations, including the James Beard Foundation (which celebrates America's culinary heritage and diversity), LINC (which provides opportunities for people with disabilities to explore adaptive technology and the Internet), the New York Philharmonic, and the Libertarian Party.
Within kasina, Lee is the go-to person for restaurant recommendations (with favorites including Lupa and XO Kitchen) or information on the various perennially losing sports teams that he supports (the Orioles, Knicks, and the Jets). Lee is also a huge geek and is never seen without his iPhone 3G. He and Melinda now live in the wasteland that is Manhattan's Upper East Side, but hope to return downtown after Melinda completes her PhD in Neuroscience at Rockefeller University.
Lee frequently comments on kasina's blog and can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Connect to Lee via e-mail | 
