Joan Marie Asher, CIFD, IACCP

Joan Marie Asher is a Bates Group Consulting Expert and the Founding Director of Paragon Fund Services, a boutique fractional service provider and advisory firm. She has dual citizenship in the United States and the European Union, where she engages with numerous financial institutions, fund administrators, legal teams, vendors, and clients throughout the United States and abroad in various investment related activities.

Joan’s career in financial services includes capital markets, hedge funds, broker dealers, and private equity. One highlight during her career was that she safely navigated one of her firms through the 2008 global financial crisis dealing with some of the most unprecedented happenings in financial history. She has more than 25 years of experience at several top-tier financial firms where she has successfully served in roles such as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer. Her experience includes compliance and governance, risk management, operational due diligence, and the oversight of third-party service providers. This knowledge helps her identify and mitigate risks, gaps, conflicts of interest, and create strategic action plans.  With her steady demeanor, despite the rapidly changing business conditions we see today, her highly organized nature and inherent leadership mindset enable Joan to see all the moving parts of a business to help it reach its overall strategic objective in accordance with industry best practices.

Joan is an Investment Advisor Certified Compliance Professional (IACCP) and one of only four women in the United States to hold a Certified Investment Fund Director (CIFD) designation, which is the premier qualification for investment fund directors. The CIFD designation raises professional standards in investment fund governance internationally. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Fairfield University’s Charles F. Dolan School of Business where she was co-President of Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society. She serves as an advisor to EndowBridge Capital and is a Board Member of C-Gate Consulting Group (Los Angeles, CA). She also served as a subject matter expert to National Regulatory Services in reading, writing, and reviewing questions for the IACCP exam.

As she places importance on giving back, Joan served as Chairman of the Connecticut chapter of The American Institute of Wine and Food, Treasurer of Stamford Dollars for Scholars. She also served as a student mentor through Fairfield University’s Alumni Job Shadow Program. In addition, Joan is a Stephen Minister where she provides confidential one-on-one care to individuals facing a crisis or life challenge.