About Grail
William M. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer
Bill Thomas serves as Chief Executive Officer for Grail Advisors LLC. Bill guides the firm in the continuing development and launch of actively managed ETFs. Grail has an exemptive order from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the management of Active ETFs whose holdings will be disclosed on a daily basis - intended to be the first ETFs to do so using traditional asset managers.
Bill came to Grail Advisors from Charles Schwab Investment Management (CSIM), where he was Head of Distribution. He was responsible for the retail and institutional distribution of the Schwab and Laudus Funds, as well as the correspondent clearing business. These businesses combined were $400B in assets and over $200M in annual revenue. Prior to joining CSIM, he managed the OneSource mutual fund platform for Charles Schwab, with over $350B in assets.
Previously Bill held positions at Scudder Kemper Investments, where he served as Managing Director of the Intermediary Business. His management responsibilities included Mutual Funds, Annuities, Closed End Funds and Separate Accounts. Prior to Scudder, Bill was National Sales Director for State Street Global Advisors, where he led the retail and institutional sales efforts.
Chester G. Chappell, Chief Operating Officer
Chet Chappell serves as Chief Operating Officer for Grail Advisors LLC. Chet oversees all aspects of product development, implementation, operation and the sales and marketing efforts of Grail Advisors' actively managed ETFs, working closely with our Investment Partners, Legal Counsel, the Fund Administrator, Distributor, Custodian, Independent Auditors and Board of Directors.
Chet came to Grail Advisors from Charles Schwab Investment Management where he served as Vice President and National Sales Manager of Intermediary and Institutional Sales for both the Schwab and Laudus Funds. Before initiating the Laudus Funds sales efforts in 2004, Chet worked within the Asset Management Strategic Alliances group overseeing several key relationships with the largest mutual funds firms participating in the Schwab OneSource platform.
Prior to joining Schwab 1995, he worked for an international management consulting firm based in San Francisco. Mr. Chappell holds a B.S. in Finance from Santa Clara University and an M.B.A. in International Business from the University of San Francisco.