Portfolio Managers

Michael Binger, CFA®, serves as the President of Gradient Investments, LLC. Binger brings over 31 years of investment management experience to Gradient Investments and its affiliated advisors and clients. He has extensive experience working directly with financial advisors designing and actively managing portfolios. Binger has successfully invested in numerous market and economic cycles giving him a level and depth of experience that is rare in this industry.

Binger started his investment career in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Lutheran Brotherhood in 1987 and gained experience managing assets in a variety of asset classes including convertible bonds, small cap equities, and large cap equities. When Lutheran Brotherhood and Aid Association for Lutherans merged in 2001 to become Thrivent Financial, Binger was selected to work as one of the senior portfolio managers on the Large Cap Growth team and Large Cap Alpha Team managing over $3 billion in assets. As a senior portfolio manager, he developed and oversaw the tactical investment strategies utilized within mutual funds, variable annuities, pension funds and insurance company products. These investment processes included proprietary portfolio construction strategies, security selection metrics and volatility control parameters.

Binger graduated from the University of Minnesota earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration-Finance. He graduated with honors and was the University of Minnesota's 'Wall Street Journal Award Winner.' Binger is a CFA® and a member of The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts.

Binger's media highlights include numerous appearances, providing market insight on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business. He has also been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Smart Money, Reuters, Business Week and numerous other local, national, and global investment publications.

Jeremy Bryan, Chartered Financial Analyst®, serves as portfolio manager for Gradient Investments, and brings over 15 years of investment experience to the team. Prior to joining Gradient Investments, Bryan spent several years working with investment advisors and their clients to design and manage investment portfolios. His in-depth knowledge of the private client market, along with his expertise in asset allocation, investment analysis and risk assessment gives him a unique perspective into the investment markets.

Bryan worked as an equity analyst at Deephaven Capital Management in Minneapolis and Surveyor Capital in New York City. Most recently, he was an equity portfolio manager at Alerus Financial in Minneapolis, where he oversaw more than $2 billion of assets under management.

Bryan was born and raised in Minnesota. He earned his bachelor's degree in finance from St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota and his master's degree from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Bryan earned his CFA designation in 2010 and is a member of CFA Institute. He also remains actively involved with the CFA Society of Minnesota.

Mariann Montagne, Chartered Financial Analyst®, serves as a portfolio management consultant for Gradient Investments. She has over 30 years of experience working with both institutional and high net worth clients and has amassed a strong breadth of investment experience during her tenure. This includes company and industry analysis, risk monitoring and portfolio management in both the equity and fixed income markets. She is highly attuned to global economic and market conditions.

Montagne performed security selection, portfolio management, advisor and client presentations and setting strategic direction for Gradient Investments during her eight years with the firm. She managed several strategies, the largest of which were the Endowment Series and Absolute Yield. Prior to joining Gradient, she was the senior investment analyst and co-portfolio manager for a Minneapolis-based RIA with over $500 million in assets under management. Prior to that, she was a senior investment analyst at Thrivent Asset Management. Montagne also spent several years at Munder Capital Management where she acted as assistant director of research while covering growth and value equities.

She served on the global board of the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) for seven years, including posts as president and conference chair. She is a member of both the CFA Society of Minnesota and CFA Institute. Montagne is an alumnus of the University of Detroit, where she graduated cum laude with a finance major and an English minor.

Media highlights include appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business News. She has been quoted in Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Investors’ Business Daily, Reuters, Fortune, NPR, The Washington Post and many others.

Keith Gangl, CFA®, serves as a portfolio manager for Gradient Investments, LLC. Gangl brings over 22 years of institutional investment management experience to Gradient Investments. Gangl has a long successful track record of investment performance through various market cycles and has extensive knowledge of equity markets.

Prior to Gradient, Gangl worked as a senior portfolio manager for over 18 years covering various asset styles and market capitalizations for Thrivent Financial. He was on a team overseeing several billion dollars in assets. Gangl while managing the fund twice won a Lipper Leader Award, which is given to a fund that excels in providing consistent strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers. As a senior portfolio manager, he developed and oversaw the tactical investment strategies utilized within mutual funds, variable annuities, pension funds and insurance company products. These investment processes included proprietary portfolio construction strategies, security selection metrics and volatility controlled parameters. Gangl helped start and develop the quantitative department improving portfolio construction and risk monitoring tools.

Gangl graduated from St. John's University earning a Bachelor of Arts in Math and Computer Science. He received his Master of Business Administration graduate degree from the University of St. Thomas. Gangl is a CFA® and a member of the Twin Cities Society of Security Analysts.

Gangl has been featured in Investor's Business Daily, quoted in Bloomberg, Wall Street online, Reuters, Yahoo! News and other local and national publications.