About the Founder

           Richard Lesan’s background lends itself to providing Frontier clients the guidance and expertise necessary to navigate today’s complex capital markets.  His industry experience bridges quantitative and fundamental research, research and portfolio management, and portfolio management and client service.  He has worked in senior investment positions and understands the motivations behind business and investment decisions at the highest levels.

           After earning a B.S. in international relations from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Rick went on to pilot one of the world's largest aircraft, the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, on global airlift missions. He was then awarded a fellowship to study international political economy at Columbia University on his way to serving as a professor at his alma mater. After teaching, he decided to take his skills and interests to Schwab Capital Markets in Chicago where he became an analyst working on quantitative stock selection models for hedge funds and institutional investment firms. While at Schwab, Rick earned his CFA charter, a designation considered to be "the definitive standard by which to measure serious investment professionals." Following Schwab, Rick worked directly for the CEO of Calamos Investments as an analyst tasked with deconstructing the risk and return attributes of the firm's various convertible bond and global equity investment strategies. His final posting before founding Frontier Advisors was as a Senior Portfolio Manager for AllianceBernstein in Washington, DC, overseeing the globally diversified portfolios of the firm's mid-Atlantic high net worth private clients.

           Each experience taught him something new and significant about the industry, the profession, and the art and science of investing.  Paradoxically, his journey within the establishment helped him conclude that he no longer wanted to be part of the establishment.  Too much about it, he determined, benefited the industry at the expense of the private investor.  Rick figured that if it was to be done right, he had to do it himself.  And so began Frontier Advisors…