At Demeter Tactical Investments, our leadership team brings together decades of experience spanning global financial markets, data science, technology, and governance. Each member contributes specialized expertise that strengthens the firm’s systematic approach to active management and ensures institutional-grade oversight across all aspects of strategy, risk, and operations.
Jeffrey A. Sexton is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Demeter Tactical Investments, where he oversees the firm’s investment strategy, portfolio construction, and risk management. With more than two decades of experience across major financial institutions, Mr. Sexton’s career includes leadership roles as President and Chief Investment Officer at Silver Leaf Capital in New York, and earlier as General Counsel and CIO at Arsenal Investment Advisors. He also served as Director of Quantitative Strategies at Roxbury Capital Management and as a Portfolio Manager at both Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Sexton earned his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an M.A. in Economic Statecraft from the University of Kentucky, a J.D. from the University of Louisville, and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Kentucky. He is a member of the Kentucky and American Bar Associations.
Jon Hicks is the global head of Demeter Tactical Investments’ marketing, product strategy and distribution initiatives. He also founded and serves as CEO of J. Hagan Capital, bringing over 20 years of experience in cultivating investor relationships, raising capital, and building fund strategy.
Mr. Hicks joined Demeter in 2022, bringing the firm critical expertise in capital formation, strategy design, and fund distribution. Demeter’s funds and strategies are now available throughout the United States, Europe and the UAE. He also oversees firm operations in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas.
Mr. Hicks earned his M.B.A. from the Keller Graduate School of Management, M.S. in Financial Services from the Institute of Business and Finance, a graduate certificate in Financial Management from Cornell University, and a B.S. in Economics from Centre College.
John Hensel serves as Senior Executive Officer for Demeter Tactical Investments (ME) Ltd. and leads Demeter’s fund manager operations and product distribution in the Middle East, operating from the firm’s Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) office. Mr. Hensel brings extensive regional and institutional experience, having previously led DTCC Digital (ME) Ltd., the regional arm of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, and co-founded Securrency, Inc., a leading digital infrastructure firm acquired by DTCC in 2023.
Mr. Hensel has lived in the UAE since 2017 and previously served as Senior Executive Officer for two FSRA-regulated financial firms. Earlier in his career, he completed 25 years of service as a U.S. Navy pilot. He earned an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University-Carey Business School, an M.A. in Strategy & Policy from the U.S. Naval War College, and a B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy.
P.J. Steele leads the firm’s technology, trading infrastructure, and quantitative systems development. With over 30 years of experience in algorithmic programming and data modeling, he has engineered platforms spanning financial analytics, energy futures, and digital trading environments. Before joining Demeter Tactical Investments, Mr. Steele served as a Senior Software Engineer at Churchill Downs Incorporated and as a Programmer at Genscape, Inc. He also held leadership roles at Captive Indoor Media and StarSat.
Mr. Steele attended Indiana University and Indiana Technical College receiving degrees in Applied Sciences and Computer Programming.
Jason Cholewa oversees the firm’s daily operations, compliance processes, and governance frameworks. Bringing over 20 years of operational and financial experience, he has built and led middle- and back-office infrastructures for fund administrators, public accounting firms, and investment consultancies. Before joining Demeter Tactical Investments, he served as a Director at Marcum LLP, Chief Revenue Officer at AltsAxis, Managing Director at Constellation Advisers, and Vice President at ALPS Fund Services.
Mr. Cholewa holds a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Western Washington University and is a Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) specializing in due diligence
James Chen, J.D., M.A., M.S.D.S., serves as Chief Data Scientist for Demeter Tactical Investments Corp. and brings deep academic and applied expertise in data science, law, and economics. He also holds the Justin Smith Morrill Chair in Law at Michigan State University and serves as a visiting scholar at universities in Croatia and France. Mr. Chen completed his Master’s in Data Science at Northwestern University and earned both his B.A. and M.A. from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar at the University of Iceland, he later graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as an executive editor of the Harvard Law Review. His early career includes clerkships with the Honorable J. Michael Luttig and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Jonathan Bradley develops and implements the firm’s options-based hedging and overlay strategies in coordination with the investment and data science teams. Prior to joining Demeter Tactical Investments, he served as an Institutional Trader and Strategist at M.S. Howells & Co., following earlier roles at Charles Schwab & Co. and Edward D. Jones & Co.
Mr. Bradley holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from Grand Canyon University.
Each member of Demeter Tactical Investments’ leadership team brings specialized expertise that reinforces the firm’s foundation in systematic research, disciplined execution, and institutional governance