About
VistaShares ETFs are actively managed by industry and investment leaders. We strive to deliver innovative investment solutions for today’s investors, helping them navigate evolving market opportunities with confidence.
Our Story
VistaShares was born from a simple observation: the ETF industry didn’t need more products, it needed better ones. Thematic funds were drifting from their themes, income funds were eroding their own NAV, and most new launches were built to sell rather than built to last. So in 2024, IndexIQ founder Adam Patti and DVx Ventures co-founder Jon McNeill started an issuer that would obsess over what’s inside the ETF, pairing rules-based construction with an investment committee of the operators and academics actually building the industries the funds invest in. Less than two years later, VistaShares has grown from zero to $2.5B in assets across 11 ETFs, making it one of the fastest-growing ETF platforms in history.
Innovative Investment Vehicles
VistaShares solutions are thoughtfully designed with institutional rigor and clearly defined use cases. Our goal is to provide investors with valuable new solutions that can improve portfolio outcomes.
First of its Kind Approach
Our solutions combine rigorous patent-pending investment processes with the active oversight of industry leaders, leveraging their in-depth knowledge to identify what we believe are the hidden opportunities in the global markets.
Domain Experience
Industry leaders’ proprietary insights help us design investment strategies that we believe more accurately capture specific investment exposures and provide long-term value.
Active Stewardship
We believe agility and robust risk management are crucial in dynamic industries. Leveraging the experience of investment scholars and professionals, we seek to actively manage our portfolios for optimal performance and lasting returns.
The VistaShares Investment Committee
Jon McNeill
Co-Founder
Robert Whitelaw
Chief Investment Strategist
Adam Patti
Chief Executive Officer
David Fetherstonhaugh
EVP, Investment Strategist
Sundeep “Sunny” Madra
Advisor to Investment Committee
Justin Lopas
Advisor to Investment Committee
Ian Cinnamon
Advisor to Investment Committee
Jon McNeill
Co-Founder
Jon currently serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of the venture studio, DVx Ventures. With a track record of founding and scaling six companies, Jon has led teams that generated tens of thousands of jobs and delivered multi-billion dollar returns for investors. At DVx, Jon and his team have launched 13 companies that are attacking broad opportunities in large markets.
Previously, Jon served as President at Tesla, where revenue grew from $2B to $20B in just 30 months. Subsequently, Jon joined Lyft as COO, where he played a pivotal role in doubling revenues and helping to take the company public. With a history as a six-time serial entrepreneur creating unicorns, Jon has a wealth of experience in operating and scaling companies during periods of hyper-growth in revenue and operations and has delivered returns of 9x to investors.
Jon currently holds advisory partner positions at Advent International and Goodwater Capital, serves as Vice Chair of the board of directors of Cruise, and is a board member for General Motors, Asurion, CrossFit, Stash, and Lululemon. During his tenure on the board of Lululemon, the company underwent a turnaround, resulting in a quintupling of its stock value.
Jon is a sought-after speaker, and frequently lectures at Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management. He graduated from Northwestern University before beginning his career at Bain & Company.
Robert Whitelaw
Chief Investment Strategist
Robert F. Whitelaw was most recently the Dean of the Undergraduate College, and continues to serve, as the Edward C. Johnson 3d Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.
Professor Whitelaw is best known for his comprehensive research on empirical asset pricing, including the resolution of the market-level risk-return puzzle, the role of information processing in explaining excess volatility, and the impact of frictions in generating apparent market inefficiency. His research also addresses the pricing and hedging of fixed income securities, and risk measurement and management.
His papers have been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies, as well as practitioner journals such as the Journal of Derivatives, the Journal of Fixed Income, Risk, and the Financial Analysts Journal. His research has received awards from organizations including Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the Chicago Quantitative Alliance. In addition, he is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Program on Asset Pricing, and a past Associate Editor of the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Finance.
He has a PhD in Finance from Stanford University, Graduate School of Business and a BS in Mathematics from MIT. Professor Whitelaw teaches portfolio management, investments/capital markets and international finance in the MBA, undergraduate and executive programs and asset pricing at the doctoral level.
Adam Patti
Chief Executive Officer
Adam is a pioneer in the Exchange-Traded Funds industry. Prior to VistaShares, Adam founded IndexIQ with a vision to combine institutional quality alternative investment strategies with the power of ETFs to enhance portfolio construction for all investors. IndexIQ established itself as the leading alternative investment manager in the ETF industry and was acquired by New York Life Insurance Company in 2015.
As Chairman & CEO of IndexIQ, Adam was an architect behind IndexIQ’s award winning product line of alternative investment strategies, and post-acquisition worked to successfully integrate the firm into the New York Life Investments infrastructure, including the roll-out of IndexIQ branded ETFs globally.
Prior to founding IndexIQ, Adam held a series of senior executive roles at TimeWarner, including at Fortune Magazine where he led Fortune Indexes, the creator of the first smart beta index. Fortune Indexes was an early entrant into the ETF industry, having launched the Fortune 500 ETF in partnership with State Street Global Advisors back in 2000.
Adam is frequently featured in the media and has won numerous awards as an expert in ETFs and alternative investments. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management with a triple major in Finance, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, and a B.S. in Finance from University at Albany.
David Fetherstonhaugh
EVP, Investment Strategist
David is a Principal at DVx, overseeing diligence on new ventures and external investments. Before joining DVx, David was at Mithril Capital Management, a global technology investment fund. At Mithril, David worked on the investment team, evaluating esoteric investment opportunities and supporting portfolio companies. David is a graduate at McGill University.
Sundeep “Sunny” Madra
Advisor to Investment Committee
Sundeep “Sunny” Madra is a recognized thought leader in the Artificial Intelligence space known for his deep expertise in AI, machine learning, and large-scale computing systems.
A seasoned entrepreneur, Sunny has an impressive track record of founding and successfully exiting multiple startups. His latest venture, Definitive Intelligence, was acquired by Groq — a cutting-edge computing company known for creating the fastest chip for LLM (Large Language Model) inference, enabling real-time chatbot responses with proprietary Language Processing Units (LPUs) — in early 2024. Following the acquisition, Sunny played a key role in launching GroqCloud and currently serves as the President of Supply Chain, Operations, and Go-to-Market at Groq.
Sunny’s other business ventures include co-founding and serving as CEO of Autonomic, a technology company focused on building infrastructure for smart mobility applications, which was later acquired by Ford. Prior to that, he co-founded and served as CTO of Xtreme Labs, a mobile app development company for leading brands, which was acquired by Pivotal.
In addition to his entrepreneurial ventures, Sunny held leadership roles at Ford, where he served as Vice President of Ford X, overseeing the automaker’s technology-focused initiatives.
Alongside his successful entrepreneurial career, Sunny has been an active angel investor since 2013. His extensive experience in technology, combined with deep expertise in AI, positions him as a key contributing member of the VistaShares investment committee.
Justin Lopas
Advisor to Investment Committee
Justin Lopas is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Base Power, an energy technology company based in Austin, Texas, focused on modernizing and decentralizing the electrical grid through home battery systems. Before founding Base Power in 2023, he led manufacturing at Anduril Industries and worked at SpaceX, where he played a key role in building the Starship program and establishing the Starbase site in Texas.
At Anduril, he managed a team of over 150 people overseeing manufacturing, operations, and supply chain for advanced defense systems. Known for his precision-building mindset learned at SpaceX, Lopas now applies those principles to scalable energy infrastructure, helping transform battery storage into intelligent grid technology.
A graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in mechanical engineering, Lopas has also held positions at Apple and Baker Hughes.
Ian Cinnamon
Advisor to Investment Committee
Ian Cinnamon is the CEO and Co-Founder of Apex, a high-rate configurable satellite bus platform manufacturer named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2025. Backed by over $500 million from the world’s best investors, Apex’s first satellite bus set a world record as the fastest cleansheet design to production spacecraft operating in space.
Focused on meeting the needs of the rapidly expanding space industry and advancing critical national security missions like Golden Dome, Apex provides scalable platforms to both the commercial and government sectors. Apex’s Los Angeles production facility can deliver satellite buses to customers in weeks rather than the industry standard of months or years, with the capacity to produce over 200 buses per year at full scale.
Prior to his work with Apex, Ian founded Synapse, a company specializing in artificial intelligence for security and defense. Ian led the company through acquisition by Palantir. Earlier in his career, Ian co-founded Superlabs, which was sold to Zynga, where he served as Director of Product after the acquisition.
Ian is a Forbes “30 Under 30” honoree and an alumnus of Y Combinator. He received his B.S. from MIT and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Our Team
Chris Hutton
Chief Financial Officer
Michael Williamson
EVP, Business Development & National Accounts
Jay Pestrichelli
Portfolio Manager
John McDevitt
Chief Compliance Officer
Chris Hutton
Chief Financial Officer
Chris is the CFO of DVx Ventures. He connects the dots between the numbers and the real world, and establishes actionable insights. As the CFO of DVx Ventures, Chris plays a critical role in scaling companies and driving strategic financial decision-making. As a strong operator and strategist, Chris acts as the CFO for all of DVx’s Portfolio companies, leading the Start-up Enablement Team who provide the companies with finance, HR, legal and IT leadership and support.
Chris started his career at GE on their Finance Management Program, before going on to lead finance for a division of GE HealthCare. Following which then joined eBay/Paypal leading Finance and Analytics for their managed partners before moving on to Carbon, a 3D printing startup where he led FP&A, International Operations and Analytics from 2015-2019. After which he served as VP Finance for Caffeine, a live streaming app where he oversaw all aspects of finance, legal and compliance and led a $120M Series D raise during COVID.
Chris is a Guest Lecturer of the University of Birmingham and serves on various startup advisory board, including ‘The Gut Stuff’, a female founded FMCG and Media company in the UK.
Michael Williamson
EVP, Business Development & National Accounts
With over 18 years of experience in financial services, Mike has a proven track record in driving business development and sales strategy within the ETF and mutual fund industry. Most recently, as Director of Business Development at AXS Investments, Mike contributed to the firm’s growth to $2.5 billion in assets, supporting the launch and distribution of 20 ETFs and 15 mutual funds. At IndexIQ, Mike was instrumental in the growth of the firm to over $2 billion in assets, ultimately leading to its successful acquisition by New York Life Investment Management. Mike is a graduate at Fordham University.
Jay Pestrichelli
Portfolio Manager
Jay Pestrichelli is Chief Trading Officer for Tidal Financial Group, bringing 30 years of experience to his role. Before joining Tidal, Jay was Co-Founder and Managing Director of ZEGA Financial, where he developed innovative hedging strategies, including HiPOS and Buy & Hedge, and was part of a team managing over $10 billion in ETF assets across a range of funds. A recognized thought leader, Jay co-authored the book Buy and Hedge, which bridges the gap between complex options strategies and everyday investors. His leadership at TD Ameritrade and Datek Online further solidified his expertise in trading and operations.
John McDevitt
Chief Compliance Officer
John McDevitt, CFA from Tidal Investments LLC currently serves as Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. McDevitt has a 25-year deep experience in developing and implementing regulatory compliance and risk management controls. Mr. McDevitt is known for his ability to effectively communicate technical regulatory and legal requirements in a clear, understandable framework that is actionable at executive levels. Mr. McDevitt is backed by the vast compliance guidance and legal resources of Tidal Investments LLC. Mr. McDevitt has an MBA from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and Bachelor of Science in Finance from West Chester University. Mr. McDevitt is also a CFA charterholder.