by The Wespath Team
As we wrap up the year, we’re celebrating with our own twist on the classic carol. Instead of partridges and pear trees, here are 12 reflections, recommendations and traditions from our team to spread holiday cheer and insight!
Thank you for entrusting Wespath with your organization and mission. Your dedication to serving others inspires us, and we are honored to support your growth. We look forward to continuing our meaningful partnerships in the years to come.
Frank Holsteen (Managing Director, Investment Management): It was surprising to witness the growing industrial demand for silver due to its role in AI data centers, electric vehicles and other electronics and how this contributed to a supply/demand imbalance that drove the price of silver much higher than most forecasters had anticipated.
Joe Halwax (Senior Managing Director, Institutional Investment Services): The biggest surprise for 2025 was the tariff announcement in April, with a sharp market fall and then rally.
Lucas Schoeppner (Director, Sustainable Investment Stewardship): Growing up sledding with my cousins!
Amy Bulger (Director, Private Markets): When my daughter was little, so many of her gifts came with the words ‘some assembly required.’ Those Christmas Eves often turned into late night marathons of tiny screws, confusing instructions and frustration. Now that she is an adult, I look back on those late evenings as some of my favorite holiday memories.
Trent Sparrow (Manager, Impact Investments): My dad and I dressing up as Santa and his elf and handing out hot chocolate and cookies in front of our house decorated with Christmas lights.
Jon Morris (Senior Analyst, Investment Research): I’ve learned that our work at Wespath helps clients and participants feel confident about their assets, so they can focus on what matters most.
Meagan Tenety (Manager, Sustainable Investment Stewardship): I went to my first conference with Wespath and was struck by how integral Wespath's investments are to the future of the clergy and lay people who serve the church. So many came up to me and said, “I have my retirement with you. Thank you for all you do.”
Bianka Hodo (Analyst, Investment Services): In my first year, I’ve seen how our clients make decisions with a strong focus on serving others and helping their communities.
Joshua Pullman (Analyst, Investment Services): I learned how important relationships and commonality are to business. Not everything can be reduced to a spreadsheet!
Johara Farhadieh (Chief Investment Officer and WII Chief Executive Officer): Artificial intelligence and tariffs.
Evan Witkowski (Director, Institutional Relationships): Tariffs—where were you on Liberation Day?
Andrew Steedman (Associate, Public Equities): Tariffs, their impact on markets and the geopolitical uncertainty they caused.
Jon Morris: In one word: juxtaposition.
Hoa Quach (Director, Public Markets): Two letters: AI.
Johara Farhadieh: I’m not predicting the bursting of an AI bubble, but I do think we’ll start to see cracks in the enthusiasm as investors confront the gap between soaring valuations and the reality of high costs, uncertain business models, and delayed profitability for companies like OpenAI. I expect sentiment to shift from AGI-driven hype toward demands for demonstrated use cases, durable competitive moats, real earnings and free cash flow.
Joe Halwax: The U.S. again avoids a recession, and we see continued adoption of digital ledgers and U.S. stablecoins.
Andrew Steedman: Uncertainty! The one thing I know for sure is we don’t know what will happen in 2026.
Connie Christian (Manager, Fixed Income): Asking someone to predict markets is really a sly way of getting them to try to time them.... My prediction is that a disciplined investment process and solid risk management will pay off in the long run.
Amy Bulger: Improving liquidity for private markets! Fingers crossed.
Raj Khan (Director, Investment Research): The U.S. equity market experiences high volatility, but ends the year with low single-digit performance.
Karen Manczko (Director, Institutional Relationships): Something I have been embarking on has been learning pickleball—like every other 40+ year old trying to find a new hobby.
Jon Strieter (Senior Analyst, Impact Investments): I ran the Chicago Marathon!
Jake Barnett (Managing Director, Sustainable Investment Strategies): I took a facilitation training with my good friend, Sister Rose Dowling, which was a great professional skill developer but also a deeply interesting process for personal reflection. I’ve already used it in multiple circumstances and am grateful to get to carry forward a great technique from the Catholic Women Religious!
Lucas Schoeppner: I visited Joshua Tree!
Connie Christian: I learned how to navigate the new coffee machine at work. It delivers great coffee and a helpful energy boost that drives my work performance, benefiting all of our clients.
Trent Sparrow: Cooking is a skill I refined in 2025 through watching chef Jeanne Pierre on YouTube. I have learned how to make many classic French and Italian dishes that my family loves. For me, food is love and getting better at it is a way to show more love through family meals.
Andrew Steedman: International travel (Guatemala and Germany) with our two kids.
Evan Witkowski: In the fall, it’s the ESPN Fantasy Football app.
Joshua Pullman: At work, ZoomInfo. At home, YouTube.
Meagan Tenety: I'm addicted to podcasts, so I would have to say Spotify.
Myles Smith (Investment Analyst, Investment Management): X—if you can filter out the noise, it’s a great resource for news and insights from industry leaders.
Joe Halwax: A few months ago, I would have said Grok because it was the best AI model for recent news and great at summarizing podcasts. But I have to go with the new Gemini 3 AI model because it is a big leap in functionality.
Kate Tallo (Executive Assistant): I love Bluesky! I have deleted all other social media.
Connie Christian: Financial Times. It might seem boring at first glance, but right now it’s riveting given all the moving parts at this moment in time.
Jon Strieter: Strava.
Neil Sobczak (Manager, Institutional Investment Services): I’m grateful for my family of five and the quality time we share while our children are still young.
Alicia Marriott (Institutional Services Specialist): I am grateful for my amazing family and friends!
Raj Khan: Grateful for good health for my family and loved ones.
Sylvia Poniecki (Director, Impact Investments): This past year with my girls has felt like such a gift. With college on the horizon, I’ve been savoring every moment with them before they are off chasing their own dreams and adventures.
Piotr Chwala (Manager, Private Markets): Family!
Karen Manczko: With having a busy personal and professional life I am so grateful for my family, including my French bulldog, Paulie. I am also very grateful for my health and my family’s health. I try not to take anything for granted.
Jake Barnett: I am grateful for the chance to rest and reflect at this time of year. After a busy 2025, it is good to take a step back to reflect on what took place in the preceding 11 months and to consider what to focus on carrying forward into 2026.
Frank Holsteen: My Wespath colleagues!
Myles Smith: The best family and close friend group I could ask for.
Johara Farhadieh: The day before Thanksgiving is a special occasion as my husband, his brothers and their partners gather for a delightful late lunch at Joe’s in downtown Chicago. It's just the adults in the family, and it’s a special time when we enjoy good food, share many laughs and relish the camaraderie that binds us together.
Meagan Tenety: We stay in our pajamas all Christmas day and feast on leftovers.
Hoa Quach: Baking cookies with my kids.
Evan Witkowski: Making Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies and handing them out to our neighbors.
Jake Barnett: The day after Thanksgiving my family goes to a morning yoga session together and then gets BBQ from Joe’s Kansas City later that night. It’s always a good blend of healthy and deliciously unhealthy!
Sylvia Poniecki: Two traditions hold a special place in my heart, and both center around time spent with loved ones: Black Friday shopping with my girls. It’s not really about the shopping—we hardly buy much—it’s about the fun of waking up before the sun, grabbing coffee and spending the whole day together. And then there’s the Polish Christmas Eve celebration of Wigilia. Gathering around the table for a feast of 12 traditional dishes is a way of connecting with family, honoring our heritage and remembering those who are no longer with us.
Myles Smith: Eating every holiday-themed dessert in sight.
Trent Sparrow: Christmas Eve nativity reading, followed by board games with family and friends late into the night.
Bianka Hodo: Driving around to look at Christmas lights.
Lucas Schoeppner: Making turkey soup after Thanksgiving.
Karen Manczko: Red Helicopter by James Rhee. This book recommendation came from Wespath’ new CFO, Jennifer Seuring. The book brings in real-life experiences and a business philosophy. My favorite quote in the book is how the author discusses his work with a poor performing company he is temporarily running and how he looks at kindness, “… if we can center kindness and math… we can get out of his mess together." He instills that kindness can be a strategic advantage in life and in business.
Joe Halwax: For articles, I read anything that investigative journalist Whitney Webb writes at Unlimited Hangout—she provides old school, thorough reporting on an array of topics. For books, I just started The Company by Robert Littell, which is historical fiction about the Cold War.
Evan Witkowski: Either Ulysses S. Grant by Ron Chernow or 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin. 1929 provides a lot of context to what we’re seeing now: deregulation, fearless risk taking, markets only going up, speculation, margin borrowing, etc.
Amy Bulger: A colleague loaned me the book The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby. It was a great book on the inner workings of how venture capital operates in Silicon Valley. The book provided some great lessons for my own personal life regarding decision making, embracing risk and recognizing the value of people in every connection.
Piotr Chwala: Warren Buffet’s final letter to shareholders.
Hoa Quach: Seeing What Others Don’t by Gary Klein.
Andrew Steedman: Factfulness, a book asset manager Baillie Gifford shared at an investor event, which discusses why the world is better than we think. It was especially impactful to expand the way I think about the world.
Meagan Tenety: The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.
Jake Barnett: My most recent book was Ordinary People by Judy Guest. A great novel with almost nothing to do with my professional work—my favorite kind of personal read.
Neil Sobczak: To celebrate 35 years of his memos, Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, released a collection of his favorite memos earlier this year.
Sylvia Poniecki: I recently re-read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich which discusses the struggles low-wage workers face just trying to get by. The book has been around for a long time, but rereading it was a reminder of how relevant those struggles still are today.
Johara Farhadieh: Magnificent! (And that's not just about the Magnificent 7, but all the magnificent work we've gotten done here at Wespath!)
Hoa Quach: Productive.
Jon Strieter: Action-packed.
Alicia Marriott: Eventful.
Jon Morris: Adapting.
Joshua Pullman: Transformative.
Karen Manczko: Patience—with two teen daughters I often have to remind myself to have patience especially when it comes to them.
Raj Khan: Gratifying.
Bianka Hodo: Growth.
Piotr Chwala: Forward.
Connie Christian: Balance—between work, family, friends, and travel—all good stuff.
Kate Tallo: Phew!
From all of us to you, thank you for being part of our year. Here’s to a joyful holiday season and an exciting 2026!
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