Claire F. McDonald, CIMA®
Managing Director & Senior Institutional Consultant
Claire joined GYL Financial Synergies in 2016 as our Managing Director & Senior Institutional Consultant. She specializes in asset management analysis and investment manager selection for institutional clients. She also provides consulting services to municipalities, self-insurance funds, corporations, and non-profit organizations in areas that include investment policy, asset allocation, and investment management selection and oversight.
Prior to the firm, Claire has worked with Wells Fargo Advisors and its predecessors in the private client group since 1991. Claire was one of 75 members of the Senior Consulting Council, Wells Fargo Advisors’ elite senior consulting group. Prior to Wells Fargo, she spent six years with the International Performance Evaluation Department of the World Markets Company in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she focused on the Dutch Pension market. She is also a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and has over 30 years of experience providing a full range of consulting services to institutional clients.
Claire holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst® certification, administered by the Investments & Wealth Institute™ (formerly known as the Investment Management Consultants Association®), and taught in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Outside of work, Claire loves hiking, biking, spending time on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband and friends, and walks with their dog. Since most of Claire’s family and many close friends still live in Scotland, she takes pleasure in visiting them as often as possible.