Management Team

At Pinnacle, our management team has over 50 years of combined industry experience dealing with all types of offshore and onshore structures and strategies.

Charlotte, NC Office

John Kelly
Managing Member

John qualified as a chartered accountant in 1992 and worked for Deloitte & Touche in both England and Bermuda. He was employed with Hemisphere Management Limited from 1994 to 1997 where he was responsible for the administration of a portfolio of clients and held supervisory responsibilities for a number of staff members. In 1997 he departed Hemisphere to establish Prime Management Limited in Bermuda. At Prime, he held the position of Director and was responsible for all aspects of the business, including sales and marketing efforts, recruitment of staff, client liaison, training of staff members, compliance with government legislation and detailed review of staff members’ work. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of several hedge funds for which Prime acted as administrator. In 2004 he established Pinnacle Fund Administration. 

John is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Reading, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

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Brian Smith
Director

Brian has been in the financial services industry since 1994 when he was a Fund Accountant and later a Senior Fund Accountant with Lexington Management, Inc. in New Jersey. In January 1997, he joined PFPC, Inc and was co-responsible for a staff of 50 performing fund accounting and fund administration duties on over 40 portfolios and over $12 billion in assets. In November of 1998, Brian joined Bank of America, Inc. (formerly NationsBank, Inc.) as Assistant Vice President of Fund Administration. He was promoted to Vice President and eventually a Director in charge of Fund Accounting Oversight with overall responsibility for all operational facets of the third party fund accounting of the Nations Funds and the Bank of America Partnerships, encompassing over 90 funds and $150 billion in assets under management. He was also responsible from an operational perspective for all new fund launches, mergers, fund closings; oversight on all 1940 Act registered hedge funds, as well as Operational Due Diligence for Banc of America Capital Management, LLC’s Fund of Hedge Fund platform. In April, 2005, he left Bank of America to join Pinnacle Fund Administration.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Siena College.

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Jeffrey Jackson
Director

Jeffrey has been in the hedge fund and financial services industry since 2000 then he joined Pequot Capital Management, Inc in Westport Connecticut as a Fund Accountant.  At Pequot Jeffrey was responsible for the administration of several funds with various investment strategies.  In 2004 Jeffrey joined TIAA-CREF in Charlotte, NC as a Investment Accounting Analyst being promoted to a Senior Investment Accounting Analyst one year later.  At TIAA-CREF Jeffrey supervised an operations accounting team and managed several subsidiary portfolios of ABS, CMBS and CDO positions totaling $2 billion in assets.  In March 2007, Jeffrey left TIAA-CREF to join Pinnacle Fund Administration.

Jeffrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Hampton University.

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Vancouver, Canada Office

David Smith
Managing Director

David qualified as a chartered accountant in 2000 while employed at Grant Thornton in Vancouver, Canada. From 2000 to 2004, he worked in the hedge fund industry in Bermuda, first at Ernst & Young and then, at Prime Management Limited administering a portfolio of clients. In 2004 he established Pinnacle Fund Administration LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2010 David moved to Vancouver, Canada to establish Pinnacle Canada Fund Administration Ltd. At Pinnacle Fund Administration Canada Limited, David is responsible for the delivery of fund administration services to clients and investors including the development of the Company's technology platform and operating systems.

David is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Queen’s University, holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the Board of Directors of CFA Vancouver.

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Keith Donald
Managing Director

Keith joined Pinnacle Canada Fund Administration Limited in 2011 as Managing Director and is responsible for providing fund administration services to clients as well as compliance and human resources.  Keith has over 12 years' experience in the hedge fund industry, working in Bermuda between 1998 and 2008 at KPMG and CACEIS Bermuda (previously Olympia Capital).  Following his move to Canada in 2008 Keith was Chief Executive Officer of CACEIS (Canada) Limited.  At CACEIS, Keith was responsible for all aspects of operations, including new client integration and business development support.

Keith is a member of the Scottish Institute of Chartered Accountants, holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from Glasgow University, and holds the Certified Internal Auditor designation.

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