James J. Kragenbring, CFA Vice President and Senior Investment Officer, Structured Finance

Jim provides structured finance strategy and research counsel to all Advantus accounts. He is primarily responsible for evaluating new investment vehicles, developing and analyzing investment strategies, assessing and recommending relative value positions, and advising portfolio managers on asset-backed and mortgage-backed security selection.

Prior to joining Advantus in 2003, Jim was a portfolio manager with responsibility for managing asset-backed and structured mortgage securities across a wide variety of total-return client mandates, and for managing both taxable and tax-exempt short duration accounts. He also has extensive experience in fixed income and derivatives trading, analytics development and asset/liability management. Jim is a CFA Charterholder, and a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Saint Louis.

Professional Experience

• NISA Investment Advisors, L.L.C. Investment Officer –Fixed Income
• Active in the investment industry since 1997

Degrees and Designations

• Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, summa cum laude, Washington University in St. Louis
• Chartered Financial Analyst