Michael Stead

MICHAEL STEAD, Portfolio Manager of SIFE Trust Fund, guided the fund in
1997 to a 44.79% year-end return in his third year at the helm, an
admirable follow-up to 1996, which ended up 27.40% and his debut year
which ended with the fund up 49.94% in 1995. Mr. Stead currently manages
over $1 billion in holdings. He joined SIFE in May of 1995, after
working several years with Citibank and Bank of America. Mr. Stead began
his career with Bank of America in Los Angeles, serving as Vice
President in the World Banking Division for two years. He spent the next
year in Bangkok as Senior Credit Officer and Corporate Bank Head for
Thailand, and the subsequent three years in Tokyo as Executive Director
of Corporate Finance, East Asia and Director of Bank-America Asia Ltd.
In 1992, Mr. Stead returned to Bank of America’s Los Angeles branch,
managing the U.S. Division’s Capital Markets Credit Group. He was
transferred to San Francisco in 1993, where he was Senior Division Risk
Manager for one year before being promoted to Senior Credit Officer for
the Capital Markets Division. Mr. Stead left Bank of America in 1995 to
join SIFE. A native of Yorkshire, England, Mr. Stead attended college in
Germany, earning his degree in Economics and Business Administration
from Fachhochschule Aachen University. Following graduation and a short
stint with Roche Internations Ltd. in Uruguay, Mr. Stead began working
for Citibank in 1978 as Account Officer in the corporate bank in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. He then moved to Quito, Ecuador, where he was
Assistant Vice President, Head of the Multinational & Petroleum Unit.
Moving to the New York branch, he served as a Vice President before
leaving Citibank in 1986 to work at Bank of America. Mr. Stead currently
resides in California with his wife and four sons.
(FAR501)(6557)