About Us

Philip Chao is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Experiential Wealth, where he advises families and institutions on navigating markets through disciplined macroeconomic insight and fiduciary stewardship. An SEC-registered Investment Adviser Representative, Philip leads the firm’s short- and long-term macroeconomic framework, which serves as a strategic overlay for client portfolio construction and risk management.

Experiential Wealth also provides ERISA fiduciary advisory (3(21)) and discretionary management (3(38)) services to employer-sponsored retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) programs, helping plan sponsors meet their obligations while improving participant outcomes.

Philip is also the Founder and CEO of Nexus338, an SEC-registered investment adviser focused exclusively on redefining retirement plan defaults. Nexus338’s proprietary Individualized Glide Path Solution (iGPS) is an industry-leading, multi-asset default investment solution that personalizes each participant’s portfolio using available recordkeeper data, without requiring participant engagement. Acting as a participant-level fiduciary, Nexus338 currently serves more than 400 plan sponsors, advancing a more precise and defensible standard of care in defined-contribution plans.

A passionate advocate for the fiduciary standard, Philip brings more than 35 years of industry experience across wealth management, retirement plan design, and institutional investing. In late 2025, he published From Save to Safe: A Personal Journey from Fragility to Resilience, which debuted as a #1 Amazon bestseller, blending professional insight with a deeply human perspective on financial security and longevity.

Philip is also the host of his podcast, Tao of Chao, where he engages in wide-ranging conversations with leaders in politics, academia, investing, and demography on the forces shaping markets, retirement, and society.

Known for his clarity, intellectual range, and fiduciary conviction, Philip Chao is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences and forums where he addresses topics including macroeconomics, retirement aging challenges, personalization at scale, and the future of fiduciary responsibility.

Eileen Huang plays an integral and important investment management role in constructing client investment policy statements (IPSs) and quantifying client investment objectives. She values the fiduciary relationship and trust that Nexus338 builds with its clients, and she strives to reinforce that trust through timely monitoring and evaluation of investments to ensure that recommendations remain consistent with the IPS. Eileen is responsible for conducting investment research, manager analysis and the investment due diligence process as well as preparing quarterly investment and portfolio analysis reports. She is responsible for maintaining the firm’s portfolio management system and is in charge of all quantitative analysis.

Eileen received her Bachelor of International Business from the Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan and her MBA in finance from the George Washington University in 1996. Eileen earned her Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2000 and is a member of the CFA Society of San Diego.

Amanda Pagenhardt is responsible for the firm’s client relationships. Her role is to deliver all non-investment related client services. Amanda works with clients daily to help them resolve any service issues generated by third party investment and service providers. Amanda is also fully responsible for all Firm related administrative and human resources matters.

Amanda graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in Economics and George Mason University with an MBA.

Charles Tu is the Daniel F. Mulvihill Professor of Commercial Real Estate at the University of San Diego (USD). He is also Director of the MS in Real Estate program at USDís School of Business Administration. Tu earned his Ph.D. from the George Washington University (GWU) in 1999 with concentrations in finance and real estate, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2000.

Tu is dedicated to conducting applied research that helps improve business decision-making. Integrating the areas of finance and real estate, Tuís research interest includes asset allocation, derivatives and alternative investments, and real estate capital markets. He has published in Journal of Portfolio Management, Journal of Fixed Income and Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management on topics such as commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), real estate investment trusts (REITs) and institutional portfolio performance.

In addition to graduate, undergraduate and continuing education courses at USD, Tu teaches advanced real estate finance courses for professional organizations such as the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP). He also authored Financial Literacy 101, a book that educates high school students about the importance of finance.