About Us

Philip Chao founded Nexus338, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor firm, to provide fiduciary investment management services to defined contribution retirement plans. The Firm’s founding mission is to be an advocate and investment manager for retirement plan sponsors to deliver prudent in-plan investment management services. This means acting in the capacity of an ERISA 3(38) fiduciary to provide the highest level of care in overseeing managed account services as well as providing fiduciary coverage on each plan participant.

As the Managing Member of Nexus338, Philip is the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. He is a passionate supporter of and advocate for the fiduciary standard and has advocated on many occasions with DOL staff in sharing his thoughts and practical applications regarding the ERISA fiduciary definition. His public comments can be viewed on the DOL’s and the SEC’s websites.

Philip is also the founder of Experiential Wealth, Inc., a wealth management firm offering investment management services to families and institutions. 

Philip’s curiosity, knowledge and years of experience in the retirement and investment management industry make him a sought-after speaker in industry events. His opinions and writings often appear in InvestmentNews, Advisorpedia.com, CNBC Personal Finance, and Financial Advisor, among other industry news outlets.  Philip was named one of the top 100 retirement advisors in 2019 by the Plan Advisor Magazine.

Philip is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He received his Certified Financial Planner certificate in 1991, completed his Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst training from the Center For Fiduciary Studies and the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business Center in 2006, and received Premier Certificates in FinTech from Harvard University in 2019.

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.