Mr. Picca is a senior portfolio manager and head of Factor-Based Strategies in Vanguard Quantitative Equity Group (QEG), responsible for conducting and overseeing research and portfolio management for all of QEG’s active factor strategies.

Prior to joining Vanguard in 2017, he was a senior member of the strategy research team at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where he worked on the design and the implementation of factor-based investment solutions.

Mr. Picca earned his M.B.A. and joint Ph.D. in finance and economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the University of Chicago department of economics, where he did his doctoral work under the supervision of Gene Fama.

He has an M.S. in finance and economics from the London School of Economics and a B.S. in international economics and management from Bocconi University in Italy.