Lori Pizzani's Bio

Lori Pizzani is a Brewster, New York-based independent journalist, writer and editor specializing in mutual funds and other investment products, the broader financial services industry and corporate business issues. She owns her own writing firm, aptly named "Lori's Stories". She started the firm in April 1996.

Lori’s articles have been frequently cited and/or republished in the popular and financial media as well as in scholarly journals and regulatory briefings and have been incorporated into the MBA study program at Harvard Business School. (Most recently, an article she wrote in Financial Engineering News about the credit derivatives market was used as part of Dr. Robert Merton’s Winter 2008 curriculum). 

Prior to founding her freelance writing firm, she previously served as the on-staff managing editor of Fund Directions, a monthly mutual fund trade publication, and was a contributing reporter to its weekly sibling publication Fund Action. A change in ownership of these publications brought about her decision to leave and strike out on her own.

Current Assignments/Projects

Ongoing:

-- StructuredRetailProducts.com
Lori currently serves as the North American (US and Canada) news reporter for StructuredRetailProducts.com, and its sister online magazine SRP Magazine. Both are geared for the investment banking industry’s executives and focus on the structure, sales, marketing, regulatory and tax and accounting issues of structured investment products sold to high net worth retail investors. The publications are owned by Arete Consulting in London. Lori has provided her services since June 2007.

-- The Investment Professional
In 2009 she signed on as a regular contributor to The Investment Professional, the new quarterly hard copy and online magazine published for members of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA). She writes feature articles for this magazine.

-- CFA Institute Magazine
Since its launch in January 2003, Lori has served as a regular contributing journalist to CFA Institute Magazine, a bi-monthly professional trade publication sponsored by the prestigious CFA Institute (formerly known as the Association for Investment Management and Research -- AIMR) in Charlottesville, Va. She writes one or more articles for each issue and helped conceive and write a comic strip-like feature called Everyday Ethics!

She also helped incept (in April 2001) and wrote for the CFA Institute’s bi-monthly educational newsletter for financial journalists, reporters and editors (The Financial Journalist) until its demise at year-end 2005. She received numerous accolades for her articles for this publication, including a two-part article that explored the scope of ten of the worst US accounting frauds and how they were uncovered.

Recent Past:

In late 2008 she was asked to write a structured products primer article for a special advertising section of The Wall Street Journal. Her bylined article and an accompanying self-developed chart explaining the objectives, differences, benefits and drawbacks between four different types of structured products ran on November 5, 2008.

Until June 30, 2008 Lori served as the editor-at-large and weekly news contributing writer for Money Management Executive, a nationally recognized weekly mutual fund and investment management trade magazine published by Source Media (which in 3/05 purchased the previous publisher, Thomson Media, a Thomson Financial subsidiary). She has been on long-term assignment with the publication -- through three owners -- since mid-1996. (This publication is the successor to Mutual Fund Market News, which changed its name and broadened its coverage in May 2003). 

Also in 2008 she finished co-authoring a book designed for the independent trustees that sit on mutual fund boards of directors. The in-depth book goes beyond just discussing fiduciary responsibilities and legal requirements for boards of directors and takes a realistic look at directors’ responsibilities from the perspective of the typical mutual fund investor – named Harry. The book, Helping Harry, will be published by Management Practice.

In January 2006 she began reporting on and writing regular feature news articles for Financial Engineering News, a bi-monthly news magazine for Wall Street’s risk managers and derivatives securities financial engineering professionals, and later developed her own additional opinion column for the magazine. The publication ceased publication in March 2007.

In May 2005 Lori completed editing a "how to" handbook about actively managing mutual fund portfolios for a wealth manager in Westport, Ct, and the former chief investment officer/chief operating officer of a very successful Royal Alliance subsidiary firm in Danbury, Ct. The 10-chapter book is designed for more novice investment representatives and was published late in 2005.

Lori also ghostwrites a variety of materials and does editorial work for several highly respected financial services firms who welcome her expertise, but prefer to maintain the appearance that their writing is proprietary (will provide names of companies and specific projects/company bylined articles upon request).

Past Writing Experiences/Projects 

Lori had served as the site editor for www.mutualfundcareers.com, and had written a recurring news column (Street Talk) on employment trends for the mutual fund and broader asset management industries since the web site's launch in 2000 (the site changed hands in 2004 and Lori is no longer affiliated with it). In addition, she had written career profiles -- an innovative feature she created -- with some of the fund industry's most notable executives for this web site.

Lori's writing experience includes news coverage and articles for cnbc.com, worldlyinvestor.com, and financial-planning.com, as well as several highly regarded financial services magazines, including Bank Investment Consultant, Registered Representative, Bank Technology News, Registered Investment Advisor, Annuity Market News (renamed Retirement Income Reporter in March 2008), Investment News and Big Apple Parent/Queens Parent.

Moreover, she was a regular contributor of original sales and marketing-related articles to www.iFinancialMarketing.com which is read by mutual fund industry professionals, and had served as the managing editor for web-based newsletter www.Fundemail.com until it went dormant in December 2003. She had written periodic "Manager Insight" articles that profiled individual mutual funds via cozy, in-depth Q&As with fund managers for Fundemail.com.

In October 2004 she co-led a panel of speakers at a Boston industry conference assembled to discuss how to deal with the media, reporters and editors. Lori developed and delivered a Power point presentation highlighting the ten dumbest things PR people do when engaging the media.

-- Need an experienced financial services or competent business reporter? 
-- Seeking a writer who understands complex business and finance topics?
-- Wondering who you can turn to for a breaking news story on a quick turnaround?
-- Seeking an ethical reporter with a flair for news and experience working inside the financial services industry?  

You've found her! 

Let me help you make your own news publication shine.