Brian Hillstrom in

Brian Hillstrom

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Retirement at Career Break
📍 West Chicago, Illinois, United States

Brian is a retired Senior VP of Operations from First Trust, where he was responsible for investment operations, portfolio management systems, and application software development. His diverse career also includes time as a software architect at Alcatel-Lucent. He holds degrees from both the University of Illinois and Wheaton College.

His entrepreneurial experience includes owning and operating a residential and commercial remodeling company, indicating a strong background in project management and business ownership outside of the finance and tech sectors.

Unique fact: Between a distinguished career in tech and a senior role in finance, he founded and led his own remodeling business.

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Experience
26 Years
Current Role
Retirement
Location
West Chicago, Illinois, United States
Personality Overview

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Communication Style
Decision Approach
Work Preference

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Priorities

Topics Brian cares about

Investment Operations
As Senior VP of Operations at First Trust, he was directly responsible for the operations of ETFs, OEFs, CEFs, and SMAs.
FinTech Software
Managed software development and operations to support portfolio management, trading, and back-office functions at First Trust.
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Career

Work history

12-2025
Retirement
Career Break
9-2019 - 12-2025
Senior VP Operations
First Trust
9-2019
Vice President Operations
First Trust
9-2003 - 1-2008
Owner and President
MTJC Specialties Inc.
9-1987 - 9-2003
Distinguished Member Of Technical Staff
Alcatel-Lucent
In the press

Media appearances

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Education
1985 - 1987
BS
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1981 - 1985
BA
Wheaton College
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

Dominance, influence, steadiness, and calculativeness scores with guidance on how this person prefers to communicate and decide.

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