C. Mead Welles, Founder and CEO of Octagon Asset Management, LLC, is responsible for managing the core portfolio and determining the overall strategy of the Octave-1 Fund, the Octave Entertainment Fund, and the Octave Transportation Fund.  Mead brings to Octagon unique experience in trade and commodity finance, emerging market fixed income asset management, and emerging market structured finance.  Prior to Octagon, Mead worked at Cargill Financial Services International, the internal emerging market investment and trading arm of Cargill, Inc.  As one of the original members of the emerging markets trade and structured finance group, Mead focused on finding ways of using Cargill’s international trade and working capital flows to arbitrage capital markets, finance subsidiaries, mitigate risks and minimize balance sheet usage.  Before Cargill, Mead worked in asset management for Bull & Bear Securities and for Shearson Lehman Hutton.  Mead received his B.A. in Economics from Bates College in Lewiston, ME with additional studies in international business in Lugano, Switzerland.