Some of the long-time and emerging pioneers of the ETF industry are profiled here. They have been at the forefront of ETF portfolio management, strategy development, market integration and investor awareness. Some have become leaders by growing portfolios based entirely on ETFs, while others are aiming to role out sector-driven investments that they feel will become the engines for these funds.

Today we feature one of our five to watch, Adam Patti, ceo of Rye Brook, N.Y.-based IndexIQ. As ceo of IndexIQ, Patti is helping to develop new indices for fundamentally derived investing and alternative beta/hedge fund replication. “They should serve to expand the market,” he said, noting that these indices are unique because they represent asset classes that are often untapped or unrepresented. As a result, the company expects to aid advisors by offering more choices toward their completion of asset allocation.

IndexIQ’s mandate is to build institutional investment strategies, and Patti said the company plans to launch a series of these strategies as ETFs in the coming months. “Right now, we’re in the market with indices, but we’re building products for asset allocation models,” he said, adding that the company has filed with the regulators to launch investable ETFs. “We’re fairly far along.”

Patti said he sees a big opportunity for ETFs beyond institutional investors. IndexIQ’s strategy will be to make institutional strategies accessible and broadly available to retail investors through indices and at the inherently lower cost of ETFs.

Prior to co-founding IndexIQ in 2006 with David Fogel and Gregory Bassuk, Patti began his indexing and ETF experience with Time, Inc. There, he led Fortune Indexes, a business charged with commercializing fundamental indices such as The Fortune 500 Index. Fortune Indexes, a pioneer in developing alternatively weighted indices, partnered with State Street to launch two ETFs in 2000 when the ETF industry was still in its infancy.