Tema builds a bench while one fund carries the book to $4B

Tema ETFs has named Paisley Nardini head of investment strategy, ETF Trends reports from a LinkedIn update, a move that lands as the issuer's assets have more than doubled in 2026 to roughly $4 billion. Nardini arrives from Simplify Asset Management, where she was head of multi-asset solutions, after earlier roles at Invesco and PIMCO and appearances on CNBC with VettaFi — credentials built as much for the camera as for the research office.

The appointment follows February's arrival of Steve Munroe from ProShares as president, a hire meant to fuel growth and product innovation. Nardini adds the public-facing investment voice a thematic issuer needs once it is selling a whole platform, not one ticker.

Most of that expansion traces to retail and institutional enthusiasm for NASA, a concentrated space fund and peer of the Procure Space ETF (UFO) that offers a high-profile route to SpaceX. Tema has also built strategies tied to the electrification boom and alternative market structures, so the shelf is broader than the marquee product even if this year's flows tell one dominant story.

The challenge now is concentration. A fund that captures flows because it owns SpaceX can make a small issuer famous, but thematic fame has a short half-life; Nardini's multi-asset background will matter most when advisors ask the follow-up question: once I own this, what do I own next?

The hire lines up with what this publication has tracked in the second quarter: RIAs rebuilt their ETF lineups on momentum, and a SpaceX-linked crossover fund was part of the story. That momentum carried Tema to this size, and the leadership hires look like an effort to keep that audience as the story broadens beyond one fund. The first real test comes with Tema's next launch, which will have to make the case without leaning on SpaceX.