WR Capital Management has appointed Andrew Weisman as Director of Research and Executive Vice President. Weisman will bring his experience in the areas of hedge fund asset allocation and risk management by advising on the development of new and existing hedge fund investments. Weisman will also serve as a member of Patel Weisman LLC, an associated asset management consulting practice. Prior to joining WR Capital Management, Weisman served as Chief Portfolio Manager and Head of Investment Analytics for the Merrill Lynch Hedge Fund Development and Management Group. Prior to that, he served as CIO for Nikko International. He is a former winner of the Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award and the GAIM Research Paper of the Year. WR Capital Management has also added Sandeep Patel to the Investment Committee. Patel was most recently the Head of Portfolio Construction for the Merrill Lynch Hedge Fund Development and Management Group and earned his PhD in Finance at The Wharton School.
Fairfield Greenwich Group has announced that it has added a senior professional to its team at the hedge fund specialist's New York office. David Horn joins the firm as Partner and Chief Global Strategist. Horn will also serve on the firm's Board of Directors. For over 38 years, Horn has been a leading executive in the institutional and private wealth management industry. He was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and the Head of Global Private Client Marketing and Global Senior Relationship Management for the firm's largest private clients, sitting on the Private Wealth Management Executive and Operating Committees, as well as on the firm's Alternative Manager Selection Due Diligence Committee. FGG Founding Partner Andrés Piedrahita commented: "As our business continues to grow and mature, we saw the importance of adding a distinguished professional of David's calibre to direct our global business strategy as we focus on building further institutional and ultra-high-net-worth relationships. We have great confidence that David will benefit this firm and its investors by leading us towards new market opportunities, and by working to manage the further expansion and improvement of our enterprise."
Cook Pine Capital has announced that Scott Baker has joined their firm as a Principal. Baker has had a long career in the wealth management industry, previously holding positions at Goldman Sachs as Head of Wealth Management Strategic Planning, at Morgan Stanley as Co-Head of the Alternative Investment Group, and most recently at Citi as a Managing Director within their Global Wealth Management Division. While at Citi, Baker was responsible for building out the product and service platform for the firm's largest private clients globally, many of which are among the world's wealthiest individuals. Cook Pine Capital's Founder, Eiich Kuwana, commented: "Scott and I have known each other for many years since working together at Goldman Sachs. We are delighted to have him join Cook Pine, as he brings significant additional depth to our firm, from which our clients will benefit greatly."
Riskdata has announced the appointment of Rachel Rubenstein as Managing Director, EMEA, leading the company's sales team across the region. She joins Riskdata from Axioma Inc, a risk management and optimisation company, where she was Sales Director. Rubenstein was previously Sales Director for FTSE Americas, and also worked as a Sales Consultant in New York and California for Barra. Olivier Le Marois, Chief Executive of Riskdata commented: "Rachel's appointment comes at a time when Riskdata has achieved a market leading position in fund of hedge funds risk management, while continuing to build out our position in the hedge funds area. We've also gained some significant corporate treasury and pension fund clients, and we now see institutional investors as a key growth sector for us. We're seeing increased demand by institutional investors for advanced screening and selection tools that can handle multiple risk styles, together with alpha identification."
Citadel Investment Group has announced thatNick Taylor will join the firm as Senior Managing Director and Head of Principal Investments for Asia and Europe. Taylor will join Citadel from Credit Suisse, where he co-founded and led one of Credit Suisse's internal hedge funds, Modal Capital Partners. "Expanding our world-class team is critical to the continued growth of our franchise on a global scale," said Kenneth Griffin, CEO and Founder of Citadel Investment Group. "Nick Taylor has rare expertise and experience, and he will be a major asset as we extend our investment platform."
"Asia and Europe are some of the most promising regions in the global capital markets," said Taylor. "Citadel has a great reputation for its thoughtful approach to risk taking and investing, and I am pleased to be joining the organisation." Taylor served with Credit Suisse since 1999, in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Previously, he worked with Credit Suisse First Boston as a Managing Director of Proprietary Trading in Europe, and worked on the Risk Arbitrage Desk in Europe for Goldman Sachs. He graduated from Cambridge University.
Halbis, the active management specialist of the HSBC Group, has appointed Shameema Yousuf as a fund manager on the Halbis Commodities Alpha fund. Yousuf will work alongside lead manager Per Tingberg in managing the discretionary futures fund, launched in September 2006. Yousuf has more than 10 years of commodities experience, most recently working as self employed consultant. She started her career in Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa as an investment portfolio analyst with subsequent roles in commodity trading, analysis and marketing at Amiga International, Ronly Holdings, Mako Financial Markets and Fuerst Lawson. Bill Maldonado, Head of Alternative Investments at Halbis, said: "Shameema's experience in both the physical and the financial arena is a tremendous asset. We are particularly excited by her grains expertise given the opportunities we see in the agricultural sectors."
Pioneer Investment Management has announced the appointment of two portfolio managers to run its Russian funds. Sergey Grigoryan as Head of Portfolio Management and Andrew Bershadsky as Fixed Income, Portfolio Manager. Sergey Grigoryan has more than 12 years of experience in the Russian stock market. Before joining Pioneer Investments, he was Managing Director at Russ Capital Asset Management Company focusing on management of two mutual funds, non-state pension fund and segregated client portfolios. Prior to joining Pioneer Investments Bershadsky worked for Raiffeisen Capital as Bond Portfolio Manager. The Moscow-based investment team will be responsible for the development of investment strategy as well as portfolio structure and its diversification in line with the market trends. While making investment decisions, the Russian investment team will rely on the global infrastructure and support from sector analysts in Vienna, Dublin and Milan, Pioneer Investments' key investment centres for Russia. Commenting on the appointment, Elena Loginova, General Director, Pioneer Investment Management, said, "We have made another important step in the process of establishing business in the Russian market. We have a challenging target to enter the top 5 asset managers in Russia by 2011. We hope that the expertise and talent of our fund managers will allow us to achieve portfolio performance above the market average," she added. In addition, Pioneer has also announced that John O'Connor has joined the company as Head of US Institutional. In this newly created position, O'Connor is responsible for managing Pioneer Investments' institutional business in the US, including the sales, client service, consultant relations, and related support staff. O'Connor has 14 years of experience in the institutional investment business. Prior to joining Pioneer Investments, he was Senior Vice President and Director of North American Sales and Consultant Relations at MFS Investment Management in Boston. In this position, O'Connor played a key role in leading MFS's institutional business in the US. Daniel K. Kingsbury, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pioneer Investment Management, said, "Jack brings a wealth of experience to Pioneer Investments and we look forward to his leadership of our institutional team. We have a successful 80-year history in asset management, a large global investment organisation and highly competitive products for the institutional marketplace. Developing strong sales, client service, and consultant relations capabilities in the US are an important part of demonstrating our commitment to the institutional market. Jack is an excellent choice to head the effort."
Steven Blackie has joined Mercer as a principal and senior investment consultant in its Edinburgh office. Blackie will have responsibility for the investment consulting business in Scotland, and will work closely with Mercer's senior UK leadership to drive the future business strategy, both within the Scottish marketplace and more widely. In addition, he will be responsible for providing investment advice to a portfolio of clients both within and outside Scotland. Blackie has joined from Aon Consulting where he held the role of commercial director for Scotland and head of Aon's Scottish Practice, advising clients on investment issues and having overall responsibility for the financial success of Aon's Scottish business. Before joining Aon he worked for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in London as a client relationship director and Japanese equity product specialist. Prior to this he was a fund manager with both Edinburgh Fund Managers and Scottish Life Assurance Company, having worked in the investment arena since 1992. "We are delighted to have secured a candidate of Steven's calibre to join our investment consulting business," said Fiona Dunsire, UK head of investment consulting and worldwide partner at Mercer. "Steven's experience and the commercial skills that he brings are a great complement to our existing team. I look forward to working with him to help us build on our strong presence in the local Scottish market."
Bruce Gardner has joined Sidley Austin LLP's London office as a partner in the Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives group. Gardner will continue to focus on hedge funds, alternative asset management and related matters as he has for the last ten years. Gardner advises on all aspects of the structure and operation of hedge funds and other alternative investment products including their marketing and distribution, trading and transactional documentation and the creation of structures or repackaging arrangements to access specific markets or investors. He also advises upon the establishment of asset management businesses in the UK, their structure and regulation, arrangements for executive incentivisation and acquisitions, joint ventures and restructurings within the financial services sector generally. "Bruce is one of the most respected lawyers in the UK hedge fund and financial markets arena and we are pleased to have him join us to lead the hedge fund practice in Europe," said Tom Cole, Chair of the firm's Executive Committee. "Bruce significantly deepens the pool of talent we have in our internationally recognised hedge fund practice, which is already a market leader in both the US and Asia."
Private Advisors has appointed three Managing Directors to its London office. Matthew Baker, Jennifer Buckley and Rickard Fischerstrom all bring considerable investment experience to the Private Advisors UK team, which is led by Jens Bisgaard-Frantzen, the former CEO and Managing Partner of ATP Private Equity Partners, who has led this effort since joining Private Advisors UK in July 2007. Buckley joins the team following 8 years at GE Equity in London, where she was the Head of the EMEA private equity group and oversaw the team responsible for commitments to private equity funds and co-investments. Baker joins Private Advisors' London Team from ATP Private Equity Partners, where he was responsible for all legal and tax affairs including negotiating terms and conditions governing portfolio funds, commercial due diligence, and liaising with tax advisors on an investment by investment basis. Fischerstrom is responsible for European business development and investor relations at Private Advisors UK.
Risk Management Solutions has announced that John Stroughair has been hired to head the RiskMarkets group of RMS Consulting. He will be responsible for all RMS capital markets activities, including risk analysis of catastrophe bonds for use by rating agencies and investors, the Paradex initiative to provide parametric indices for risk transfer, and an innovative new platform for managing insurance-linked security portfolios. Stroughair joins RMS from Oliver Wyman & Company, where he was a managing director in the Corporate Risk practice, focusing on developing quantitative approaches to improve managerial decisions. He also played a key role in the firm's initiative to provide risk management consulting to organisations outside the financial services sector. "John's significant experience in developing methodologies for measuring and managing credit and market risk for financial institutions makes him a very strong addition to the RiskMarkets group," said Peter Nakada, Managing Director of RMS Consulting.
Caliburn Capital Partners has announced the appointment of Peter Northcott who joins the Operational Due Diligence team and Qualitative Analysts Miguel Teixeira, Alice He and Eric Landry. Northcott previously worked at Mulvaney Capital Management, a quantitative hedge fund, where he was Chief Operating Officer. With over 18 years in the financial markets industry, including experience with ANZ National Bank (New Zealand), Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan, Northcott joins the Operational Due Diligence team. Teixeira is of Portuguese nationality and joins Caliburn Capital from Banco Privado Portugues, where he was a Portfolio Manager responsible for portfolio construction and manager selection. Prior to his role at the Portuguese private bank, Teixeira was an Equity Sales Trader for Banif Investment Bank in Lisbon and New York. He holds an MBA in Finance from the Catholic University of Portugal. He joins us as a Qualitative Analyst from New Finance, where she focused on global macro and fixed income strategies. He is a Chinese and British citizen; a Mandarin speaker and holds an Economics degree from the London School of Economics. Landry, a Canadian citizen and French speaker, joins the Montreal office as a Qualitative Analyst. Prior to Caliburn Capital, Landry worked for Standard Life Investments and Montrusco Bolton Investments as a Trading Desk Analyst. He has recently completed an MSc in Finance with a focus on portfolio optimisation at HEC Montreal Business School. Commenting on the new appointments, Jeremy Rowlands, Managing Partner at Caliburn Capital said: "Caliburn Capital's approach to hedge fund investment is research intensive and we continue to invest in people whose skills will give us an edge. Cutting through the noise in a very challenging investment environment is not easy and a multi-skilled, multi-lingual research team is key to investment success."
