Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Proven global expertise in alternative investments. Research and due diligence of profitable alternative investment programs in volatile market conditions and environments around the world. Advisor to hedge fund and private equity fund managers, incorporating a full spectrum of underlying investment strategies. Portfolio management exposure and trading in both large and small firms, while maintaining practical, entrepreneurial ability to grow and retain financially rewarding business. Consistently demonstrates ability to manage complex and challenging management and leadership situations. Self-starter with proven ability to work remotely, while collaborating with colleagues and clients. Willing to relocate to and travel extensively within EMEA. Conversant in French and Russian. Specialties: Global Markets Expert • Factor-based Risk Analysis • Alternative Investments Due Diligence • Manager Search & Selection • Operational Risk Analysis Hedge Fund Development • Investor Protection • Crisis Management
Advisory Board Member (2011-Present) New York • Initiate, develop and cultivate relationships with private equity and hedge fund managers, particularly in strategies of interest to the firm’s Swiss and European clientele. • Analyze, evaluate and conduct due diligence on selected funds including identifying and singling out funds to market, creating in-house marketing reports leading to oral presentations to client CIOs and EIM departments. • Assess the terms of and negotiate partnership agreements and investment commitments between funds and investors. Sales Consultant - Hedge Funds and Private Equity (2008-2010) Geneva, Switzerland • Actively interacted with external portfolio managers and clients’ internal Investment Mandates teams. • Achieved sales over $50 million in difficult market conditions. • Performed market research within specific areas of focus, assisted clients in understanding volatility arbitrage, implied correlation and tail risks, and tutored clients to understand how it impacted them. • Initiated the use during due diligence of software from MPI to do style-based analysis of hedge funds, evaluating risk exposure and style drift and mirroring analysis that our clients were doing. Used Bloomberg, FactSet, MPI Stylus, Morningstar Direct, Microsoft Excel and Power Point.
• Advised an existing $700 mm multi-strategy hedge fund on establishing an in-house volatility arbitrage book, including implied correlation and dispersion positions not previously traded in house. • Pro-actively traded and managed fund’s Asia-Pacific long/short equities book, having initiated and extended equity brokerage relationships with bulge-bracket firms in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. Achieved above market results in a sideways, volatile market through careful risk analysis and portfolio strategy. • Developed new risk reports in RiskMetrics, in which scenario analysis matched better the risk factors of the fund’s portfolio positions and strategies.
• Headed the firm’s Australian Equity and Index Options trading desk, managing a multi-million dollar portfolio of stocks and options. More than doubled list of stocks covered and brokers with whom dealt. • Developed and Implemented SABR model of stochastic volatility, with GARCH curves of ATM volatilities. Worked with other traders in managing skew and smile risks and deciding which volatility backbones to use in various markets. Implemented portfolio hedges when appropriate. • Worked with internal “quants” to adapt valuation framework of stochastic volatility to fit complex implied volatility market structure, allowing the firm to better understand portfolio risk exposures and tail risks due to skew and kurtosis of volatility curve. Created Excel sheets with Bloomberg links to manage them. • Appointed as the firm’s “ASX Markets Responsible Executive”, the key liaison between the firm and ASX, to ensure compliance with exchange rules and procedures. • Mentored and coached junior traders and clerks, fast-tracking their skills and knowledge, resulting in quicker self-sufficiency and reduced risk to the firm.
New York and Sydney • Built new, Cayman Islands-domiciled equity-derivative hedge fund and local NYC-based management company from scratch, including prime broker, accounting, legal and administrator relationships. • Traded hedge fund, employing volatility arbitrage and implied correlation strategies. • Created ASX-member Options trading firm, including application for exchange membership and ASIC regulatory approval. Set up relationships with trading software provider and prime broker. • Established strong service relationships with external programmers in order to co-develop customized trading software, linked to Bloomberg API, and ensuring success from implementation to on-going maintenance. • Traded a small number of Australian equity options classes, averaging 800 contracts per day, roughly 1% of Australian Options Market volume. Revenue averaged above $2 mm over 5 years.
• Traded and managed risk in the Australian Equity Options Market on the ASX OM electronic market, using Orc software client and auto-trader. Operation was profitable, despite being a period of declining volatility (except for Sep. 11 spike), margins, and tight risk parameters. Market share approximately 5% of Australian market. • Managed three other market-makers. All three were trading profitably by year end. • Traded the Korean KOSPI index options market which resulted in $3mm profit in first year.