New York, New York, United States
Howard Kurz is the CEO and Founder of Lilypond Capital Management which currently operates a private equity fund (LilyPad Advisors) focused on strategic investments in alternative asset management companies. Previously, Lily Pond Capital Management LLC (“Lily Pond”) managed a global macro hedge fund company with offices in New York since 2001. For 12 years, Lily Pond employed a discretionary, rules-based investment methodology, making considerable use of macroeconomic analysis and granular investigation of public policy. The firm employed five senior Portfolio Managers with assets under management of approximately one billion dollars. Mr. Kurz was previously a Managing Director and Head of North American Financial Markets at The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. He was responsible globally for the Foreign Exchange, Emerging Markets, and the Proprietary Trading groups. Mr. Kurz was a senior member of the division’s Executive Committee. Prior to RBS, Mr. Kurz was a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers where he headed the Multi-Markets Proprietary Trading unit. Mr. Kurz began his professional career as a swaps/currency trader at Bank of America in 1979. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and Finance, has lectured at the Wharton School on the subjects of capital markets and exchange rates, and is a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank’s Foreign Exchange Committee in New York.