Volatility Forum: All Options Considered

Benn Eifert is Managing Partner and co-CIO, Head of Multi Strategy at QVR. Benn was previously co-founder and co-portfolio manager of Mariner Coria, a relative value hedge fund on the Mariner Investment Group platform, which was seeded with $150 million by Alaska Permanent via the Mariner Incubation Fund. Before Coria, Benn was Head of Quantitative Research and Derivatives Trader for the Wells Fargo proprietary trading desk, which became the hedge fund Overland Advisors.

Benn started his career as an emerging markets macroeconomist at the World Bank. Benn has taught several classes in the Masters in Financial Engineering program in the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Benn holds a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley and BA in Economics and International Relations from Stanford University.

Diego Parrilla, Chief Investment Officer at Quadriga Asset Managers in Madrid, where manages the volatility, tail risk, and protected equity mandates. Diego has 27+ years of investment and senior leadership experience in London, New York, and Singapore across industry leaders JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, BlueCrest Capital, Dymon Asia, 36 South Capital. Diego is visiting lecturer at Imperial College Business School in London and co-author with Daniel Lacalle of “The Energy World is Flat” (Wiley, 2014), published in English, Spanish and Chinese, and “The Anti-Bubbles” (BEP, 2017), selective contributor to the Financial Times (published two Insight Columns), Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg TV, Real Vision TV, Hedgeye, MacroVoices, amongst others. Diego holds a MSc Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, MSc Petroleum Economics and Management from the French Institute of Petroleum in Paris, and MSc Mining and Petroleum Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and JP Morgan Global Markets Training program in NYC in 1998.

Nancy Davis founded Quadratic Capital in 2013. Nancy is the portfolio manager for The Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge ETF and the Quadratic Deflation ETF. Nancy began her career at Goldman Sachs where she spent nearly ten years, the last seven with the proprietary trading group where she became Head of Credit, Derivatives and OTC Trading. She has been the recipient of numerous industry recognitions. Barron’s named her to their inaugural list of the “100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance”. Institutional Investor called her a “Rising Star of Hedge Funds”. The Hedge Fund Journal tapped her as one of “Tomorrow’s Titans”.

Nancy writes and speaks frequently about markets and investing. She has been profiled by Forbes, and interviewed by Barron’s, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times among others. Ms. Davis is a frequent guest on television including CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, CBS and ABC.

Tanvir Sandhu, Chief Global Derivatives Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, writes research and forward-looking ideas on global volatility across asset classes. The research is available at BI VOLA <GO>, the volatility dashboard, on the Bloomberg terminal. ‘All Options Considered’ is Tanvir’s podcast with insights into global macro and volatility. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he gained experience from positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in London. He graduated from the University of Oxford and has an academic background in mathematics. Tanvir is a guest lecturer at the University of Oxford.

Alison Williams is the head of the Global Strategy Team for Bloomberg Intelligence, composed of research across asset classes including equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities as well as ETFs, thematic, ESG, market structure and global investment bank verticals. Prior to joining Bloomberg Industries, Alison was a portfolio manager and analyst for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where she managed a financial services investment fund and co-managed a diversified multi-capitalization fund group. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Alison spent several years working as an equity research analyst covering financial services at UBS, as well as the predecessor firm PaineWebber.

Alison earned a master’s degree in finance, economics and international business from New York University and a bachelor’s of science degree in finance and marketing from the University of Rhode Island. She is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA).

Bob Elliott is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CIO of Unlimited. Unlimited uses machine learning to create low-cost index replications of 2 & 20 style alternative investments that are deployed to a wide range of investors via institutional products and ETFs. He was recognized as one of “2023 Tomorrow Titans” by The Hedge Fund Journal. Prior to founding Unlimited, Bob served on the Investment Committee at Bridgewater Associates, led Ray Dalio’s investment research team and authored hundreds of Bridgewater’s widely read Daily Observations. Bob holds a BA from Harvard.

Emmanuel is Chief Financial Officer for the Individual Retirement Business at AIG/CoreBridge Financial, a role he has held since 2025. With over 25 years of experience spanning both banking and insurance, Emmanuel brings deep expertise in Variable Annuities and Fixed Indexed Annuities Hedging , asset allocation, ALM, and risk management.

Throughout his career, he has led complex financial projects and collaborated closely with product and actuarial teams to implement quantitative insurance strategies (QIS) that deliver competitive solutions to clients or managing Balance Sheet risk cost-effectively.

Emmanuel holds a Master’s degree in Statistics and Stochastic Models in Economics and Finance from ENSAE in Paris, France.

Emmanuel holds a Master’s degree in Statistics and Stochastic Models in Economics and Finance from ENSAE in Paris, France.

Stacy-Marie Ishmael is the Executive Editor for digital assets, digital payments and cross asset markets at Bloomberg. She’s based in New York and leads a global team of reporters and editors.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, she was the editorial director at The Texas Tribune in Austin and has held senior editorial roles at BuzzFeed News, The Financial Times and Apple.

Jiro Fujisawa serves as Asset Management One USA Inc. (“AMO USA”)’s Portfolio Manager and is in charge of portfolio construction and implementation process.

Prior to joining AMO USA in 2021, Mr. Fujisawa was at Asset Management One Co, Ltd. (“AMO Tokyo”)’s Products Development Group from 2018, where he took a leading role in the successful launch of several UCITS funds and Cayman-domiciled funds, and subsequently transferred to the quant investment team as Fund Manager. He began his career in the asset management industry in 2013, as a Fund Manager at AMO Tokyo’s alternative investments arm (f.k.a. Mizuho Global Alternative Investments, Ltd.) where he managed FoHF and Japanese pension fund accounts. Mr. Fujisawa graduated from Imperial College London with a MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2012.

Noel Hebert is the Chief US Corporate Credit Strategist and Global Director for the Fixed Income Currency & Commodity (FICC) strategy team within Bloomberg Intelligence. Noel joined Bloomberg in 2013 and has over 25 years of experience covering investment grade, high yield and distressed corporate credit as an analyst and strategist.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, Noel was Chief Investment Officer for Concannon Wealth Management and served in various buy side and sell side roles, including as senior analyst and assistant trader for credit opportunities hedge funds at HSBC and Palisade Capital that specialized in pre-bankruptcy situations. He spent time at Brown Brothers Harriman and Moody’s covering investment grade and high yield consumer, technology and media companies. Noel has BA in mathematics from Saint Anselm College and is a CFA® charterholder.

Randy Little is a Partner at 50T with 25+ years of experience in roles at the intersection of finance and technology. He also currently serves as the chairman of 50T portfolio company, Zenrock Labs. From 2018 to 2023, Mr. Little served as Managing Director at Financial Technology Partners (“FT Partners”), the largest investment bank solely focused on FinTech globally. He exclusively focused on the Digital Asset and Capital Markets FinTech sectors, advising dozens of clients and institutional blockchain infrastructure companies. Mr. Little entered investment banking in 2006 at J.P. Morgan in the Financial Institutions Group focused on the Market Structure and WealthTech sectors.

Randy was an early leader in advising the quantitative trading sector leading to several landmark transactions in the market-making space as well as executing public and private deals for exchanges, broker-dealers, trading technology, and WealthTech firms. Before joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Little was a Software Architect at Sun Microsystems with a focus on optimizing hardware and software for low-latency environments in the financial services sector. He also served as a Senior Consultant for Ernst & Young Consulting, where he led software development projects for large-cap financial services and U.S. government clients.

Srikant Nair is a senior Structurer focused on Equity QIS Solutions at RBC Capital Markets in New York, as part of the wider Cross-Asset QIS business.

He joined RBC in 2018, spending six years in London before his current role. Prior to RBC, Srikant spent five years at Deutsche Bank in London as a Structurer working with clients in EMEA.

His experience covers Equity Exotics, Structured Products, Alternative Risk Premia, Risk Recycling and Designing Portfolio Overlays. Srikant holds a BEng in Polymer Science & Chemical Technology from Delhi College of Engineering, India.

Mandy Xu is Vice President, Head of Derivatives Market Intelligence at Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe). Based in New York, Xu produces actionable insights and analysis on derivatives market themes and flows, with a focus on Cboe’s leading suite of volatility products. She is frequently cited in the financial media.

Prior to joining Cboe, Xu was Managing Director and Head of Equity Derivatives Strategy at Credit Suisse, specializing in index and ETF volatility research. Before Credit Suisse, she worked as a cross-border M&A analyst at E.J. McKay, a boutique investment bank in Shanghai.

Xu graduated with honors from Harvard University with a B.A. in Economics and is a CFA charterholder.

Jeff Blazek, CFA and Managing Director, is Multi-Asset Co-Chief Investment Officer. Jeff joined Neuberger Berman in 2024 and, along with Multi-Asset Co-CIO, Erik Knutzen, is responsible for co-leading the firm’s multi-asset investment activity, driving portfolio construction and developing investment outlooks. He serves as co-chair of the firm’s Asset Allocation Committee and Public Private Investment Committee, and he is also a member of the Investment Risk Committee. Previously, Jeff spent over 12 years at Cambridge Associates, having founded and led the firm’s New York City office, and serving as co-leader of the Endowment & Foundation practice and as Head of the Healthcare practice. Jeff has also worked in-house at two investment offices: Managing Director at New York-Presbyterian Hospital for three years, and Portfolio Manager at Teacher Retirement System of Texas for five years. Jeff has over 26 years of investment experience. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Professional Accounting from University of Texas at Austin, and he is a CFA Charterholder. Jeff serves on the BBA Advisory Board for UT’s McComb School of Business.

Matt Glazier is a Senior Vice President in Global Hedge Management for the Chief Investment Office.  Matt and his team are responsible for executing and managing all non-linear products, as well as linear equity and credit products.  He also leads the management of several hedge programs backing Prudential’s product issuances.

Prior to joining GHM, Matt was head of equity and option trading on the Prudential Global Funding trading desk where he was responsible for managing the risk of Prudential’s equity and option derivative portfolios and for implementing derivative hedges for its business subsidiaries and corporate functions.  Prior to derivatives trading, Matt worked in structured finance inside Prudential’s commercial mortgage conduit where his primary responsibilities were to structure CMBS transactions and hedge warehoused loan inventory.

Matt has been with Prudential for 20 years.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Rutgers Business School and earned his MBA from New York University – Leonard N. Stern School of Business with Honors and Distinction.  Matt holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and has earned both the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designations.