Hedge Fund Forum

Alberto Gallo is Chief Investment Officer and Co-founder at Andromeda Capital Management. Prior to that, Alberto initiated and ran the Global Credit Opportunities fund at Algebris Investments (2016-2022). Previously he ran macro credit research at RBS in London (2011-2016), and served in senior research roles at Goldman Sachs in New York (2008-2011), Bear Stearns in New York and London (2007-2008) and Merrill Lynch in London (2004-2007).

Alberto is a CFA charterholder. He earned an MSc in Economics two years ahead of the norm, cum laude, from Bocconi University (2004), where he is now a guest professor in macroeconomics, at the SDA Bocconi School of Management. He has served on the ECB working group for financial stability for nearly ten years. He previously served in the Navy at the “F. Morosini” Naval Academy in Venice, Italy, where he led the 1997-2000 cadet class and was a national track & field athlete.

Anthony is Head of Macro and Trading Strategies in the Alternative Investment Solutions business at Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). He is a Managing Director, a member of the AIS Investment Committee and manages the research and portfolio management of diversifying strategies including discretionary macro, systematic and multi-strategy allocations.  Prior to UBP, Anthony was an Investment Manager at GAM Investments and an Investment Analyst at Mercer. Anthony holds an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MSc in Complex Systems Modelling from Kings College, London. He is a CFA charterholder and based in London.

Barsam Lakani is Global Head of Prime Services Sales at Jefferies. Based out of New York, he is responsible for distribution efforts and client partnerships for Jefferies’ financing clients across a variety of Hedge Funds, Family Offices, and Institutional Asset Managers. Prior to Jefferies, Barsam was with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, working across a variety of businesses in the Institutional Equities Division, primarily in Prime Brokerage and the Structured Products groups, where he was focused on structuring UCITS wrappers for Hedge Funds. Barsam grew up in London and attended University College London (UCL).

Dave is Mercer’s Chief Investment Officer for Hedge Funds. He chairs the firm’s Hedge Fund Investment Committee and leads Mercer’s hedge fund effort globally. In addition, he is the co-portfolio manager for several funds offered by Mercer Investments, LLC, serves as an advisor for a number of larger clients with bespoke hedge fund programs, and oversees Mercer’s global discretionary hedge fund offerings.

In 1999, Mr. McMillan joined Hammond Associates, which was acquired by Mercer in 2011. He served as Director of Hedge Funds and was responsible for the creation and management of the firm’s hedge fund research and consulting efforts. Mr. McMillan designed the firm’s hedge fund manager due diligence and post-investment manager monitoring processes and shaped Hammond’s hedge fund portfolio construction philosophy.

During his career, Mr. McMillan has constructed more than 50 multi-manager hedge fund portfolios, including customized direct programs and commingled funds. Previously, Mr. McMillan was responsible for Hammond’s traditional manager research efforts. Mr. McMillan has over 25 years of experience in the financial, banking, and investment advisory industries, including more than 20 years dedicated to hedge fund research and investing.

Mr. McMillan has been a featured speaker at various industry conferences on the subjects of manager selection, hedge fund investing and hedge fund risk monitoring. He received a BS/BA degree in Finance from The Ohio State University and holds the CFA designation. Mr. McMillan is a member of the CFA Institute.

Donald joined Trium in September 2017 as Co-CEO. Trium is a Multi-PM Liquid Alternatives firm dating back to 2015, in which year it also became a signatory to the UN PRI, managing approx. $2.5 Billion of AUM. Donald’s responsibilities include being Co-PM of the Trium Multi-Strategy Fund and a member of the Investment Committee.

Donald began his career in finance in Fixed Income Sales at Goldman Sachs in 1987, moving to Prime Brokerage Sales in 2000, where he was responsible for Relative Value, Multi-Strategy, Credit and Global Macro hedge funds. From 2003-2008 Donald was Managing Director of Prime Brokerage for EMEA at Merrill Lynch. In 2008 Donald moved to the buy-side, as Head of Hedge Funds at New Star Asset Management/Henderson Global Investors where his responsibilities included being Co-Portfolio Manager of two Fund of Hedge Funds. Donald was an Investment Director at TT International (2010-2012) before joining Old Mutual Global Investors (2012-2017) as Managing Director of Alternatives, where his responsibilities included being a member of the Style Premia Investment Committee.

Donald read Philosophy, Politics & Economics at The Queen’s College, Oxford where he received an MA. He is a CFA Charterholder and holds the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.

Marlin Naidoo joined BNP Paribas in London in July 2020 has the Global Head of Capital Introduction and is a member of the Prime Services Executive Committee at the bank. Prior to joining BNP Paribas, Marlin was the Global Head of Capital Introduction and Consulting at Deutsche Bank. Marlin started his career at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong on the graduate program in 2004 and subsequently held roles across the bank’s prime finance business including capital introduction, sales, risk, and client relationship management. In 2008, Marlin was appointed as the Head of Capital Introduction for the Asia Pacific region. In 2012, Marlin relocated to New York where he initially headed up the capital introduction & consulting team in the Americas before assuming the global role in 2017. In 2018, Marlin moved to the Deutsche Bank’s London office. Marlin holds a Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in Statistics & Actuarial Science from the University of Natal in South Africa and an Honours Degree in Advanced Mathematics of Finance from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Niklas von Daehne is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cisu Capital Partners, a financial services-focused investment firm which launched in August 2024. He was previously President at Gladstone Management (2019-2022) and at King Street Capital Management (2006-2018) as Co-Head of the European analyst team and a member of the European Investment Committee. Prior to King Street, Niklas was at Morgan Stanley (2000-2006), first as a marketing analyst for the global technology research team and later managing an equity portfolio in the Principal Strategies group. He began his finance career as a marketing analyst for the European technology research team at Deutsche Bank (1998-2000). Niklas graduated from Columbia University with a Master of International Affairs and also holds a M.Sc. in Business Administration and a B.Sc. in Economics from Copenhagen Business School.

Paulina Arent is a Managing Director for CPP Investments’ External Portfolio Management (EPM) group in London, focusing primarily on global fundamental equity and commodity strategies.  EPM oversees a portfolio of externally managed hedge funds and have investments with over 60 top global asset managers across equities, credit, fixed income, currencies and commodities. EPM forms long-term partnerships, irrespective of whether the underlying fund strategy is short- or long-term in nature. The group also makes co-investments alongside external managers.  Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2013, Ms. Arent worked in the Equity Capital Markets group at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto, underwriting equity offerings for Canadian corporate clients.  Prior to her work at BMO, Ms. Arent was an analyst in the investment banking division of Credit Suisse.  Ms. Arent earned a B.A. (Hons) in Applied Economics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. 

Simon Judes leads Winton’s investment management and research activities. He is a member of the firm’s executive management and investment committees. Joining Winton as a researcher in 2008, Simon has worked on projects ranging from developing new commodity, macro and equity trading strategies, to leading research into portfolio construction methods. He took over responsibility for Winton’s core futures and forwards strategies in 2016 and has since led the design of standalone and bespoke implementations of Winton’s CTA strategies. Simon was appointed Co-CIO, alongside Carsten Schmitz, in 2020 and oversees all aspects of Winton’s research and investment management. Simon has a first-class Honours degree in physics and philosophy from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in physics from Columbia University, with a thesis on string theory and cosmology.

Nishant Kumar is a Senior Hedge Fund Reporter at Bloomberg, with over two decades of experience specializing in the asset management industry. Nishant has dedicated his career to in-depth reporting on the intricacies and dynamics of hedge funds, providing valuable insights and analysis that shape industry understanding. His extensive experience and focused expertise make him a trusted voice in financial journalism.

Imogen is the dedicated representative for new business in London with a focus on hedge fund start ups. Her career started at Bloomberg as a fixed income specialist where she took on an early leadership position as deputy team leader. Imogen’s experience spans across the sell- and buyside with her first position in sales covering agency brokers and high-frequency traders before moving to the hedge fund team. She has extensive experience working with a multitude of new launches, across all strategies and sizes, over the past 2.5 years. Imogen holds a bachelor degree in International Relations from University of Exeter. Please contact her on iduthie@bloomberg.net if you wish to understand more about the services and solutions that Bloomberg can bring to your firm across terminals, product and data.