Global fund manager IKOS has appointed four new executives to its operations, HR, business development, audit and risk management teams.
Global fund manager IKOS has appointed four new executives to its operations, HR, business development, audit and risk management teams.
This is the latest step in the fulfillment of IKOS’s five-year strategic plan, announced at the beginning of 2005, which has seen a major programme of investment in the firm’s UK and Cyprus infrastructure.
The new appointments are:
Paul Eaton – Operations Manager, Cyprus
Eaton’s focus will encompass responsibility for post-trading activity, cash management and shareholder operations. During 2004-2005, Paul acted as consultant to a Hedge Fund and a Fund of Funds in operations development assignments. In 2002 he was a Senior Account Manager with Dresdner Bank AG, in the Prime Brokerage Division. At HSBC he advised on the feasibility of setting up a prime brokerage unit, including structuring, relationship development with key participants, and market research of clients, administrators, compliance and other service providers.
Between 1998 and 2002 he was at Bear Stearns where he was the Managing Director for Global Clearing Services. Prior to that he was with Hedge Fund Manager Buchanan Partners where he carried out a variety of functions ranging from setting up legal agreements, to day to day operations management including hedging and collateral management. He was also with Lehman Brothers, Tokai Bank and Lloyds TSB.
Reporting to Eaton are Operations Executives, Anna Paphitis & Mhairi Duffin. Paphitis joined IKOS from Fimat International Banque where she was a Prime Brokerage Account Manager and prior to this, at NCL investments, while Duffin joins IKOS from BNP Paribas where she held the position of Cash Management Administrator. She has previously had roles at First National Bank of South Africa in London and South Africa.
Peter Martin continues as Operations Manager UK.
Chris Conway – Head of Human Resources
Conway’s focus will be to drive business growth and recruitment and develop the firm’s organisational structure as outlined in IKOS’s five-year strategic plan.
Conway has worked in the financial services, professional services and insurance sectors. For the last three years, he has provided resource as a consultant to Schroders, RBS, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup on HR projects including restructurings, business disposals, redeployments and recruitment projects.
Prior to this he headed the HR functions of a US law firm and at a UK insurer between 1997 and 2003.
Effie Anagnostopoulos – Business Development Manager
Anagnostopoulos will focus on expanding IKOS’ trading into new markets, supporting the development of new products, strategic marketing and internal process control.
She was most recently a trader/researcher at RG Niederhoffer Capital Management, a systematic, short-term futures and currency trading fund based in New York. Previously, she was a hedge fund allocator at Rutherford Asset Management, within the family office of Lord Jacob Rothschild. Prior to this, Anagnostopoulos spent eight years in the Foreign Exchange business of Goldman Sachs & Co.
She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and holds an undergraduate degree in the social sciences from Harvard College, magna cum laude. Anagnostopoulos holds a Certificate in Investment Management from the FSA and Series 3 certification from the NFA and she is founder of 100 Women in Hedge Funds – UK.
David Burns – Internal Audit & Risk Manager
Burns will focus on providing IKOS with independent assurance on the effectiveness of controls relating to the group’s regulatory, operational, financial and client risks. He has responsibility for liaising with external auditors, regulatory auditors, service providers and brokers on related matters.
He also has Operational Risk Management responsibilities in the context of IKOS fund management, reviews of operational systems and processes, due diligence matters and client reporting and business information processes.
Burns previously worked with Morgan Stanley, Cofunds, United Bank of Kuwait and ING in internal audit, compliance and risk management. He worked as an Audit Senior with Coopers & Lybrand and is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a BsC (Honours) in Accounting and Finance.
All of these positions report to IKOS Chief Executive Officer, Elena Ambrosiadou.
‘In less than two years, 24 new positions have been filled and we now have a headcount of 51,’ she says. ‘We anticipate continued growth in personnel in areas such as research, trading support, systems infrastructure and compliance as we move towards our target of USD 10bn under management by 2010. In the first 6 months of 2006 IKOS assets grew by USD 0.6 billion, as we continue our efforts to develop IKOS to service an increasingly institutional asset base’.
Dr Martin Coward, co-founder and Head of Investments and Strategy, adds: ‘IKOS employs strategies which are testable, repeatable and scaleable. As long as there are markets there will be a need for someone to supply liquidity. As computers and software grow more powerful still, this task of liquidity provision will be almost entirely taken over by a web of interacting intelligent machines competing with each other to be selected in a virtual world where the fittest is the most efficient liquidity provider. The challenge is to remain at the forefront of research and to find better ways of trading as markets become more efficient.’
