The Hedgeweek USA Awards 2018 for excellence among hedge fund managers and service providers celebrate the achievements of firms that contributed to another significant year for the sector.

One of the prevailing thoughts among the hedge fund community at this year’s Hedgeweek USA awards in New York, which took place on 20 September, was the expectation that volatility was steadily making a comeback. 

Boothbay Fund Management LLC, is the investment manager for the firm’s flagship fund, a global multi-strategy hedge fund established by Ari Glass in 2014. The Fund seeks to generate strong risk-adjusted returns by allocating capital to idiosyncratic strategies that have minimal correlation to each other and traditional asset classes. 

Foxhill Capital Partners LLC is an SEC registered value-oriented event driven hedge fund with particular expertise in distressed and special situations. The firm is based in Juno Beach, Florida. It was established by Neil Weiner, CIO, in 2006, with the launch of the Foxhill Opportunity Fund LP. In addition to the Fund, Foxhill manages an array of Separately Managed Accounts customised to meet specific client objectives. 

Founded by Troy Buckner, NuWave Investment Management LLC pursues a unique multi-strategy approach to investing in many of the world’s most liquid markets. Buckner serves as Managing Principal, joined by a staff of 10 professionals, including Yury Orlov, NuWave’s Head of Research, and Craig Weynand, the firm’s Chief Operating Officer.

Established in 2013, New York-based Wavelength Capital Management is an independent investment management firm specialising in liquid, transparent, and cost-effective investment solutions designed to preserve assets and produce returns in any economic environment. 

Pillar Capital Management (‘Pillar’) was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Bermuda. The firm manages open-ended Bermuda incorporated funds invested in the global property catastrophe risk market. 

It’s fair to say that Optima Fund Management has seen a lot of change in the hedge fund industry, given that it has celebrated its 30th anniversary in July 2018. Since Dixon Boardman founded the New York-based firm in 1988, it has steered a steady course. It has continued to evolve in line with market trends so as to unearth the best hedge fund talent, which feature in a range of multi-manager funds, the first of which, a long/short equity FoFs, has been running since the year of Optima’s inception.

Carmot Capital designed an investment strategy that delivers top returns during times of market stress. Founded by George Sokoloff, PhD, CFA and Gerd Infanger, PhD in Silicon Valley in 2013, Carmot applies its experience and artificial intelligence models to manage a market neutral statistical arbitrage fund that profits from surprisingly predictable chaos.

Hathersage Capital Management LLC is a discretionary global macro investment manager founded in 1991. The firm is a foreign exchange specialist, expressing its global macro views strictly in G10 currencies, using interbank spot, forwards and vanilla options. 

Olga Chernova is founder and CIO of Sancus Capital Management, a credit manager with offices in New York and Los Angeles that she founded in 2009 after a distinguished trading career with JPM, Dillon Read and Goldman Sachs. The firm specialises in investing in complexity premiums through structured products, such as CLOs and synthetic tranches.

FIS is a global financial services technology company, with a focus on technology, consulting and outsourcing solutions. FIS serves more than 20,000 clients in over 130 countries and employs more than 55,000 people worldwide. It is a Fortune 500 company and is a member of Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. 

The Horseshoe Group was established in 2005 and is an independent financial services company dedicated to both the alternative fund and insurance linked security (“ILS”) market.

Opus Fund Services has enjoyed a number of milestones over the last 12 months. Chief among these were a rapid expansion of its Asian operations, which has helped to significantly improve the timing of daily deliverables. Also the introduction of a range of new technology developments, with a specific focus on evolving its smart technology capabilities. Opus has continued the expansion of its sales team to meet increased demand for its services.

SS&C Advent, a business unit within SS&C Technologies Holding Inc (SSNC: NASDAQ), provides software and software-enabled services to the global financial services industry. SS&C Advent’s selection of software and rapidly deployable software-enabled services allows its clients to automate and integrate front-office functions such as trading and modelling. In the middle-office, these functions extend to portfolio, collateral and FX management and reporting, while in the back-office, they include accounting, performance measurement and reconciliation.

With a staff of more than 350 and numerous specialised industry and service teams, Anchin Block & Anchin LLP is a full-service accounting, tax and advisory firm that provides investment companies, privately held businesses, and high net worth individuals/family offices with a wide range of traditional and non-traditional services. 

As the worldwide leader in fund governance, risk and compliance, DMS Governance (DMS) excels in delivering high-quality Fund Governance, Risk and Compliance services across a diverse range of investment fund structures and strategies. It represents leading investment firms with assets under management exceeding USD350 billion and for the 4th consecutive year it has been awarded Best Offshore Regulatory Advisory Firm by Hedgeweek. The Hedgeweek Awards recognise excellence among hedge fund managers and service providers around the world. 

New York-headquartered Imagine Software has long been viewed as one of the financial industry’s leading real-time portfolio, risk management and regulatory systems. 

There are many things to consider when looking to establish a ’40 Act registered fund, especially for hedge fund managers who have typically operated in a private fund environment. But as more investors seek out liquid alternatives in order to gain efficient access to strategies such as global macro, both alternative and traditional fund managers are becoming more active in the ’40 Act space.

With over 1,500 employees in international locations, over 250 employees and 40 partners dedicated to the financial services practice, EisnerAmper LLP has the breadth to handle global engagements and provide comprehensive guidance and support to its roster of hedge fund clients. 

Sadis & Goldberg LLP is one of New York’s leading financial services focused law firms. Known both domestically and internationally as a dominant force in the financial services sector, Sadis & Goldberg serves clients throughout the world.

Cowen Prime Services LLC has continued to make huge strides in cementing its reputation as one of America’s pre-eminent prime brokers to emerging and mid-sized hedge funds. With the continuing commitment of resources from its parent, Cowen, the prime brokerage division has continued to expand its service offering in the US as well as its international capabilities through Cowen International Limited. This year it has added more expertise to its US and London teams, and made initial hires in Hong Kong. 

Harneys operates through 12 international locations and its global funds practice advises on all aspects of offshore investment funds, establishment, maintenance and restructuring both in distressed and planned scenarios. Harneys sees itself as a market disrupter in the offshore funds space; a law firm that always brings personality to the table with its clients.

Supporting more than 400 investment management firms and thousands of global users on its cloud platform, it’s easy to recognise the impact that Eze Castle Integration’s cloud solutions have made in recent years.

In the past year, Align has been able to successfully transform its offerings by combining its robust Managed IT and Cloud Services solutions with a pioneering and comprehensive Cybersecurity Risk Management Solution. 

Agecroft Partners was founded by Don Steinbrugge, who has 34 years of experience in the institutional investment management industry, including previously serving as the head of sales for one of the world’s largest hedge funds and institutional investment management firms. 

Like alternative investments themselves, Peaks Strategies evolves to meet the changes and challenges of today’s marketplace. Investment managers are constantly changing their approach to take advantage of new market trends. In the same way, Peaks is nimble, adaptive, and constantly changing to meet the challenges our clients face. In the past year, Peaks has brought on new talent, taken on mandates outside the US, embraced AI, and added the new alternatives – crypto currency & blockchain and the latest wave of FinTech clients.