Citadel Securities, the market-making firm founded by Ken Griffin, has seen two of its senior female staff depart for hedge fund roles, despite the firm enjoying a stellar 2024 with an 81% revenue surge, according to a report by eFinancial Careers.
Kelly Brennan, former Managing Director and head of Citadel Securities’ ETF trading business, has joined hedge fund Balyasny as a senior portfolio manager, while Katja Hawkins, the firm’s former EMEA COO, who has been on gardening leave since November, has now joined Qube Research & Technologies, a rapidly expanding quant hedge fund, as its new EMEA COO.
Both Brennan and Hawkins bring extensive financial services experience to their new roles. Before joining Citadel Securities in 2018, Brennan, spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs as an MD and head of Americas ETF sales and trading, and five years as a trader at high-frequency trading firm Susquehanna.
Hawkins meanwhile, joined Citadel Securities in 2019 after serving as EMEA head of operations at Citadel’s hedge fund arm and spending six years in the middle office at UBS.
Citadel Securities declined to comment on the departures.
