Russell Investments expands hedge fund team
Growing client interest in alternatives spurs new hires in portfolio and risk management
Seattle, WA — April 12, 2011 — In concert with institutional investors' ongoing interest in increased allocations to alternative investments, Russell Investments is further deepening its global capabilities by expanding its hedge fund team with the addition of Brian Burke as risk management officer and Lance Babbit as senior portfolio manager, hedge funds. Both will be based in Russell's New York office and will report to Ed Robertiello, managing director, hedge funds. The hedge fund team, led by Robertiello, includes 13 professionals with extensive experience working at pension funds, funds of hedge funds, direct hedge funds and trading firms.
"Russell continues to build its alternatives expertise with the addition of experienced hires that can provide sophisticated investment expertise to our global client base," said Robertiello. "Brian's extensive knowledge of risk management best practices for hedge funds and hedge fund investors and Lance's strong background in the oversight of hedge fund of funds investment programs will be of significant benefit to our clients worldwide who are looking to hedge funds to meet a wide range of investment objectives."
Burke brings to the team nearly 10 years of experience in providing risk services to institutional investors in hedge funds and other alternative investments. In his new position, he will be responsible for analyzing market risk exposures in individual alternative investment manager portfolios, as well as aggregate Russell fund of funds portfolios. Most recently Burke was executive director and head of the analyst team at Measurisk, a risk analytical system for hedge funds. In this role he led a team of 25 analysts and was a key member of the management team responsible for building industry-leading risk transparency programs covering more than 1,000 hedge funds across multiple strategies.
Babbit joins Russell from Credit Suisse Group where he was director, head of North America portfolio hedge fund of funds in the Alpha Strategies Group. As a senior portfolio manager, Babbit will oversee the firm's multi-strategy hedge fund of funds portfolios, both custom and commingled, for institutional and private clients.
In June 2010, Russell released its 2010 Global Survey on Alternative Investing, documenting the evolving changes in philosophies, policies and attitudes among diverse global institutions participating in alternatives. The survey found that institutional investors are recommitting to the use of alternative investment strategies and expecting (on average) an increase of over a third (from 14% to 19%) in their allocation to alternatives over the next two to three years. Survey respondents also noted that they expected to increase the proportion of their portfolios committed to hedge funds to 5.7% in 2012, up from 4.2% in 2009.
About Russell
Founded in 1936, Russell Investments is a global financial services firm that serves institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals in more than 40 countries.
Through a unique combination of interlinked businesses, Russell delivers financial products, services and advice. A pioneer, Russell began its strategic pension fund consulting business in 1969 and today is trusted by many well-known worldwide institutions for investment advice. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA and with offices in major financial centers worldwide, Russell has $155 billion in assets under management (as of 12/31/10) in its mutual funds, retirement products, and institutional funds, and is well recognized for its depth of research and quality of manager selection.
Russell offers a comprehensive range of implementation services that helps institutional clients maximize their assets. The Russell Indexes calculate over 50,000 benchmarks daily covering 65 countries and more than 10,000 securities.
Contacts:
Kate Stouffer, 206-505-1858
Kerstin Österberg, 718-875-2121
Russell Investment Group, a Washington, USA corporation, operates through subsidiaries worldwide including Russell Investments. Russell Investment Group is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Russell Investments is the owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to its indexes.
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