Acadian Adds to Investment Team with Key Hires

Boston-based global systematic manager brings on 4 senior-level portfolio managers

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Acadian Asset Management announced the addition of four senior staff to the investment team. The hires span the Global Equity Research and the Equity Portfolio Management teams.

Owen Lamont, PhD, joins the Global Equity Research team as SVP and Portfolio Manager. In addition to a long career as a practitioner, most recently as a Managing Director at Wellington Management, Owen has spent many years on the faculty at Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and Yale School of Management. His academic specialty is behavioral finance, and he has published numerous papers on short selling, stock returns, and investor behavior in both academic journals and popular media. His notable recognitions include fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as well as testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Javier Alcazar, PhD, also joins the Global Equity Research team in the role of SVP and Portfolio Manager and will be based in Acadian’s London office. Mr. Alcazar has a wealth of experience in algorithmic trading, market making, statistical arbitrage, equity factor models, and applications of advanced modelling techniques in finance (ML, deep/reinforcement learning, NLP, quantum computing, large/unstructured data infrastructure). Mr. Alcazar comes to Acadian from Atlas Ridge, an ML-based hedge fund. Prior to that, Javier was a quantum application scientist at Zapata Computing. Earlier in his career, he had numerous quant trading and research roles at large investment firms. He is widely published in areas of quantum computing, generative modelling, materials science, and engineering.

Said Director of Global Equity Research Vlad Zdorovtsov, “Owen and Javier bring very complementary sets of skills to our team. Owen’s prolific academic work has inspired a number of Acadian’s alpha components over the years. He has a keen eye for identifying the underlying mechanisms behind market inefficiencies, and I’m confident that his insights will be invaluable as we continue to innovate. Javier comes with extensive experience in many cutting-edge domains of data science. His expertise in deep learning in particular will be key as we continue to deepen our already strong commitment to this area.”

Finally, two senior-level adds will round out Acadian’s Equity Portfolio Management team led by Fanesca Young.

Lukasz Pomorski, PhD, brings over a decade of investment experience in quantitative equities to his role as SVP and Portfolio Manager, with further expertise in credit and multi-asset research, alternative data, and sustainability. Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Head of ESG Research at AQR, and prior to that, as Managing Director within Global Stock Selection at AQR. Mr. Pomorski’s academic experience in related fields includes roles as adjunct professor (Columbia University), lecturer (Yale University), and associate professor (University of Toronto). He is a thought leader in sustainable and climate investing, published in major industry outlets and academic journals, and is the recipient of multiple academic and industry research prizes.

Chris Covington joins as SVP and Portfolio Manager, with 16+ years of investment experience, most recently as Founding Partner and Head of Investments at independent investment advisor AJO Vista. His earlier experience includes roles as Principal and Portfolio Manager at High Vista Strategies, where he built and launched the systematic and factor-driven equity business and senior investment roles at AJO and Numeric Investors.

Acadian invests systematically and employs a team-based approach to portfolio management, enabling the process to benefit from the economic intuition and insights of a talented, experienced, and diverse team spanning a wide range of academic disciplines. Said Ms. Young, “We are continually on the lookout for exceptional talents to contribute to the enhancement of our investment process. Lukasz and Chris are a strong complement to our existing bench, and we are thrilled to put their expertise and depth of academic and practitioner experience to use to enhance and expand our ability to deliver alpha to our clients.”

About Acadian Asset Management

Acadian Asset Management LLC invests systematically on behalf of pension funds, endowments, governments, foundations, and other institutional investors, with US$100 billion in assets under management globally, as of 30 June 2023.* The firm uses an innovative array of disciplined, systematic investment techniques across stock-specific, macro, and peer forecasting models. Acadian offers global macro, equity alternatives, managed volatility, long-only, extension, and sustainable strategies. Acadian has affiliated offices in London, Sydney, and Singapore.

*Rounding is applied to the total firm AUM which includes $802.6 million in model advisory contracts where Acadian does not have trading authority.

Contacts

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