CIO Series: Hedge Funds and the Institutional Risk Profile

Gaurav Patankar

Alternative Investments

Bloomberg Intelligence

Gaurav Patankar is an investment and fintech executive with a track record of leading and transforming investment organizations, portfolios and products building important institutional relationships globally. Over his 22-year career, Gaurav has invested and allocated capital globally and across multiple asset classes including equities, alternatives, fixed income, infrastructure and real/operating assets. Presently, he serves as the Head of Strategy - Alternatives & OCIO Solutions at Bloomberg Intelligence with a keen focus on building and triangulating Bloomberg’s value proposition within pensions, endowments, foundations, family offices and asset managers. Gaurav previously served as the OCIO of a multi-billion family office –Atharva A&C. Prior to his OCIO journey, Gaurav was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Mellon Investment Management where he managed the global emerging markets research and portfolio teams across multiple strategies. He also led key strategic dialogues with UHNW, SWF and Endowment & Foundation clients as the thought leader on emerging markets. Prior to Mellon, Gaurav was a Portfolio manager of Global absolute-return strategies at the Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co (Pension Plan) where he successfully turned around the firm’s alternative portfolio and built out the firm’s managed account platform. Before that, he served as a Vice President and Sector Head of Emerging-Markets and Global Financials at Millennium Management, LLC, as an equity research analyst at SuNova Capital and Citigroup Investment Research covering large and mid-cap banks. Prior to his investment career, Gaurav was a Corporate Strategist at M&T Bank and an entrepreneur in India where he co-founded Information Interface India Ltd (promoter of Niyogin Fintech Limited BSE: NIYOGIN_IN). In 2016, Gaurav led prominent investors to reverse merge the firm with a listed NBFC working closely with key stakeholders and regulators to create India’s first listed fintech company. Gaurav helped put together a high quality board, institutional investors and a top notch management team.

James Nield

Chief Risk Officer

Teacher Retirement System of Texas

James Nield is the Chief Risk Officer and head of Risk and Portfolio Management (RPM). The RPM Group has four mandates: (1) Risk Management, (2) Portfolio Strategies, (3) Trust Management and (4) Trust Strategy. Risk Management works to manage and monitor key metrics throughout the Trust and identify plans of action. The RPM group manages 24% of Trust assets via Portfolio Strategies which consists of Risk Parity and Government bonds. Day-to-day rebalancing and financing activities are handled by Trust Management and long-term strategic planning is led by Trust Strategy. Prior to joining TRS in 2009, Mr. Nield worked for Ford Motor Company for over 10 years. At Ford, he worked in the pension group, as a derivatives trader, and as a manufacturing cost accounting supervisor. Mr. Nield earned his MBA from New York University and graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in finance and international business. Mr. Nield is a CFA Charterholder and holds the FRM designation.

Nate Koppikar

Portfolio Manager/Co-Founder

Orso Partners

Nate Koppikar is the Portfolio Manager of Orso Partners, a short biased investment firm launched in 2019 and based in San Francisco, CA. Prior to founding Orso Partners, he managed a short portfolio at a Tiger Management seeded hedge fund based in New York. Prior to that, he spent time in both public and private investing at TPG Capital. He has an MBA from Stanford University and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.