EXECUTIVE
SEARCH SERVICES

I hire people brighter than me, and then I get out of their way.

– Lee Iacocca

There are few constants in the investment management industry. Markets fluctuate, investment classes and styles move in and out of favor, and new products emerge to alter the landscape.

Yet one element of the investment industry remains constant. Regardless of market dynamics, a firm's most critical assets will always be the professionals it employs. In the challenging environment for systematic investing, mediocrity in recruiting is a path to failure.

Cambio Systematic, continuing the legacy of Scott-Bennett Inc., is singularly dedicated to the needs of systematic investment firms, employing a unique research-driven process aimed at identifying and recruiting the top candidates across all functions and levels of seniority.

Sample Searches:

Position Type of Company
Head of Systematic Equity Major Mutual Fund Company
Co-Head
Quantitative Credit		 Systematic Investment Company
Board Member Start-Up Investment Management unit of
Technology Firm
Management Committee Member
Director, Global Sales & Marketing		 Private Systematic Investment Firm
Emerging Market Currency
Portfolio Manager/GTAA Team		 Major Pension Fund
Quantitative Equity Researcher Systematic Investment Subsidiary of Diversified
Management & Holding Co.
Chief Investment Officer Quantitative Investment Subsidiary of
Major Financial Service Firm
Managing Director
Client Facing Strategist/GTAA		 Quantitative Investment Subsidiary
of Major Financial Service Company
Quantitative Equity Trader Major Fundamental Investment Firm
Head of Fund of Funds Operation Major Overseas Pension Fund
Quantitative Equity Emerging Markets
Portfolio Manager/Researcher		 Private Investment Firm
Director of Quantitative Research
Asset Allocation		 Major Mutual Fund Company
Director of Risk Management
& Asset Allocation		 Major Endowment
Managing Director
Global Head of Trading Research		 Investment Management Subsidiary
of International Bank
Managing Director
Client Facing Strategist/Quant Equity		 Quantitative Investment Subsidiary
of Major Financial Service Company
Managing Director
Quantitative Equity Research		 Investment Management Subsidiary
of International Bank
Co-Head - Quant Equity Investment Management Subsidiary
of Major Financial Service Company

CONSULTING SERVICEs 
+ M&A RESEARCH

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

– Winston Churchill

Success in the increasingly competitive world of systematic investing calls for across-the-board expenditures in people, research/product development, infrastructure, and distribution. Whether the decision is made to grow organically or inorganically, access to information plays a critical role in the success of any new venture.

Organic Growth
Organic growth based on thought leadership in research and new product development, requires information for business plan development prior to any commercialization effort. What are the infrastructure requirements for this new product? Are there synergies that can be leveraged between the current models and those for the new venture? What are the potential operational issues? What is the current competitive landscape, and what are the organizational strengths and weaknesses of the competition? What are the marketing and sales requirements for the product?

Although management can certainly try to gather this information, the result is often a premature release of competitive plans to the market. We can help by leveraging broad-ranging industry contacts to gather critical information while shielding our client's plans.

Inorganic Growth
Investing in new products, infrastructure, and distribution requires a long-term financial commitment that can sometimes be at odds with the cyclical nature of the business. Inorganic growth through joint ventures and acquisitions can solve this problem by augmenting in-house capabilities in a shortened time frame. However, it is exceedingly difficult to structure and manage successful JVs and acquisitions in a people-based industry like investment management.

Gathering accurate data on potential joint venture partners or acquisition candidates can be difficult if not impossible in the early stages of company reviews. A basic understanding of a company's strengths and weaknesses is often gained only after a time-consuming and expensive due diligence process.

What if there were a shortcut to gathering this critical information before a firm is even approached? There is. The research at Cambio Systematic can determine your next step, saving you time and money.

Sample Projects: 

  • Company Transformation: Advice on the build-out of a systematic asset management business for a technology firm with leading-edge capabilities in machine learning. Working with CEO, analyzed and provided introductions to investment firms as potential joint venture partners. Provided additional introductions to product commercialization experts and potential board members.
  • Product Commercialization: Design and implementation of research-driven sales plan for Armanta, a provider of aggregation and analytics software to financial services firms. As a principal equity owner, secured major overseas pension fund as a lead client. Analyzed and secured additional asset management clients. In 2018, IBM acquired the firm. 
  • Expansion into Systematic Industry: Identified, analyzed, and introduced systematic investment shops for potential acquisition by a Private Equity firm. The project required the creation of a global master listing of approximately 400 systematic investment shops, which was then reduced to a core group of 30 firms based upon client criteria. Prior to any introductions, companies were analyzed to determine strengths and weaknesses, appropriate fit, culture, and current management issues.
  • Firm Building: Information-gathering for strategic business plan development. A systematic equity client was interested in expanding into quantitative credit. Information gathering by the client on critical issues of infrastructure, market liquidity, models, etc. would have prematurely exposed their plans for developing this new business. Our job was to assist the client in developing the business plan by providing the requisite information on these issues. Once the business plan was generated and approved, we recruited the co-head of the effort.
  • Targeted Company Review: Analysis of company seeking to acquire one of our investment management clients. Analysis of well-known systematic firm included review of legacy issues, past and current organizational structure, strengths and weaknesses of management team, sales and marketing capabilities, underlying reasons for substantial decrease in AUM, etc.