Hedge fund managers aren't nepotistic, they just like to hire their children
Is your parent the founder of a hedge fund? Shame. If they were, you might have been able to get a job.
While banks have done their best to centralize hiring and eradicate nepotism through the trusty mechanism of centralized HR functions, hedge funds run by star hedge fund managers appear less constrained by efforts to avoid favoritism. Various funds, even very large ones, employ their founder's progeny.
Izzy Englander, founder of hedge fund Millennium, employs his son Marc Englander as a macro portfolio manager in New York. He previously also employed his son Michael as a managing director before Michael spun out to set up his own fund (likely seeded by Izzy) in January 2022.
Similarly, Mike Platt employs his son Marcus as a portfolio manager at BlueCrest in London.
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And Michael Gelband, the founder of hedge fund Exoduspoint employs various of his children and relatives, including: Jeff Gelband, the head of human capital; David Gelband, the deputy head of the equity and systematic business; and Rick Gelband, the deputy head of fixed income.
None of the hedge funds we've mentioned commented for this article (BlueCrest is, strictly speaking a family office). However, each would undoubtedly argue that their founder's family members are employed on their own merits. At Millennium, Michael Englander studied at Stanford and has an MBA from Columbia; Marc previously worked for Morgan Stanley and Apollo. Marcus Platt has a degree from UCL and spent some time as a real estate analyst. Jeff Gelband previously ran a recruitment firm; David Gelband was a VP at Goldman Sachs; brother Rick was previously an associate in FX sales at Goldman.
Not all hedge fund founders have family members in their teams. As far as we're aware, neither Ken Griffin nor Steve Cohen work with their children. Crispin Odey's children work in finance, but fortunately not at their father's now defunct hedge fund.
Even if you do work for your parent, though, there comes a time when you will want to break away. Michael Englander told Institutional Investor that his father gave him "space to find my own place." Michael's own fund, Greenland Capital Management, spun out of Millennium with its management team, portfolio managers and technology.
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