Hedge funds have long been run by a mostly male majority but to kick off the year 2015, we have seen one woman take over a well known, large firm. Leda Braga takes the reigns at Systematica Investments after she left her long time European firm, BlueCrest Capital Management. Braga will be managing $8.5 billion, a figure similar to what she managed at BlueCrest. This will make her the most influential female manager in charge of her own firm.
Systematica ranks among the top 100 hedge funds by assets. Well known funds are managing $18.3 billion (Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management), $16.5 billion, (Dan Loeb’s Third Point), $10 billion (Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital Management).
Braga is a 48 year old Brazilian who has climbed the financial latter quickly using her elite business practices. A recipient of an engineering Ph.D. from Imperial College London, where she also lectured, Braga worked at JP Morgan Chase as an analyst on their derivatives research team. She joined the BlueCrest ranks in 2001 after a short tenure at Cygnifi Derivatives Services, and by 2004 she was managing the firms largest fund named, Bluetrend. BlueTrend manages futures of stocks, currencies, bonds, and commodities by looking for trends within each respective market.
Her qualifications for her new title comes from BlueTrend’s success and growth. It is now a sub $8 billion fund while averaging 11.2% net increase in fees over the 10 year span from 2004 to 2014. This beat the Absolute Return Managed Futures Index over the 10 year period, beating their 4.91% growth.
Her position as the top woman hedge fund manager marks her as a force to be reckoned with in the investment world. It will be a pleasure to watch Braga continue to succeed in her profession and prove there is no limits to what women can achieve.
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