Global Perspectives Fund: Management Positions and Bios
Darpan Biswas, Portfolio Manager
Darpan possesses eight years of consulting experience gathered at a leading management consulting firm. He interned at the North Carolina Department of Treasury working with the Treasurer and her investment management team during the summer. During his internship, Darpan assisted the Treasurer with asset allocation analysis and research. Darpan committed to the investment management career path after speaking to alumni and seeking guidance from his faculty advisors.
Matt Mercer, Market Strategist
Matt graduated from Dartmouth College with a major in Economics and was captain of the football team. Over the past six years, he has worked with Accenture creating business solutions for fortune 100 financial services clients. He enjoys thinking about macroeconomic events and their impact on portfolio management decisions. Matt had the opportunity to leverage his client experience and interest in financial markets as an intern with Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management this summer.
Sanjeev Kanekal, Market Strategist
Prior to entering business school, Sanjeev worked as a transportation planner in Florida. He was involved in forecasting traffic growth using macroeconomic population and employment trends. Sanjeev was an intern at Chapel Hill Investment Advisors, responsible for mutual fund selection, research and performance evaluation. He has a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Tomer Dvash, Performance and Risk Manager
Prior to attending UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, Tomer worked as a financial advisor for ZOHAR & ZOHAR, CPA and KPMG Israel. Tomer graduated from the Hebrew university of Jerusalem in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Economics. Tomer also holds the CPA (Isr.) certification. Tomer served three years in the Israeli Defense Forces in the bomb squad of the paratroopers’ brigade. During his summer internship, Tomer worked for Park Ridge Asset Management as a Research Analyst. In the summer, Tomer evaluated mutual fund managers as part of the investment process decision, developed quantitative evaluation model, and analyzed funds’ managers’ teams and processes.
Vineet Agrawal, Performance and Risk Manager
Vineet, a native to Bombay, India, has a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Over the past ten years Vineet has honed his quantitative, analytical and interpersonal skills by providing consulting services in technology, analyzing hardware and software systems and managing information technology projects. Interning at Morehead Capital during the summer, Vineet researched small cap technology companies to further diversity the portfolio at Morehead. As part of the research Vineet visited conferences; communicated with suppliers, customers, and consultants in the industry; meet with the management of the company; and created various equity valuation models to determine price.
John Griffin, Head Trader
Prior to attending UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, John worked in Sales and Trading at UBS and Schwab Capital Markets. He graduated from Trinity College in 2000 with a major in History. John spent the summer working as an intern at Carolina Capital Markets in Chapel Hill, NC.
Oliver Cross, Investor Relations Manager
Oliver is a 2002 graduate of Davidson College where he played Division I golf and spent six years working for Trusco Capital Management, the institutional asset management subsidiary of SunTrust Bank, prior to enrolling at Kenan-Flagler. At Trusco, Oliver began his career as a portfolio analyst working on a large cap core equity product before becoming an investment manager, assisting corporations and not-for-profit clients on asset allocation strategies, investment manager selection, and investment policy statement implementation. Oliver interned at GenSpring Family Offices in their Charlotte, NC office where he analyzed traditional investment managers, hedge funds, private equity funds, and other alternative funds for ultra high net worth families.
Asset Class Managers
Lamar Small, Equities Manager
Lamar is a graduate of the University of Kentucky with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Japanese Studies. After graduating from UK, he worked in the automotive field for 6 years and was on the design team for the Toyota Venza. He worked on this project for two years in Toyota City, Japan and speaks Japanese fluently. His interest peaked in the equities markets while he lived abroad as he started to actively manage his own portfolio. He spent the summer working for Toyota Motor Sales, but plans to work in investment management upon graduation.
Walker Layne, Fixed Income Manager
Prior to attending Kenan-Flagler Business School, Walker was Vice President of the Mortgage Banking Risk Management Desk at Vining Sparks IBG in Charlotte, NC. There he helped build and manage a $14B book of mortgage trading clients in the TBA Agency MBS and Treasury Futures markets. He spent the summer in the Associate Fixed-Income and Equity Sales & Trading Program at Credit Suisse in New York, NY.
Mike Drexler, Real Assets Manager
Mike received his bachelor’s degree from the University Wake Forest where he doubled majored in Economics and Political Science. Mike has over four years experience in the Investment Management Industry. He spent two years in New York City working for Alliance Capital Management as a Portfolio Manager and a member of the firm’s hedge fund team. Additionally, Mike spent two years as a research analyst working for The Mason Companies, a Washington, DC based Investment Management Firm. Mike worked as an intern at Five Mile Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in distressed assets, in New York. Mike assisted in the fundamental evaluation of Five Mile's existing portfolio and aided in the analysis of new investment opportunities.
Roberto DeAndrade, Currency Manger
Prior to attending UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, Roberto worked in the Telecommunications sector with Nokia in the Central America and Caribbean region and Verizon International in Venezuela. He graduated with a bachelor degree in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar in 2006 and came to business school to enhance his knowledge of capital markets and pursue an investment management concentration.
Oleg Gredil, Special Situations Manager
Prior to business school Oleg held responsibilities in research and portfolio management, investment banking advisory and execution in Russia. Working at boutique firms he gained a broad experience in investments with fixed income and derivatives being his primary areas of expertise. Oleg is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA), avid hiker, card player, sport and theater fan. Oleg was an intern at Morgan Creek Capital Management, in Chapel Hill, NC, where he researched their various hedge fund strategies.
Analysts
Dave McCoy, Information Technology and Telecom Analyst
Dave McCoy graduated from Wake Forest University in 1998 and worked for nine years as a cellular pharmacologist in the Metabolic Diseases Division of GlaxoSmithKline, integrating innovative, high-throughput screening robotic test systems. He worked in the Global WebSphere Marketing Group at IBM over the summer of 2009 and hopes to transition these experiences into a high-tech product marketing role in 2010. Dave is president of the Business Technology Club at Kenan-Flagler and the AIM technology and telco sector analyst.
Krishnan Varier, Materials Analyst
Krishnan is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Economics. He spent four years in retail investment services as an advisor. Prior to business school he was a sales associate at Bank of America’s Global Treasury Management Services group. He spent the summer in New York with FBR Capital’s Sales and Trading internship program where he rotated through the Equity Research Sales, Convertible Securities, High Yield, and Equity Derivative desks.
Marcus Gilmour, Industrials Analyst
Marcus played Division I volleyball for The University of Southern California and graduated with a BS in Business Administration. Prior to business school he worked at SCO Strategic Advisory and Brokerage, a boutique commercial real estate brokerage and investment company in Southern California, specializing in investment sales and tenant representation. This summer he worked with Banc of America Securities/Merrill Lynch in New York in their sales & trading associate program.
Chris Herwig, Consumer Discretionary Analyst
Chris has six years experience as a software engineer and project manager working on U.S. Department of Defense projects. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. Chris also holds a master’s degree in software engineering from the University of Maryland University College. This summer, he interned with Self-Help as a risk analyst in the commercial lending department.
Peter Laramore, Energy Analyst
Peter received both his bachelor’s degree in management and commercial pilot certification from Auburn University. After graduating, he worked as a flight instructor while earning further technical certification at Miramar College in San Diego. Prior to business school, Peter worked for US Airways and DynCorp International in operational roles. He developed an interest in portfolio management and markets while managing his personal portfolio.
Bharat Ramanathan, Health Care and Financials Analyst
Prior to attending business school, Bharat worked as a Software Engineer at Cisco Systems in California. Bharat graduated from University of Madras, India with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and obtained has Master’s degree in Engineering from Santa Clara University. This summer Bharat interned with the Debt Capital Markets group at Bank of America.
Jose Cahuayme, Utilities Analyst
Jose received his bachelor’s degree from the Universidad Catolica del Peru in Electronics Engineering. Prior to business school, he managed an all-equity diversified portfolio in the Lima Stock Exchange. He has five years of experience as Investor in this emerging economy, and researched the mining and energy sector in Peru. Outside of school he enjoys motivating people by organizing trips and has visited 11 countries.