Ken Akoundi
February 18, 2017
Ken Akoundi @ Investor DNA
I am now focusing on the interface between technology and Long Term Investors, an area of the market that seems completely underserved. I spun out and was the President of ASPN Solutions, LLC. ASPN Solutions (“AltShare Private Network”), was a financial technology company that challenged how Institutional Investors managed their processes. ASPN Solution’s first product, was a comprehensive front, middle, and back office solution designed to empower institutional investors to build, execute and monitor direct, multi-manager portfolios. Prior to joining Protégé I was Head of Sales for Global Markets at Opera Solutions. My mandate included building relationships with Institutional Investors, by developing new products and expanding market share for existing Opera Solutions products. At Deutsche Bank, I created the Global Markets’ Pension Strategies and Solutions group. The group was focused on providing pensions, endowments and foundations with access to competitive and practical Capital Markets solutions that addressed many aspects of their business on either a streamlined or customized basis (from Risk Parity to liability Immunization products). The effort facilitated coordination and participation of many divisions and departments including Foreign Exchange, Alternatives, Equities, Commodities, Credit, and Rates. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, I was the head of risk management at Optima Fund Management (a $6 billion peak-assets Fund of Hedge Funds). In 1998, I co-founded RiskMetrics Group, where I last held the position of Chief Knowledge Officer. During my tenure at RiskMetrics, I helped grow a 12-man $1 million (in 1998 dollars) company, into a 400-man $110 million (in 2004 dollars) brand.

Investor DNA 02/17/2017 - Americans Just Broke the Psychologists’ Stress Record

         

Main

What You Believe Is the Biggest Obstacle to Global Economic Growth

Whatever their cause, impediments to global economic growth are on the rise.


From hedge fund manager to Oscar nominee: Meet Nicholas Britell, the composer of 'Moonlight'

Nicholas Britell has entered the Hollywood spotlight with his music for “Moonlight,” the spare and delicate but nevertheless integral score earning the film one of its eight Oscar nominations.


Hedge Fund Redemptions More High Profile Hit As Fees Come Down

hedge fund redemptions via JPMorgan At the beginning of this week, JP Morgan published its 2017 Institutional Investor Survey, which revealed


Battle of the buy-side: Why juniors now want to go into private equity, not hedge funds - eFinancialCareers

Hedge funds have a new problem - no one wants to work for them.

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Pension related

Ontario's Brewing Pension War?

The Canada News Network reports, Thomas to Wynne: "Pension assets belong to pension plan members" : Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne woul...

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Commodities

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EM & International

With Unconventional Weapons, Drones Hit Their Limits

The difficulties of using unmanned vehicles for biological, chemical or radiological attacks outweigh their potential effectiveness.


Can the Eurozone Break Its 'Doom Loop'?

This is the cycle that regulators are trying desperately to sever to avoid another debt crisis.

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Yield Curve Corner

Janet Yellen's warning about low rates causing a recession doesn't make sense

Less than a year ago, the Federal Reserve chair argued for a slower pace of interest-rate hikes.

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Natural Disaster Corner

http://www.noaa.gov/ 

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/Data/index.html 

http://tsunami.gov/ 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/ 

Satellite Images

Hurricane Models

NHC Hurricane Tracks

Climate Prediction  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/predictions.php 

World Meteorological Organization  http://severe.worldweather.org 

Tornadoes:  http://www.disastercenter.com/tornado.htm 


A flash flood watch is in effect as a once-a-decade rainstorm barrels toward Los Angeles

A series of major rainstorms will further drench an already waterlogged California, as the pendulum swings from drought to flood risks in the Golden State.


Broken California Dam Is a Sign of Emergencies to Come

Climate change is leading to more extreme rainfalls that can overwhelm infrastructure


Arctic 2.0: What Happens after All the Ice Goes?

Researchers look into the future of the far North for clues to save species and maybe even bring back sea ice

 

Iranian Situation

http://www.globalincidentmap.com/map.php 

http://icasualties.org/ 


The US and Iran Are Not Yet on a Course to War

Despite bellicose words, both sides have also demonstrated elements of restraint.


Iran’s Strengthening Economy Is A Threat To The US—Not Nukes

Harvest is the world's first and largest transparent investor community for discovery and connection through knowledge.

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Misc. Items of Interest

8 Lebanese Dishes You Need to Know

You’ve heard of hummus and labneh — but have you tried foul mudammas or shanklish? While we tend to think of Middle Eastern cuisine as a single entity, the reality is that each country has its own distinct set of dishes — like Lebanon, whose cuisine dates back thousands of years, pulling ...


Americans Just Broke the Psychologists’ Stress Record

A national survey of anxiety finds a statistically significant increase for the first time since it was launched in 2007.


A 7-year-old girl asked Google for a job and got a personal response from CEO Sundar Pichai

Seven-year-old Chloe Bridgewater asked Google for a job. The CEO, Sundar Pichai, answered her directly.


‘Dumb money’ and other myths about corporate venture capital

After almost a decade in corporate venture capital, I’ve concluded that my world is highly misunderstood in the venture and startup ecosystem.


A Resolution on Who Owns Gene Editing

The victor in the CRISPR-Cas9 patent case is less important than the fact that policy continues to lag behind scientific progress.


Schwarzman Parties at 70 With Camels, Cake and Trump’s Entourage

There were camels in the sand, a gondolier in the pool and a giant birthday cake in the shape of a Chinese temple -- with Gwen Stefani on hand to help sing Happy Birthday at midnight.


Elon Musk Is Really Boring

The billionaire visionary is digging in on a tunnel project to skirt gridlock, but there’s a hole in his Trump-era business bet.


R for Excel users

For Excel users getting started with R, pain oftentimes finds its way into the learning process. Gordon Shotwell feels your pain and provides a primer to shifting to a different approach to your da…


Kim Jong Il | North Korean political leader

North Korean politician, son of the former North Korean premier and (communist) Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) chairman Kim Il-Sung, and successor to his father as ruler (1994–2011)...

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Funnies, Facts, Quotes, etc...

procrustean

[proh-kruhs-tee-uh n]

1: tending to produce conformity by violent or arbitrary means.

2: (initial capital letter) pertaining to or suggestive of Procrustes.

Quotes:

1: A procrustean system or plan forces individuals--no matter how different they may be--to fit the same mold or to conform to a single type or pattern.

William F. Russell, Classic Myths to Read Aloud, 1989

2: While doing so, I felt uneasily procrustean: Here and there limbs of the manuscript needed to be stretched, and elsewhere a protruding foot might be lopped off, if all the episodes were to be edited into a single, coherent, continuous work.

John Callahan, "Afterword: A Note to Scholars," Juneteenth, by Ralph Ellison, 1999

Origin: Procrustean entered English in the mid-1600s. The term comes from Procrustes, a robber in classical mythology who stretched or amputated the limbs of travelers to make them conform to the length of his bed.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

― Warren Buffett

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