08 Oct 2018 Absolute Return's September Publication Features Jennifer Foster, Co-CIO
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ANALYSIS THE ‘DAVID’ PROBLEM WRITTEN BY MILES KRUPPA Just how bad is the hedge fund industry’s gender gap? More men named David launched funds in the past five years than all women combined, Absolute Return research found hilton Investment Com- Chilton usually makes final trading after September 11, 2001, when she pany may be typical for decisions. had travelled to Los Angeles while C bearing the name of its “He trained me, so we think about seven months pregnant to meet male founder, Richard investing in the same way,” Foster with the chief executive of one of Chilton, a billionaire known for his says. “But the other good news is we the firm’s portfolio companies. careful style of stock picking. are two different generations, we The executive never made it after But these days, investment deci- are two different individuals and we dying in one of the hijacked planes, sions are just as likely to come from are two different genders. That has and Foster suddenly found herself Jennifer Foster, the $2.5 billion firm’s brought some diversity of thought in a Los Angeles hospital receiving co-chief investment officer. to our yin and our yang, which has treatment for premature labor. Af- Foster took on Chilton’s top in- been helpful.” ter a one-week no-fly order expired, vestment role in 2016 after nearly Foster valued Chilton’s mentorship Chilton chartered a private plane for two decades of working at the firm. her and two others who had been Recruited by Chilton out of Harvard Specific features of stranded on the West Coast. Business School, Foster says the patrimonialism – trust, loyalty “I think Richard just did a gentle- eponymous founder served as her manly thing and what he thought direct mentor from her first days and tradition – allow elite white was right to do,” Foster says. “I don’t as an analyst. She now calls herself men to maintain monopolies think he was doing it to solidify my the Charlie Munger to his Warren loyalty. But it did.” Buffet. of power and authority in Chilton’s decision to make her hedge funds, which stymies the Post-crisis co-chief investment officer, she Foster is a statistical rarity in the says, was recognition of her role at advancement of women and male-dominated hedge fund indus- the firm and not part of a broader minority men. try. Since Alfred Winslow Jones succession plan. The two contribute started the first “hedged fund” in equally to investment ideas, though MEGAN NEELY 1949, investment heads have almost Disclaimer: This publication is for information purposes only. It is not investment advice and any mention of a fund is in no way an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy the fund. Any information in this publication should not be the basis for aninvestment decision. Absolute Return does not guarantee and takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information or the statistics contained in this document. Subscribers should not circulate this publication to members of the public, as sales of the products mentioned may not be eligible or suitable for general sale in some countries. Copyright in this document is owned by Pageant Media Limited and any unauthorised copying, distribution, selling or lending of this document is prohibited. without exception been male. Even son Capital Management, is typical- George Soros. “It is also the charac- as the industry has grown to man- ly not listed as a co-founder of the teristic of any investment manage- age $3 trillion for some of the world’s firm led by her husband, Clint. She ment operation or any Wall Street largest institutions, women have owns between 10% to 25% of the investment banking operation. It is largely been locked out of money firm compared to Clint Carlson’s the exact same phenomenon.” management roles. 50% to 75%, according to regulatory One result is that women have Of the more than 250 billion-dol- filings. Similar for NWI Manage- been cut out of the hedge fund in- lar American hedge fund firms, ment, where Chandrika Hariharan dustry’s massive wealth generation. none were started by a solo female owns 25% to 50% and her husband, Fewer than 10% of billion-dollar founder, according to Absolute Re- Hari, owns 50% to 75%.) American hedge funds are at least turn research. Women co-founded part-owned by a female employee, just seven, or less than 3%, of the There are way too many hedge according to an Absolute Return billion-dollar hedge funds. analysis. Women occupying execu- Only two of those firms were funds and there’s way too much tive positions in compliance, legal founded by women who also hold money still in the space. And not and operations are often excluded a top money management role, from the firm’s equity structure, such as chief investment officer. enough of them are women. But viewed as incidental to the predomi- Altogether, just 10, or under 4%, of in what I do, allocating to man- nately male portfolio managers. billion-dollar American hedge funds Male control of the hedge fund in- were either founded by women or agers, I’m trying to find the best dustry has also come under scrutiny employ women in top investment talent on the planet. That is not a in the wake of the broader #MeToo roles. movement. An HFMWeek survey of Absolute Return calculated the gender-specific exercise. hedge fund employees found that numbers after reviewing regulatory 60% of women experienced some BETSY BATTLE filings, public documents and web- form of harassment at a previous sites associated with firms included employer. 39% of women said senior in the most recent Billion Dollar The hedge fund industry is not an management was not doing enough Club ranking. Brazilian and Canadi- anomaly among its peers. A 2011 Har- to promote a discrimination-free an hedge funds were excluded from vard Business School study found work environment, according to the the analysis, as were asset manage- that women held just 6% of senior survey. ment conglomerates where hedge investment roles at private equity, Men have maintained a more pos- funds are not the primary business. real estate and venture capital firms. itive view of the industry’s response A review of the most recent hedge (About half of all marketing and to workplace concerns. Only 15% of fund startups produced similar re- investor relations jobs were held men said working conditions have sults. From 2013 to 2017, 4.28% of new by women, by comparison.) Female not improved in the past five years, hedge fund firms managing more chief executives also lead only 4.8% compared to 25% of women. than $50 million were founded or of Fortune 500 companies. co-founded by women, according to “I don’t think this is just specific to Investing in women data from Absolute Return surveys hedge funds,” says Betsy Battle, who Some investors have begun to re- of new fund activity. More men founded the fund of hedge funds think their practices in light of the named “David” founded hedge funds Lone Peak Partners after running investment management industry’s than all the women combined dur- investment manager selection for stark gender imbalance. ing the five-year period, and wom- About a quarter of Athena Capital en-led firms managed just 3.10% of KEY DATA Advisors’ wealthy clients have asked the assets measured by the surveys. the investment advisor to structure Of the seven women who founded their portfolios using so-called “en- billion-dollar American hedge funds, vironmental, social and governance” two did so as part of a husband-wife factors. That process can include team: Mary Naphtal with her hus- what the firm calls a “gender lens” of band Warren (P/E Investments) and investing. Victoria Zoellner with her late hus- 3.1% “Just as lenses in a telescope can band, Robert (Alpine Associates). allow us to see galaxies light years Forbes magazine ranked Zoellner as away, a gender lens can be used to one of the America’s wealthiest “self- see, more clearly, a distant vision of a made women” this year, with a net more gender inclusive society,” Ath- New fund assets (2013-2017) managed worth of $510 million. by women-led hedge funds ena employees wrote in a January (Nancy Carlson, a partner at Carl- 3+97+C paper explaining the concept. ABSOLUTE RETURN SEPTEMBER 2018 ANALYSIS But Athena has encountered a KEY DATA smaller, women-led managers. challenge applying the gender lens Other billion-dollar hedge funds to hedge funds: There aren’t enough led by female investment profes- established, women-led firms that sionals include Chilton, Cowen provide the kinds of risk-adjusted % Investment Group and Criterion returns their clients expect. Athena 9.73 Capital Management. In total, wom- Firms with women holding has instead sought out hedge funds ownership stake en-led billion-dollar American firms employing diverse teams, and espe- managed about $31.5 billion at the cially firms that show a propensity of whom are women: Mala Gaonkar beginning of the year, or less than for promoting women to top posi- and Kelly Granat. Beginning in 2019, 2% of the total. (Women also hold tions. Mandel plans to cede all money high-ranking investment positions “That’s different than the other management duties to the group of at firms like AQR Capital Manage- fund that maybe has the same sta- portfolio managers, who each own ment and Bridgewater Associates, tistics, but it’s just luck. It’s not part 5% to 10% of the firm, according to where no one person controls in- of their culture,” says Kate Hunting- regulatory filings.