
A Wall Street veteran, Alex directs our global services from his office in Geneva, Switzerland. His background has been making investment decisions for client assets. He started as an analyst for emerging market government economic and political risk at ING Barings, a top three firm in emerging markets. By the time he left, he was responsible for all Latin American bond and currency risk.
His team was awarded first-place in Latin Finance Magazine for fixed-income analysis in 1997 and third place for Fixed Income Strategy by Institutional Investor magazine. Prior to that, he managed the investment team for Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, an NYC-based institutional asset management company with offices in four countries, and nearly $30 billion under management.
At Banco Santander, Alex was based in London and responsible for bond and currency investment strategy in Russia, Eastern Europe and North Africa. For Alex’s coverage of the 1998 Russian default and currency devaluation, he was awarded runner-up Fixed-Income Strategist of the year by Institutional Investor magazine.
Alex then moved from making investment recommendations to making investment decisions. He became head of emerging market bond portfolio management for Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas that handled all their dollar-based institutional clients. From there, he moved to found and head the FFTW research department, ran the company’s new-product development effort, and finally become the chief operating officer for the investment team.
At this point, Alex needed a break. He took some time off, helped managed an oyster farm in New England, and learned how to wake up without instinctively checking the performance of the European markets. But eventually his brain got bored, and he returned to investment theory. To his delight, he found numerous clients who were appreciative of his portfolio management background and strong writing skills. A decade later, Alex hasn’t looked back, and is eager to continue helping investment and marketing teams share their views and tell their story.
Outside of investments, Alex is passionate about education (as a parent and a child of academics), art, ice hockey, skiing, writing and filmmaking. He has served as chairman of the board for the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA), was on investment committee for the Portland Maine Museum of Art, and a member of the executive committee for the Telling Room (a nonprofit dedicated to teaching children creative writing).
Alex grew up in Alaska, where his mother was a climber and math professor, and Manhattan, where his father was a professor of neuroscience. Alex is an American, but married to a Swiss national, and so is currently enjoying the culture, mountains, and chocolate in Geneva Switzerland. You are welcome to visit anytime.