Inside $14 billion Vertition's stock-picking build out

• Michele Glatter, head of long-short data science, formerly of Point72
• Jonathan “Jono” Spitzer, head of long-short portfolio manager engagement, formerly of Candlestick Capital, Centerbook Partners, and Balyasny
• Mike Siswanto, head of equity long-short technology, formerly of Millennium-backed Kodai Capital and Citadel
• Carson McFadden, chief operating officer of the stockpicking business, formerly of Balyasny.

“High performers are drawn to opportunities for career growth, professional development, and collaboration, and we’ve been very intentional about building a culture that supports that,” he said.

Goldstein, who started his career as a prosecutor in New York, and Maounis still interview each PM personally. Existing members of the investing team often participate in the hiring process for external recruits.

“We’re very deliberate about hiring because the wrong fit can be highly disruptive — a weak analyst hire on a PM team can set that business back significantly,” Rydbeck said.

The firm has also internalized the lessons from two decades ago, when Maounis’ first fund, Amaranth Advisors, blew up due to wrong-way natural gas bets placed by a young trader. Diversification has set the manager apart since Verition launched in 2008, Goldstein said.

The firm’s resilience has proven itself through choppy markets, including in the first wave of the pandemic, when Verition preserved capital throughout the first couple of weeks of March while others suffered big losses tied to stock market drops and fixed-income trades.

In other words, Verition has built its systems from hiring to risk management to avoid losses at all costs.

“Running a multi-strategy platform is about much more than investing — you have to build and run a great business,” Goldstein said.