Commonfund Group, an institutional investment manager for endowments, foundations and pension funds, has named David Belmont as its chief risk officer. Belmont will also serve as a member of the Commonfund Investment Policy and Asset Allocation Committee, and will have risk management oversight of all investment programs. Belmont was previously global head of hedge fund credit for UBS Investment Bank.
PRESS RELEASE
Commonfund, a prominent institutional
investment manager for endowments and foundations, pension funds and
other sophisticated investors, today announced the appointment of David
Belmont, CFA, as Chief Risk Officer of Commonfund Group. In this role
Mr. Belmont will report directly to Verne O.
Sedlacek, President and CEO of Commonfund Group and to the Audit and
Risk Management Committee of the Commonfund Board of Trustees. Mr.
Belmont will also serve as a member of the Commonfund Investment Policy
and Asset Allocation Committee, and will have risk management oversight
of all Commonfund investment programs.
“This is important news for Commonfund and our clients as we are able to
hire somebody with David’s technical and practical skills and proven
track record,” said Verne O. Sedlacek, President and CEO Commonfund
Group. “His deep quantitative knowledge combined with his experience
with leading institutional investors brings a wealth of knowledge to
Commonfund and to our clients.”
Mr. Belmont will assume the leadership of an experienced team of
Commonfund risk management professionals.
About David Belmont
Mr. Belmont has over 17 years of successful institutional risk
management experience. Before joining Commonfund, Mr. Belmont was
Global Head of Hedge Fund Credit for UBS Investment Bank where he led a
global team of 45 risk managers and analysts responsible for the risk
management of hedge fund and managed fund exposures in the Investment
Bank globally. In addition, he was Managing Director-Risk Management for
UBS Prime Services where he led a team of eight risk managers
responsible for the market, credit and
operational risk management of the Prime Brokerage in the Americas. In both roles, he risk-managed exception transactions, set policy, designed risk systems and evaluated
risk of hedge fund portfolios and was part of the senior management team
responsible for maintaining relationships with key clients. He was a
member of the UBS Prime Brokerage Executive Committee, the Exchange
Traded Derivatives Risk Committee, the Prime Services Risk Committee and
Prime Services Risk Board.
Prior to UBS, Mr. Belmont spent more than six years in Singapore with
Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s $100 billion sovereign wealth fund, most
recently as its Chief Risk Officer from 2004-2007. At Temasek, he
evaluated risks of potential and ongoing investments, designed and
implemented firm wide risk management and risk capital allocation
systems, implemented stress testing protocols, portfolio modeling and
capital budgeting. In addition, he was a Director with Anderson LLP and
founded their Asia Financial and Commodity Risk Consulting practice in
Singapore, managing a team of 17 professionals across Asia. He was also
a Regional Risk Manager with Black River Asset Management, a
multi-strategy hedge fund, and was a sovereign risk underwriter with
Citicorp. He earned a B.A. from Bowdoin College cum laude and an M.B.A.
and M.S. in International Relations from Yale University.
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About Commonfund
Founded in 1971, Commonfund is devoted to enhancing the financial
resources of long-term investors including nonprofit institutions and
pension funds through superior fund management, investment advice and
treasury operations. Directly or through its subsidiaries-Commonfund Capital and Commonfund Asset Management Company- Commonfund manages over $26 billion for over 1,500 clients. Commonfund, together with its subsidiary companion organizations, offers more than 30 different investment programs. All securities are distributed through Commonfund Securities, Inc.