I came across CAIA while looking for a practical, relevant educational program. I was building my career in alternative investments, the most innovative and rapidly developing segment within the finance industry. I wanted to expand my knowledge beyond practical experience and explore various allocation structures and investment strategies across different asset classes. While challenging and time-consuming, the CAIA curriculum was a foundation for becoming a well-rounded expert in the industry. I still refer to the concepts I learned while preparing for CAIA exams when I look for new product opportunities, set up a new investment structure, or evaluate partnership proposals.
Apart from investment strategies and asset management best practices, the CAIA curriculum includes a comprehensive overview of investor profiles, asset allocation approaches, due diligence, and manager selection. While my practical experience was on the asset manager’s side, CAIA's content helped me appreciate the allocators' perspective, different investment goals, and expectations. I started looking at investment opportunities from both sides of the table in the context of a diversified portfolio and investor's profile. That perspective improved my ability to identify and negotiate mutually beneficial partnerships.
Finally, CAIA Membership provides me access to an exceptional community of alternative investment professionals. Chapter events offer fantastic networking opportunities, and the online publications are a valuable source of industry insights and motivation for continuous professional growth.
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Olga Kane is a Managing Director at Synthesis, a quantitative investment company focusing on equity-statistical arbitrage. The Synthesis team applies machine learning methods to extract insights from alternative data sources and combine them to create alpha-generating investment strategies. In her role, Olga oversees trading operations of the New York-based investment management company. She is also responsible for data acquisition and strategic partnerships.
With over sixteen years of firsthand industry experience, Olga developed her professional expertise at the intersection of fundamental investment research and innovative technologies transforming the industry. She started her career as Vice President of Client Relations at the electronic trading group at Renaissance Capital, where she collaborated with early adopters of quantitative methods in stock trading. After that, Olga pivoted to the buy-side where she held several senior roles, including Head of Operations and Investor Relations at Da Vinci Capital, an alternative investment firm specializing in private equity and multi-strategy hedge funds. Olga later joined ITI Funds, the asset management arm of a global broker-dealer. At ITI Group, she oversaw building a capital introduction and operational infrastructure platform for early-stage quantitative hedge funds. Before joining Synthesis, Olga was Head of Data Strategy at QST Financial, a proprietary algorithmic trading group.
Olga holds an MBA in Finance from Baruch College Zicklin School of Business. She recently completed the Executive Program for Leadership Development and Investment Management workshop offered by Harvard Business School in collaboration with the CFA Institute. A frequent speaker at industry conferences on topics of financial technology, machine learning, and big-data analysis in investment research, Olga is also a member of the global advisory board of Quant Summit by Risk.net.