Christopher M. Schelling, CAIA, and Sanjay Patel., CAIA candidate, have been selected as recipients of Institutional Investor’s 12th Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards.
Recipients are “individuals who are playing an increasingly significant role in the hedge fund industry, either for a manager, an investor or a brokerage firm or other service provider.”
Schelling is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Director Absolute Return at the Kentucky Retirement Systems. In this role, he has primary responsibility for the system’s hedge fund investments, as well as providing strategic oversight for alternatives and manager selection broadly. In addition, Mr. Schelling is also an Adjunct Professor at the Gatton School of Business at the University of Kentucky, lecturing on Alternative Investments.
Patel currently is pursuing his CAIA designation. He is the Director of Absolute Return at Indiana Public Employees Retirement Service in Indianapolis. Prior to joining INPRS, he held positions a Lehman Brothers Inc., and Strategic Capital Partners.
Messrs. Schelling and Patel see the CAIA Charter as a strong foundation for building a successful career in alternative investments.
Christopher Schelling, CAIA
Christopher M. Schelling, CAIA is currently Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Director Absolute Return at the Kentucky Retirement Systems. In this role, he has primary responsibility for the system’s hedge fund investments, as well as providing strategic oversight for alternatives and manager selection broadly. In addition, Mr. Schelling is also an Adjunct Professor at the Gatton School of Business at the University of Kentucky, lecturing on Alternative Investments. Previously, he served in a number of front and middle office roles in hedge funds and alternative investments over the span of 13 years at firms such as Mercer Investment Consulting, ThomsonReuters, Bear Stearns, and Calamos Investments. He has been quoted and published in numerous financial publications, including the Wall Street Journal and the Journal of Private Equity. He holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Designation. In addition to being a member of the CAIA Association, Mr. Schelling has also served on the association’s Due Diligence and Regulation Curriculum Committee, and the Exam Council. Mr. Schelling received an MBA from the University of Illinois Chicago and a Masters Degree in Financial Markets from the Illinois Institute of Technology, as well as a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Chris was named a Rising Star of Public Funds in 2012 and a Rising Star of Hedge Funds in 2014 by Institutional Investor Magazine.
The CAIA designation offers a more concentrated curriculum focused on alternative investments that is highly appropriate for individuals pursuing a career in institutional asset management. I believe that alternatives generally provide higher return per unit of risk, or lower risk per unit of return, than most comparable traditional investments, provided that an allocator can forego some degree of liquidity. Alternatives tend to be the area of investment management where innovation and application of new academic research occurs the most rapidly and organically. The CAIA supplies a rigorous foundation for someone willing to put in the appropriate amount of work necessary to prudently understand, underwrite, price and execute an investment in such structures.
Sanjay Patel
Education:
Indiana University Bloomington, IN
(May, 2004) B.S., Business – Finance, International Studies
Employment:
INPRS (2012) Director of Absolute Return
Indianapolis, IN
Self Employed / Single Client (2010) Real Estate Acquisitions Consultant
Chicago, IL
Strategic Capital Partners (2006) Assistant Vice President – Acquisitions
Chicago, IL
Lehman Brothers Inc. (2004) Acquisitions Analyst – Investment Management Division’s Real Estate Private Equity Group
New York, NY
Lehman Brothers Inc. (2003) Summer Analyst – Investment Banking Division’s Global Power Group
New York, NY
Why CAIA?
I believe alternatives will continue to gain traction and play a larger role in diversified portfolios. The CAIA Charter provides a comprehensive introduction to the asset classes, investment strategies, and portfolio management considerations within the alternatives universe, which should serve as the foundation to a lifetime of learning as an alternatives professional.
