We are excited to introduce Susanna Wallis CFA, our Senior Investment Manager in the Alternative Investment Solutions department, overseeing manager selection within the Long/Short Credit space.
Exclusive insights as Susanna first discusses the Alternative Investment Solutions teams’ process, followed by a discussion with Steven Bleier of Brigade Capital Management and Brian Hessel from Global Credit Advisers, LLC. They will share some of their current positioning and strategies for navigating the complex economic landscape.
Steven Bleier of Brigade Capital Management and Brian Hessel from Global Credit Advisers, LLC. will share some of their current positioning and strategies for navigating the complex economic landscape.
Susanna is a Managing Director and Senior Investment Manager in UBP’s Alternative Investment Solutions group, managing portfolios and mandates of investments in Alternatives. She also leads the research in Relative Value and Event Driven managers and co-ordinates the team’s ESG approach in Alternatives. Prior to joining UBP in 2020, Susanna spent 12 years in GAM's Alternative Investments Solutions (AIS) team, with a specific focus on credit and relative value strategies. Whilst at GAM she was a co-Portfolio Manager on several both relative value and multi-strategy mandates managed by the firm, investing in UCITS, hedge funds and longer-lock funds investing in Private credit and Venture Capital. Susanna began her career at State Street Bank & Trust as a Research Analyst. Susanna has a BSc in Economics from the University of Surrey, is a CFA Charterholder, holds the Investment Management Certificate and is a non-executive director of a UCITS platform
Mr. Hessel is primarily responsible for risk management, administration, finance and operations at the Portfolio Manager. From 2001 through July 2012, Mr. Hessel served as Co-Portfolio Manager and Director of Risk Management of Stonegate. From 1995-2001, Mr. Hessel was co-portfolio manager on the High Yield Team and most recently a Managing Director of J. & W. Seligman & Co., Inc. (“Seligman”). Before joining Seligman in 1995, Mr. Hessel was a high yield analyst with ING (U.S.) Capital Corp. from 1993 to 1995 and with Prudential Investment Corp. from 1990 to 1993. Mr. Hessel received a Bachelor of Science, Cum Laude, in Economics with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA, Cum Laude, in Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Hessel earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1993 and is a member of the CFA Society New York and a member of the CFA Institute.
Mr. Bleier is a Portfolio Manager and Head of Structured Credit. Having joined Brigade in 2008, Mr. Bleier serves as a member of the firm’s Investment, Management, and Risk Committees. He is responsible for all Structured Product investing at Brigade and is the lead Portfolio Manager of its dedicated structured credit fund, which he launched in 2014. Prior to joining Brigade, Mr. Bleier was an Executive Director in the Leveraged Finance Group at Morgan Stanley from 2003 to 2008, where he traded high yield cash bonds and derivatives, and before that was an Associate in the High Yield Research Department at Goldman Sachs, covering the commodity and specialty chemical sectors. Mr. Bleier is actively involved in education initiatives and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey. Mr. Bleier received a BA in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.