The hedge fund headhunter

Viewed in Ritholtz.com

Barry Ritholtz, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC, last month hosted an intriguing podcast with guest Ilana Weinstein, the founder and CEO of IDW Group, a leading recruitment firm for hedge funds, private equity groups and family offices.

In it, Weinstein describes the evolution of her career from a University of Pennsylvania student in Philadelphia to a Harvard University MBA student and through a series of impressive affiliations with Goldman Sachs and the Boston Consulting Group prior to founding her recruitment firm, IDW Group, 17 years ago.

Weinsten discusses the growth of the hedge fund industry from roughly 3,000 such funds managing $500 billion in 2003 to some 11,000 hedge funds managing roughly $1.4 trillion today.

As these funds have grown in both number and size, so have their associated recruitment needs. Weinstein says that the success of her IDW Group has been in ultimately doing more for her clients than mere transactional recruiting.

Instead, she says, she seeks a more comprehensive partnership with her hedge fund and other investment management clients. “We really know their business, we’ve helped them build their business and, yes, they are coming to us for specific assignments whether it’s someone to do Technology, Media and Telecom Product Management for equities, someone to run an emerging markets business, someone to build and run distress.”    

A summary of Ritholtz’ interview with Weinstein, along with the podcast link itself, also were published in Bloomberg last month. 

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