Adam Cooper, Senior Managing Director and General Counsel of Citadel Investment Group, was elected Chairman of Managed Funds Association (MFA). Cooper succeeds Samuel S. Weiser, founder of Foxdale Management LLC, as Chairman, according to John G. Gaine, MFA President.
Cooper was elected to the Board this September and had served as an appointed director of MFA from November 2000 until his recent election.
MFA, headquartered in Washington, DC, is the trade association representing professionals who specialize in alternative investment strategies including hedge funds, funds of funds and managed futures funds. MFA’s approximately 700 members manage a significant portion of the estimated $600 billion invested in hedge funds.
MFA’s Board of Directors, including new directors recently elected by the membership, assembled for its first meeting on October 16 in New York, where the directors unanimously elected Cooper as MFA Chairman, effective immediately.
“I am honored to be leading MFA,” says Cooper. “As the hedge fund industry evolves, our Association must be at the forefront establishing guidance for sound business practices, and creating educational programs for members and investors. As the voice of the hedge fund industry in Washington, MFA will continue to work closely with the SEC, CFTC, other regulatory bodies and Congress to effect positive changes for all participants in alternative investments. I look forward to the opportunities and challenges of guiding MFA as it continues its mission.”
The directors also voted in a new slate of officers and members of the Executive Committee. The Board elected Mark H. Mitchell, vice-chairman, John W. Henry & Company, Inc., as MFA vice chairman; Arthur F. Bell, Jr., managing partner, Arthur F. Bell, Jr. & Associates, LLC, as MFA treasurer; and Jeffrey D. Izenman, co-CEO, BRI Partners LLC, and executive vice president, Rabar Market Research, Inc, as MFA secretary. It also elected two directors to serve with the officers on the Executive Committee: Robert M. Aaron, chairman and chief executive officer, Derivatives Portfolio Management, LLC, and Scott Bernstein, general counsel, Caxton Associates, L.L.C.
MFA members recently elected the following eight directors to serve two-year terms:
Two new directors are Aaron of Derivatives Portfolio Management, LLC, and Michael Neus, general counsel, Andor Capital Management. Aaron had previously served four consecutive years as a director on MFA’s Board.
Two directors, who are reelected for a second two-year term, are Bell of Arthur F. Bell, Jr. & Associates, L.L.C., and Mark Rosenberg, chairman and chief investment officer, SSARIS Advisors LLC.
Chairman Cooper and three directors, who were previously appointed directors, were elected for a two-year term. They are Bernstein of Caxton Associates, L.L.C; Nancy Havens-Hasty, founder and president, Havens Advisors, LLC; and John M. Kelly, president and CEO, Man Investment Products, Inc.
The other MFA Directors are: Robert Alderman, managing director, Merrill Lynch Global Private Client; Theresa D. Becks, chief financial officer and secretary, Campbell & Company, Inc.; Kent A. Clark, managing director and chief investment officer, Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Strategies Group; Kenneth L. Grant, chief investment officer, Exis Capital Management; Jean-Louis Juchault, chief executive officer, Systeia Capital Management; and Jeffrey A. Rothman, first vice president and national sales manager, Morgan Stanley.
In addition, two appointed directors serve on the Board: Thomas Schneeweis, professor, CISDM, School of Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and R. Charles Tschampion, managing director, General Motors Investment Management Corporation. John Damgard, president, Futures Industry Association, is a special advisor to MFA’s Board.
“We thank our six directors who have completed two consecutive two-year terms and are leaving the Board,” says MFA President Gaine. Those directors include Kevin M. Heerdt, executive vice president, Campbell & Company, Inc.; Robert A. Jaeger, chief investment officer, Evaluation Associates; Bruce I. Nemirow, principal, Capital Growth Partners, LLC; Mark Silber, vice president, Renaissance Technologies Corporation; David J. Vogel, executive vice president, Salomon SmithBarney; and Mr. Weiser of Foxdale Management.