User:Sharath Sury

'''SUMMARY '''

Sharath Sury is an American financial economist and investor, best known for advising some of the most prominent families in the US in the 1990s and 2000s; and for his pioneering work in portfolio allocation strategies that integrate traditional and alternative investments. Sury is the originator of the "Efficient Portfolio Management" investment process and the "Alpha Cost Index", a measure of money manager performance relative to investment fees. He is also the editor of the published anthology of seminal works in finance and investments entitled, "Essential Readings in Applied Financial Economics," featuring research by Nobel Laureates Harry Markowitz, William Sharpe, Robert Merton, and other prominent academics and investment practitioners. The text has been used as an advanced resource in financial economics at undergraduate and graduate business schools, including at the University of California, Santa Clara University, and DePaul University.

Sury is a noted economist whose research and commentary have been featured on Bloomberg, CNBC, MarketWatch, Forbes, FundStrategy, and Reuters, among others. Sury has delivered over 75 policy speeches in the past 4 years; his commentary on economic policy and financial disintermediation is delivered to governments, institutional investors, and prominent international families via speeches and moderated panel sessions at such forums as the annual European Alternative & Institutional Summit, the CIO Summit, the Endowment & Foundation Forum, and the CFA Institute. He is also the Executive Director of SIFIRM—-an organization that has supported research initiatives bringing together some of the world's most innovative scholars (including Nobel Prizewinners), substantial investors, and practitioners in financial economics to consult and investigate problems in risk management, corporate finance, portfolio optimization, and behavioral finance. Sury's funding and contributions in this arena also led directly to the development of other research organizations, including the Center for Analytical Finance (CAFIN) at the University of California (at Santa Cruz). In certain cases, affiliated syndicates of investors may co-invest in presented opportunities that are compelling to the group. Its operations and deal flow intelligence are not offered--and remain unavailable--to the general public. Sury continues to be a proponent for integrated risk management, strong internal controls and governance, and appropriate investment policy statements.

'''BACKGROUND ''' Sury earned his MBA (High Honors & Beta Gamma Sigma) in Finance & Statistics from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics (High Honors & Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, where he concurrently held teaching assistantships in Macroeconomic Theory and Statistical Analysis. Sury also attended the rigorous San Jose Police Academy; and prior to graduate school, completed reserve officer training at the South Bay Criminal Justice Training Academy, where he was certified by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards & Training in “Powers of Arrest” and tactical firearms proficiency.

Sury began his professional career with a broad array of experiences including in technology, business, and law enforcement. His early experiences included technical positions with the MCC R&D Consortium, International Business Machines (IBM), and Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.'s Command, Control, Communications & Intelligence (C3I) Division. Sury's original work in artificial intelligence, air defense programs, and statistical process control earned him a variety of awards, including the IBM Austin Excellence Award, the USAF Outstanding Research Project (SMARTEX), Lockheed's Space Systems Division Commendation, and Lockheed's C3I Award Letter (for his contributions to the 1987 USAF Air Defense Initiative program). Prior to graduate school, Sury also served in special enforcement and intelligence advisory capacities for Federal task forces and local government agencies, including the Organized Crime Task Force (Central Texas) and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Bureau of Investigation (Silicon Valley). In 1992, Sury was ultimately recruited to help develop and take part in the influential High Technology & Economic Crimes Unit for the Santa Clara District Attorney's Bureau of Investigation--the first investigative unit of its kind in the nation. As a result of his work on over a dozen major (felony) investigations, ranging from homicide to industrial espionage, the District Attorney noted his efforts in a special letter of merit.

After graduate school, and from the mid to late 1990s, he built and led one of the most successful and fastest growing wealth management practices as a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he was the senior partner of a team advising a niche group of prominent, ultra-wealthy clients representing several billion dollars in investment assets spanning equities, fixed income, and alternative investments. During his tenure at Goldman Sachs, Sury also taught several classes for new Financial Analysts on topics ranging from portfolio analysis to financial accounting. His career at Goldman Sachs began in the firm’s famed Equities Division, where he was recruited as a proprietary derivatives trader.

Upon Goldman Sachs' initial public offering (IPO), Sury formed and led Chicago Analytic Capital Management LLC, an investment management organization. In 2003, Sury was featured in Crain's Chicago Business "40 Under 40: Chicago's Rising Stars," for his significant professional accomplishments. Sury's firm (and its successor entities) eventually became a nationally ranked, multi billion dollar wealth manager. Under Sury's leadership, the firm was listed at #2 (2005), #1 (2006), and #1 (2007) by Bloomberg Wealth Manager Magazine in its survey and ranking of the top US Managers. Sury's firm was also named a "Top 10 Financial Advisor" by Financial Advisor Magazine in 2006.

In tandem, Sury also built a highly respected global institutional broker dealer organization. Over the years, his professional investment R&D teams—comprised of researchers with Ph.D.’s and other advanced degrees across financial and technical disciplines—developed critically acclaimed, state-of-the-art techniques and strategies for client-optimized portfolio management and diversification.

'''CONTROVERSY '''

In 2010 the SEC served one of Sury's firms, S4 Capital, with a cease and desist letter after the firm lost 4% of a client's funds by engaging in risky trades in 2006. Sury had taken unhedged positions in Google options prior to the announcement of earnings, in the expectation of generating large returns upon the earnings report. Given his prior success in these types of transactions (including returns in excess of 100%)--the client and its attorneys had given explicit written approval to Sury and his firm to undertake risky transactions in the expectation of high returns. However, upon the fund's first losing month, the client later claimed that it (and its advisors) was totally unaware that trading in the markets involved risks, including a loss of capital. The suit and charges were later settled after the presiding Court found the original client complaint deficient and awarded Sury's firm three consecutive motions to dismiss. The incident was the only one of its kind in Sury's career. However, in settling the case, weary of litigation, and reassessing his priorities, he soon sold the company and began devoting more time to his interests in research, teaching, law enforcement, and philanthropy.

'''POST CONTROVERSY: ECONOMIC, ACADEMIC, AND OTHER ENDEAVORS '''

Sury served as a Full-time Dean's Executive Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University, from 2008-2011 and has served as a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of California. He was also appointed as a Finance Lecturer at San Diego State University in 2012, In these roles, he has taught courses in investment theory, corporate finance, applied portfolio management, and endowment management. He is the recipient of numerous teaching and scholarly accolades, including the DePaul University Seiden Award, Santa Clara University's ACE Outstanding Faculty Award, and the Leavey School of Business Extraordinary Faculty Award. In addition, he served as the principal faculty advisor for Santa Clara University’s delegation to the California Venture Capital Investment Competition, which won the highly coveted Entrepreneur’s Choice Award in 2011. Sury has served as an Executive Advisory Board Member of the University of California's proposed School of Management (SOM) in Silicon Valley, the Arditti Center for Risk Management in Chicago, the Sury Initiative for Global Finance and International Risk Management (SIGFIRM) at UC Santa Cruz, Opal’s Wealth Management Forums, and the UCSC Center for International Economics.

Sury’s research on the optimization of traditional and alternative investments is featured in the acclaimed anthology, “Essential Readings in Applied Financial Economics.” In the media, Sury has been quoted as an expert economic source in Forbes, Bloomberg World Markets, Wealth Manager Magazine, Reuters, MarketWatch, Fund Strategy Magazine, Oil & Gas Monitor, Lipper, MindWorks, San Jose Business Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, and Hedgeworld, among others. His economic views have also been featured on Bloomberg TV; and on talk radio programs on KPRC-AM and KLIF-AM. His current research interests include best practices in identifying the true value added by investment managers (alpha identification and the disintermediation of non-value added investment managers), with proprietary techniques and strategies he pioneered in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Since 2008, Sury has been appointed as an Executive Advisor or Board Member for the University of California's proposed School of Management (Silicon Valley), Chicago’s Arditti Center for Risk Management, the Sury Initiative for Global Finance and International Risk Management (SIGFIRM) at UC Santa Cruz, Opal’s Wealth Management Forums, and the UCSC Center for International Economics. As an internationally recognized expert in the fields of portfolio theory and risk management, Sury is a frequently invited speaker, including for agencies of the US Government, municipalities, Opal Financial Forums, the CFA Institute, CIO Summits, Financial Research Associates, Wilson Family Office Summits, QuantInvest, Wealth Management Forum, International Private Banking, Terrapinn, and the University of Chicago. His audiences typically include leaders of large institutions, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.

A noted philanthropist, Sury gives back to the community through such efforts as Junior Achievement, Habitat for Humanity, Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, the South Shore Drill Team, and the Los Angeles Police Emerald Society. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Medical Research Institute Council of Children’s Memorial Hospital, and the GSB CEO Roundtable. Based in part on his experience in law enforcement (criminal investigation), he currently serves on the Santa Clara Co. Sheriff’s Advisory Board, was granted an honorary appointment as a Santa Clara Co. Deputy Sheriff, and previously served on the Executive Committee of the San Jose Police Officer Association’s Charitable Foundation.

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