Home ListingApril 16, 2015

UPS Loses Liquid Alts Chief to Hedge Fund

Leo Svoboda will be joining NYC-based hedge fund Penso Advisors in May.

Reported by Featured Author

Leo Svoboda UPS’ liquid alternatives chief is leaving the $27 billion trust to join a hedge fund, CIO has learned.

Leo Svoboda, 2014’s Forty Under Forty member and a seven-year veteran at UPS, will be departing for a position at global macro advisory and trading firm Penso Advisors.

The 29-year-old will begin his new position on Penso’s research and execution team in New York City on May 14.

“I had an incredible experience at UPS,” Svoboda told CIO. “It was the highlight of my career so far to work for Brian [Pellegrino, CIO]. It has also been a great pleasure to work with the great team we have at UPS.”

Svoboda added he is looking forward to pursuing opportunities on the asset manager side and being able to take advantage of the flexibility in mandates and trading.

Svoboda joined UPS in 2008 as an investment analyst before becoming a portfolio manager and senior portfolio manager for its $2-plus billion hedge fund strategies.

In addition to managing the trust’s hedge fund exposures, Svoboda also invested an opportunistic portfolio, all while pursuing an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pellegrino said Svoboda was “instrumental” in building out the liquid alternatives portfolio and that his innovative approach has resulted in an allocation that has “not only reduced overall volatility but generated healthy returns as well.”

UPS also lost its public markets chief in October. Ed Hetherington, a three-time Forty Under Forty member, joined the University of North Carolina’s investment office to manage its public investments.