Hedge Fund Association forms academic advisory board

The board will hold HFA symposiums on campuses across the US featuring well-known hedge fund managers and investors as guest speakers, along with hosting online webinars to teach the next generation of professionals about the industry, finance and ethics.
 
“I am excited the HFA has taken this step to create a dedicated academic advisory board to teach students about the hedge fund industry while they are in college and graduate school, and inspire them to be informed investors and money managers,” says Mitch Ackles, HFA’s president. “I know that having well-esteemed professors on the board who have vast experience in an academic setting will be an added complement to the other executives who are members.”
 
“I am honoured to be chairman of HFA’s newest board and work with our top-tier members, all experts in the hedge fund industry, from money managers, investors, and educators, to empower college and graduate students to learn about the hedge fund industry as well as finance and ethics,” said Keith Novick, the board’s chairman. “Students will be able to make valuable connections early on for their career once they graduate.”
 
Other board members include Ezra Zask, Scott Fullman, James Jalil, and Jim Liew.
 
Novick, a 26-year Wall Street veteran, is a senior consultant for MJK Consulting. His most recent engagement was for an energy group that provides end- to-end solutions in LNG, natural gas and oil.
 
Zask is president of SFC Associates, a financial consulting firm, and managing principal of the Due Diligence Hedge Fund Exchange. He has previously managed hedge fund and fund of funds and taught courses on hedge funds and investments at Yale, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon and Fordham Universities. His book, All About Hedge Funds, Second Edition, was published this year by McGraw Hill.
 
Fullman is an executive director, derivatives strategy at Oppenheimer & Co., and an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University.
 
Jalil is a partner in the law firm of Thompson Hine and is a member of the firm’s corporate transactions and securities practice group. Jalil is also an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University Law School in New York where he teaches securities regulation.
 
Liew is an assistant professor in finance at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.