Just 31, James (Jimmy) Levin, head of global credit and executive managing director at $40.2 billion hedge fund firm Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, has already enjoyed the kind of success that many on Wall Street only dream of. Having fast achieved stud status in 2012, when he made a $7.5 billion wager on structured-credit debt investments that raked in $2 billion for Och-Ziff, Levin is being duly rewarded. Last year he was made a limited partner in the firm and as a result was granted a $119 million compensation package. The deal consists of shares, most of which will vest in ten equal installments over the next decade. Clearly, Och-Ziff wants to keep Levin — who is 13 years the junior of the next-youngest member of its executive committee and 22 years younger than CEO Daniel Och — around for the long haul. Levin previously worked for Purchase, New York–based Sagamore Hill Capital Management and New York’s Dune Capital Management after earning a BA in computer science from Harvard University.
