< The 2016 Trading Technology 40
29
Anton Katz and Stephen Mock
Head of Trading Systems Technology and Head of Trade Execution Technology
AQR Capital Management
PNR
Information technology doesn’t just serve or support the portfolio strategies of AQR Capital Management. It’s integral to the quantitative investment firm’s processes and is even part of the performance equation reported to clients. “AQR doesn’t have silos like many quantitative firms do,” says Stephen Mock, who as head of trade execution technology manages algorithmic trading systems. IT and investing ideas are routinely linked in internal conversations. “We are very transparent with investors about our technology — it is part of a holistic view of how they are benefiting,” explains Anton Katz, head of trading systems technology. Although Greenwich, Connecticut–based AQR, which was formed in 1998 and has $141 billion under management, may have been a trendsetter in its embrace of IT, Katz and Mock represent a new generation of approaches that could radically redefine the alternative-investment technology niche. Like any financial institution, AQR weighs “build versus buy” decisions, and old proprietary biases are giving way to openness and collaboration. Katz, 35, who joined AQR in 2015 after six years with Broadway Technology (see Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky, No. 22), says “a lot of proprietary-built software” goes into the trade-order management platforms that he oversees. “But the vendor space is interesting, and we look at what we may be able to do in a collaborative way.” Mock, 36, who has a low-latency trading background and left Macquarie Capital for AQR in 2012, says the firm keeps on the cutting edge with a “culture of experimentation that is mindful of the marketplace.” Katz’s vendor experience complements Mock’s in investment management (Magnetar Capital, BMO Capital Markets and BNP Paribas’ CooperNeff Advisors) as they scan a five- to ten-year strategic horizon. Trends like cloud and virtualization “cannot be ignored,” Katz says. “In a few years it may not make sense to run your own data center.”
2016 Trading Technology 40
1. Raymond Tierney III 2. Richard Prager 3. Chris Isaacson 4. Jonathan Ross 5. Bradley Peterson |
6. Brad Levy 7. Dan Keegan 8. Ronald DePoalo 9. Raj Mahajan 10. Ari Studnitzer |
11. Mayur Kapani 12. Gerald O’Connell 13. Nicholas Themelis 14. Gil Mandelzis 15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung |
16. Rob Park 17. Philip Weisberg 18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill 19. Robert Cornish 20. Paul Hamill |
21. Eric Noll 22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky 23. Rishi Nangalia 24. Veronica Augustsson 25. Alasdair Haynes |
26. Manoj Narang 27. Gaurav Suri 28. Robert Sloan 29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock 30. Stu Taylor |
31. D. Keith Ross Jr. 32. Donal Byrne 33. Alfred Eskandar 34. R. Cromwell Coulson 35. Masayuki Hosaka |
36. Peter Maragos and David Karat 37. Amar Kuchinad 38. Jennifer Nayar 39. Dave Snowdon 40. Dan Raju |
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