The 2016 Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Sarah Berner

Working in media in the Middle East helped Aristeia Capital’s Berner to land a job in hedge fund marketing.

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Sarah Berner
Aristeia Capital

A career in hedge funds wasn’t part of Sarah Berner’s postcollege plan. In fact, there was very little plan at all. After graduating in 2002 with a BA in political science from McGill University in Montreal, Berner, who grew up near Philadelphia, took a gap year in Paris. With no firm path in mind, she started working for a Belgium-based business publisher that creates media products to sell in emerging-markets countries. Part marketer, part journalist, Berner soon found herself developing an expertise, clients and contacts in Middle Eastern markets.

The years after 9/11 were dramatic and exciting times to be working in the region. Keen to become a foreign correspondent, Berner was working for Nima Abu-Wardeh, a British Broadcasting Corp. business newscaster based in the United Arab Emirates, in 2006 when her parents asked her to come back to the U.S. because they were increasingly concerned about instability in the Middle East. Berner already knew that her sales skills and her contacts in the Arab world could be an asset for a hedge fund. The asset management industry was starting to recognize the value of sovereign wealth funds, common throughout the oil-rich region, and of Middle Eastern investors as clients. On trips home Berner had begun talking with investment managers; she soon landed a business development job with New York–headquartered hedge fund firm AM Investment Partners. In 2012 she joined Aristeia Capital, a $2.5 billion credit-focused hedge fund firm based in New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, where last year she was promoted to head of business development.

Berner, 35, has long been interested in the good that capitalism and investors can do. One thing that attracted her to the hedge fund industry was reading about the Robin Hood Foundation, the not-for-profit founded by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones that tackles poverty in New York City. In January, Berner joined the board of Gratitude Railroad, a new investor network focused on using the tools of capitalism to confront social and environmental problems.

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Hedge Fund Rising Stars of 2016

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Jessye Ball
Millennium Mgmt

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Sarah Berner
Aristeia Capital

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Jenna Bussman-Wise
AIG Investments

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Maureen Chang
Point72 Asset Mgmt

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Dennis Chenfu
Pershing

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Charles Dufresne Jr.
Sciens Capital Mgmt

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William Freda
Graticule Asset Mgmt Asia

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Samantha Greenberg
Margate Capital

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Mark Gurevich
Ropes & Gray

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Tal Gurion
Mariner Glen Oaks

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Craig Huie
University of California

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Yusef Kassim
Blue Harbour Group

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Florian Kronawitter
White Square Capital

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Vikram Kumar
TT International

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Brandon Levin
Jana Partners

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Jonathan Levin
George Weiss Associates

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Brett Minarik
Aksia

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Ian Monroe
Etho Capital

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Jason Morrow
Utah Retirement Systems

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Pierre-Adrien Nicolas
Squarepoint Capital

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Jamie Pabst
Green Owl Capital Mgmt

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Parag Pande
Blackstone Group

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Agata Praczuk
MetLife

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Max Saffian
Fortress Investment Group

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Matt Satnick
MSD Partners

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Eric Singer
Viex Capital Advisors

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Katina Stefanova
Marto Capital

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Reginald Tucker
New York State Common Retirement Fund

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Michael Wang
Cypress Funds

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Sean Wygovsky
Polar Asset Mgmt Partners


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