Our Team. Our Expertise.

Mr. Koenigsberger is Founder, Chief Investment Officer and the Managing Partner of Gramercy. He founded Gramercy in 1998 with a vision for the firm to become a global, institutional investment management firm focused on emerging markets. Mr. Koenigsberger has over 24 years of investment experience dedicated to emerging markets with a specialization in fixed income securities. Mr. Koenigsberger serves as Portfolio Manager for Gramercy Argentina Opportunity Fund and Co-Portfolio Manager for Gramercy Emerging Markets Fund, Gramercy Distressed Opportunity Fund and Gramercy Distressed Opportunity Fund II. Most recently, in 2010, he led Gramercy’s efforts in conceiving, organizing and facilitating the successful restructuring of Argentina’s defaulted debt – the first private sector-led restructuring of a sovereign default. Mr. Koenigsberger is head of the Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.

Prior to founding Gramercy, Mr. Koenigsberger was a Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers from 1995 to 1998, where he managed the bank’s sovereign debt restructuring group. Prior to that, he was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated for three years where he traded performing and distressed emerging markets debt securities in New York, London and Hong Kong. From 1987 to 1991, he held the position of Vice President at CR-P Associates, a financial advisory firm with offices in Central and South America that led sovereign debt restructurings, debt buy-backs and debt-equity swap transactions in Latin America.

Mr. Koenigsberger received a MBA in Finance from Wharton, a MA in International Studies with a concentration in Latin America from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Latin American Political Science and History of Latin America with a minor in Economics from the University of California, San Diego where he graduated with honors. Mr. Koenigsberger completed his undergraduate/graduate thesis on the Historical Origins and Implications of the Latin American Debt Crisis.

Mr. Alparslan has over three years of investment and research experience. At Gramercy, Mr. Alparslan is responsible for research and modeling/development of new and existing products. Additionally, he produces analyses and reports on performance and attribution of fund returns and prepares periodic and ad-hoc reports for clients, prospect clients and management.

Prior to joining Gramercy in August 2009, Mr. Alparslan was a teaching assistant at Rutgers Business School.

Mr. Alparslan received a MA in Quantitative Finance from Rutgers Business School where he graduated Beta Gamma Sigma and a MA in Economics from Ohio State University. Additionally, he obtained a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Bilkent University.

Mr. Boeckmann has two years of industry and research experience. He is responsible for researching and recommending investment opportunities with a primary focus on emerging markets corporate bonds. He serves under Gramercy's Head of EMEA and is based in London. Mr. Boeckmann is a member of the Investment Committee and participates in the weekly Corporate/Distressed Credit Meeting.

Prior to joining Gramercy in September 2011, Mr. Boeckmann was a Special Situations Analyst at an asset management and asset recovery firm dedicated to workouts of impaired credit instruments and to sovereign advisory.

Mr. Boeckmann graduated from Yale University with simultaneous BA and MA degrees in Political Science.

Mr. Cerritelli has over 30 years of investment experience, 27 of which have been spent focusing on emerging markets debt securities. He is responsible for distressed sovereign debt portfolios, specializes in sourcing, restructuring and managing defaulted sovereign debt assets and is a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Cerritelli implemented Gramercy's initiative that ultimately restructured a majority of Argentina's defaulted sovereign debt in 2010. Currently, Mr. Cerritelli has direct and sole responsibility for the restructuring of $3 billion of defaulted sovereign debt in the Republic of Peru.

Prior to joining Gramercy in November 2007, Mr. Cerritelli was Director of Research at ICAP/Exotix in New York. From 2000 to 2005, he was a Managing Director for Andean Region Research at Bear Stearns. Additionally, he was a Research Director at the Provident Group from 1999 to 2000, a fixed income analyst at Fintech Advisors from 1997 to 1998, a Sovereign Analyst at Alliance Capital from 1995 to 1996, an Economist for Latin America at Barings Brothers from 1994 to1995 and an emerging markets debt specialist at CR-P Associates from 1990 to 1993. Mr. Cerritelli began his career as a sovereign debt analyst at Bank of America in the early 1980s.

Mr. Cerritelli received a PhD (ABD) in Economics at MIT and a BA in Economics at Universidad Catolica del Peru.

Mr. Colliard has over 35 years of industry experience. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Pendulum Associates and one of Gramercy’s representatives in Mexico.

Prior to joining Pendulum in January 2006, Mr. Colliard was a principal of Colliard y Olivieri, which was involved in large M&A transactions and the initial public offering on the Mexican stock exchange of Qualitas, the largest automotive insurance group in Mexico. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Colliard worked for Grupo Sidek/Situr as the Managing Director in charge of co-investments, with a mandate to negotiate resolutions with the minority shareholders of the main tourist developments and facilitate the sale/liquidation of the group’s real estate portfolio. Prior to that, Mr. Colliard was the general coordinator of corporate assets for FOBAPROA and the VVA agencies of the Mexican government, responsible for financial restructurings and loan portfolio sales (handling a total of $3.5 billion in restructurings). From 1992 to 1996 Mr. Colliard was Assistant Representative of Chartered West LB/West Merchant Bank overseeing a lending portfolio of $750 million with Mexican industrial companies and banks. He began his career in a variety of different positions in Mexican brokerage firms.

Mr. Colliard received a MBA at University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Universidad Anahuac.

Mr. Conroy has over 12 years of industry experience. Mr. Conroy is responsible for attribution reporting, risk reporting and scenario analysis. He assists the Portfolio Managers and Traders on the desk and maintains the trading and analytics systems. Additionally, he assists in administering the network, maintaining the company’s websites, and developing internal applications.

Prior to joining Gramercy in August 2008, Mr. Conroy worked at Stop & Shop as a Senior Information Analyst, where he developed and administered multiple distributed applications, back-end interfaces with general ledgers and accounts payable, designed stand-alone financial reporting applications and maintained various other systems.

Mr. Conroy received a BS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Mr. Cook has over 16 years of investment, research and banking experience. He currently serves as Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for Gramercy’s global investment activities in London and serves on the Investment Committee.

Prior to re-joining Gramercy in early 2011, Mr. Cook worked in Sofia, Bulgaria with one of Gramercy’s portfolio companies, Prista Oil. During his 15 month tenure at Prista Oil, a regional lubricants company, he served as Director of Strategic Development and Chief Financial Officer. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Cook worked for Arco Capital Management, a company formerly affiliated with Gramercy, as a Managing Director and European Regional Head. At Arco, Mr. Cook focused on private equity transactions on behalf of Arco and on portfolio investments on behalf of Gramercy under a servicing contract between Arco and Gramercy. From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Cook was a Managing Director and a Senior Research Analyst at Gramercy where he specialized in distressed debt investments and private equity investments in Latin America and Eastern Europe. He successfully directed the exit of four telecom investments and also managed portfolio investments in distressed and performing emerging markets debt and equity. Prior to his time at Gramercy, Mr. Cook spent three years as a Director with UBS as a sell-side analyst advising U.S. and European institutional clients on emerging markets telecom, media, steel and mining corporates. He began his career as an Investment Analyst with OFFITBANK in 1996.

Mr. Cook received multiple degrees from Tulane University, including a BA in Political Economy and History, a MA in Latin American Studies and a MBA in Finance. Additionally, Mr. Cook holds the Investment Management Certificate and is a CFA Charterholder.

Mr. Ferraro has over 25 years of Latin America focused investment banking and capital markets experience. Mr. Ferraro is responsible for implementing debt restructurings in Latin America on behalf of Gramercy funds and managed accounts; sourcing, originating and executing transactions in the region; and building new capacity for the distribution of Gramercy strategies throughout the Latin American sovereign and corporate plan markets. He will also focus on sourcing and managing talent in the region, as well as expanding Gramercy’s private equity investments in the technology, media and telecom sectors of Latin America.

Prior to joining Gramercy in May 2012, Mr. Ferraro served as a Managing Director with Barclays Capital, where he led a Capital Markets team that covered the firm’s largest Latin American corporate and sovereign clients focusing on debt capital markets and liability management. He played a key role in Argentina’s 2010 reverse inquiry debt restructuring, which Gramercy originated, as well as the country’s previous debt restructuring in 2005. From 2000 through 2003, Mr Ferraro worked in Salomon Smith Barney’s Investment Bank where he was head of TMT (Technology, Media & Telecom) for Latin America. From 1994 through 2000, he covered Argentina and Chile for Lehman Brothers Investment Banking as the head of their office in Buenos Aires. From 1987 through 1994, he spent time at Citibank in Sao Paulo, Brazil where he was responsible for asset trading and for the coverage of Brazilian and Multinational clients.

Mr. Ferraro received an MBA in Finance from Claremont Graduate School and a degree of Licenciado en Economia from Universidad Catolica Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Mr. Garcia-Lascurain has 18 years of experience in distressed asset investing mainly within the non-performing loan (NPL) and sub-performing loan (SPL) investment strategy, business development and strategic planning areas. He is responsible for the development, growth and management of Gramercy’s NPL asset class.

Prior to joining Gramercy in March 2011, he spent six years in the Capital Recovery Group of PineBridge Investments (formerly AIG Investments), where he established and grew their NPL investing business in the Americas. In this role, Mr. Garcia-Lascurain screened and analyzed numerous investment opportunities for strategic fit, risk/return profile, and overall value creation probabilities for investment partners. His comprehensive research and valuation analytics on NPL portfolios resulted in him leading a number of transactions including the sourcing, origination and ultimate closing of a $600 million equity investment of enhanced-yield NPL and SPL portfolios across Latin America including markets like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. He has also led many portfolio acquisitions with a face value of over $12 billion in portfolios outside the Americas in Germany, UK, Spain, Turkey, China and Malaysia. Prior to the Capital Recovery Group, Mr. Garcia-Lascurain served in AIG’s Global Pensions & Employee Benefits Group as a Senior Management Associate from 2001 through 2004 where he drove the development of defined-contribution plans in Mexico and Latin America and helped developed several strategic growth initiates across continental Western Europe. From 1997 to 1999 Mr. Garcia-Lascurain was employed by Pepsico in Mexico where he analyzed M&A transactions as a member of their strategic planning and financial analysis team. His investment career began in 1993 as a Private Banker in Mexico with Banco Santander (Operadora de Bolsa Serfin).

Mr. Garcia-Lascurain received a MBA in Strategy, Finance and Marketing at Purdue University and a BS in Chemical Engineering at Universidad Iberoamericana.

Mr. Gomez has over nine years of investment and research experience. He is responsible for researching and recommending investment opportunities with a primary focus on emerging markets corporate bonds. He also assists Portfolio Managers with strategy and market analysis. Mr. Gomez is a member of the Investment Committee and participates in the weekly Corporate/Distressed Credit Meeting.

Prior to joining Gramercy in September 2007, Mr. Gomez was an Associate in Credit Suisse's Latin American Corporate Credit Research group, covering high grade, high yield and distressed debt securities. From 2005 to 2006, he worked with Credit Suisse's Latin American team, based in Mexico City, as an Equity Analyst responsible for covering telecom and media companies. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Gomez worked as a Junior Associate in the IFC / World Bank's Global Telecommunications group. He is a Mexican citizen and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Mr. Gomez received a MPP at the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics at ITESM (Monterrey Institute of Technology for Higher Studies). Additionally, Mr. Gomez is a CFA Charterholder.

Mr. Grills has over 17 years of investment experience and is Co-Head of Gramercy’s EMD group. He is responsible for the management and investment decisions of Gramercy’s long-only EMD strategies. Along with Mr. Heiland, he manages sector specific strategies which invest in a broad range of EMD opportunities including an EMD High Yield Corporate Fund and an Asset Allocation Strategy which seek to add additional alpha through active sector rotation among the sub-sectors of EMD. Mr. Grills is a member of the Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy in May 2010, Mr. Grills was a portfolio manager and co-head of the EMD team at JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM). As a co-head, he was responsible for over $10 billion in emerging markets debt investments. Mr. Grills oversaw all investment functions for EMD within JPMAM globally and focused on the risk management and portfolio construction across EMD strategies. He was a senior member of the JPMorgan Fixed Income Macro team, comprising of 13 sector specialists, and responsible for broad market relative valuation. He was with JPMorgan for 16 years, starting in 1993, spending two years with the Structured Derivatives Group before moving to the Fixed Income Group. In the Fixed Income Group, he served as an analyst for the Quantitative Research Sub-Group focusing on portfolio construction and risk analysis. He then transitioned into a portfolio manager role for the Global Extend Markets (GEM) group and ultimately managed the EMD team.

Mr. Grills received a B.S. in mathematics and economics from Duke University. Additionally, Mr. Grills is a CFA Charterholder.

Mr. Heiland has over 22 years of investment experience and is Co-Head of Gramercy’s EMD group. He is responsible for the management and investment decisions of Gramercy’s long-only EMD strategies. Along with Mr. Grills, he manages sector specific strategies which invest in a broad range of EMD opportunities including an EMD High Yield Corporate Fund and an Asset Allocation Strategy which seek to add additional alpha through active sector rotation among the sub-sectors of EMD. Mr. Heiland is a member of the Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy in May 2010, Mr. Heiland was a portfolio manager and co-head of the EMD team at JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM). As a co-head, he was responsible for over $10 billion in emerging markets debt investments. Mr. Heiland oversaw all global investment functions for the EMD team within JPMAM while principally focusing on trading and implementation across all EMD strategies. He was a senior member of the JPMorgan Fixed Income Macro team, comprising 13 sector specialists, and responsible for broad market relative valuation. He was with JPMAM for 12 years, having initially joined as a municipal bond trader in 1997. In 1999, Mr. Heiland moved to the short term desk, taking over daily trading responsibilities of the Treasury Fund, Tax Exempt Money Market Fund, Tax Aware Enhanced Income Fund and various other corporate accounts. Before joining JPMorgan, he spent eight years at Salomon Brothers, starting in systems, graduating from the Sales and Trading program and then joining the Government Desk.

Mr. Heiland received a B.S. in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Mr. Herzberg has over 15 years of investment and research experience. He is a senior research analyst responsible for emerging markets corporate investment recommendations, a member of the Investment Committee and chairs the weekly Corporate/Distressed Credit Meeting. He has served on several creditor committees involved in the restructuring of various companies in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Prior to joining Gramercy in October 2002, Mr. Herzberg worked at Bear Stearns and Co., Inc. as a Research Associate in its Global High Yield department, specializing in Latin American corporate research. From 1997 to 1998, he was a junior analyst at Caspian Securities where he covered Latin American bank equities. From 1996 to 1997, he worked at GTE Service Corporation as an Associate in its International Development training program.

Mr. Herzberg received a BA in Economics and Political Science at Middlebury College.

Mr. Jani has 23 years of investment experience, including 18 years in emerging markets. He joined the Gramercy team in 2009 to establish the Macro investment business. He is the Portfolio Manager of the Gramercy Emerging Markets Macro Fund and Gramercy Dynamic Equity Fund and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Gramercy Master Fund. He also assists with overall risk management for our distressed credit hedge funds. As a member of the Investment Committee, Mr. Jani makes recommendations for the hedges employed in the firm’s distressed credit hedge funds and is able to offer a unique insight into macro investment opportunities. Additionally, Mr. Jani is a member of the Asset Allocation Committee and the firm’s Management Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy in June 2009, Mr. Jani managed the quantitative emerging markets macro strategy for London Diversified Fund Management. From 2005 to 2009, he served as Managing Partner of Single A Capital LLC, an investment advisor focused on Emerging Market Macro investments. From 1999 to 2005 he was at Banque Paribas, where he was head of the emerging markets external debt trading group in Europe, which included oversight of a profitable client flow business and investing proprietary bank capital in credit instruments. After relocating to New York the mandate expanded to include foreign exchange, interest rates, and equity, in addition to building a proprietary quantitative trading business. Prior to Paribas, he was at Banker’s Trust International in London where he built a customer flow business and traded over 15 countries. From 1995 to 1998 he worked at Lehman Brothers in New York and London where he specialized in trading emerging markets sovereign debt and was active in several sovereign restructurings including Panama, Peru and Russia. Prior to attending business school, he spent four years at Sanford C. Bernstein in their fixed income trading and research departments where he analyzed and helped manage various U.S. dollar fixed income assets including corporate bonds, mortgages and treasuries. Mr. Jani is a frequently published author of articles dealing with systematic and quantitative investment strategies and has studied Mandarin Chinese.

Mr. Jani received a BA in International Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and a MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia Business School where he graduated Beta Gamma Sigma. Additionally, Mr. Jani attended the International Asian Studies Program at the Chinese University Of Hong Kong. He also holds the designation of Chartered Market Technician (CMT) from the Market Technician’s Association.

Mr. Kauffman is a Partner of Gramercy and in charge of global trade execution of fixed income products (corporate, sovereign, credit default swaps, foreign exchange). He has over 18 years of trading and investment experience in emerging markets. Additionally, Mr. Kauffman is a senior member of the Investment Committee, the Management Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy in July 2001, Mr. Kauffman worked at Deutsche Bank as Vice President where he managed a $4 billion emerging markets repo portfolio. His work positioned Deutsche Bank as a premier player in emerging markets repo primarily in Latin American and Eastern European debt. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Kauffman was an Associate at Lehman Brothers on the emerging markets sales and trading desk. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Kauffman was a senior analyst in emerging markets corporate actions where he was a loan closer responsible for the Brady Plan restructuring and reconciliation of principal and interest for Panama, Peru and Ecuador.

Mr. Kauffman received a BA in Finance and Economics from Alfred University.

Dr. Markowitz has over 56 years of investment experience. He serves as a Senior Advisor to Gramercy’s long-only equity strategies, which utilize the Global Optimization Strategy, a strategy created by Dr. Markowitz and his team, including Dr. Tony Tessitore, in 1997. As Senior Advisor, Dr. Markowitz participates in the Global Optimization Strategy’s weekly portfolio optimizations.

Dr. Markowitz has applied computer and mathematical techniques to various practical decision making areas. In finance, first in an article in 1952 and later in a book in 1959, he presented what is now referred to as MPT – “modern portfolio theory.” This has become a standard topic in college courses and texts on investments and is widely used by institutional investors for asset allocation, risk control and attribution analysis. In other areas, Dr. Markowitz developed “sparse matrix” techniques for solving very large mathematical optimization problems. These techniques are now standard in production software for optimization programs. Dr. Markowitz also designed and supervised the development of the SIMSCRIPT programming language. SIMSCRIPT has been widely used for programming computer simulations of systems like factories, transportation systems and communication networks. In 1989, Dr. Markowitz received The John von Neumann Award from the Operations Research Society of America for his work in portfolio theory, sparse matrix techniques and SIMSCRIPT. In 1990, he shared The Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on portfolio theory.

Dr. Markowitz obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Mr. Moure brings 23 years of multifunctional, global executive experience to his role as Director General of Pendulum Associates where he is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the firm and implementing its strategic plan. Mr. Moure is one of Gramercy’s representatives in Mexico City. Mr. Moure draws on his experience, which includes managing entrepreneurial ventures and leadership positions within high-growth multinational corporations, to guide Pendulum’s current growth trajectory. Since joining Pendulum in July 2007, the company has grown to become Mexico’s largest independent servicer of performing and non-performing loans, with over 450 employees and 16 regional offices.

Prior to joining Pendulum in July 2007, Mr. Moure held positions of increasing responsibility in strategic planning, finance, acquisitions, real estate development, operations, people management and training, and systems development. Mr. Moure worked as Vice President, International Development for YUM! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company, with brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. In this role he managed 15 regional and national teams and oversaw the development and opening of over 1000 new restaurants per year in countries around the world. Prior to his leadership role at YUM!, Mr. Moure served as the Director of Strategic Business Development at Burger King Corporation, leading projects in corporate finance, M&A and strategic planning. He had previously worked as a Director for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Planning Committee and as a Management Consultant for Price Waterhouse in New York and in Spain from 1988 to 1991. Mr. Moure has also initiated and grown several start-up companies, and continues to serve in board-level advisory capacities for several organizations. He has worked in over 30 countries around the world, and lived for extended periods in Mexico, Spain and Hong Kong, as well as the United States. He speaks fluent English and Spanish and elementary Portuguese.

Mr. Moure received a Masters in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.

Mr. Nunes has over 11 years of investment and research experience. He is responsible for providing general research and analysis to Gramery’s Portfolio Managers. Mr. Nunes performs new and ongoing investment due diligence related to client investment vehicles with a particular focus on opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa. He monitors and provides timely analysis and updates on the financial situation, operational performance and key developments for those assets for which he is the designated Asset Manager. Mr. Nunes provides ad-hoc analysis and/or investment reviews as required by the Trading, Research or Marketing groups. He participates in the weekly Corporate/Distressed Credit Meeting and Investment Committee meetings.

Prior to joining Gramercy in April 2008, Mr. Nunes spent seven years with PricewaterhouseCoopers. At PWC he held various positions in both the U.S. and South Africa, the most recent being Manager in the Financial Due Diligence Practice where he focused on merger and acquisition transactions.

Mr. Nunes received a Bachelor of Commerce Accounting Sciences and a Certificate in Theory of Accounting at the University of Pretoria, South Africa where he graduated with honors. Additionally, Mr. Nunes is a CFA Charterholder and a Chartered Accountant in South Africa.

Mr. Rauch has over 31 years of investment experience. He serves as Co-Portfolio Manager for Gramercy Emerging Markets Fund, Gramercy Distressed Opportunity Fund, Gramercy Distressed Opportunity Fund II and Gramercy Corporate/High Yield Debt Fund. Mr. Rauch has been, or is currently involved, as a leading creditor or advisor in the restructuring of numerous companies across emerging markets including Accel, Alestra, Arpeni, Asia Pulp and Paper, BTA Bank Kazakhstan, Dina, Durango, Essar Steel, Industrias Unidas, Iusacell, Mechala, Medefin, Metrogas, San Luis, Satmex, SIDEK, Synkro, Transtel and Tristan Oil. He is a member of the Investment Committee, Asset Allocation Committee and participates in the weekly Corporate/Distressed Credit Meeting.

Prior to joining Gramercy at the end of 2000, Mr. Rauch worked as a consultant to hedge funds managed by Van Eck Global and Farallon Capital Management specializing in the analysis of emerging markets special situations. From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Rauch was President of The Weston Group, where he was responsible for overseeing the firm’s securities research and corporate debt advisory business in Latin America. In the early 1990s, Mr. Rauch worked as a Vice President with Lehman Brothers and CS First Boston in their emerging markets fixed income trading groups. In the second half of the 1980s, he was a Vice President and Trader with First Interstate Bank’s Loan Syndications Group, structuring and syndicating loan facilities to highly-leveraged American and Asian corporations. He began his career in 1980 with Swiss Bank Corporation in several credit and corporate finance roles.

Mr. Rauch received a MM in Finance and International Business from Northwestern University – Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his BA in Political Economy from Williams College. Additionally, Mr. Rauch is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Mr. Shia has over ten years of investment and research experience.  He is based in Hong Kong and is Head of Asian Investments for Gramercy. Mr. Shia is responsible for investment research, analysis, corporate investments and trading. Additionally, Mr. Shia is a member of the Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy in early 2011, he served as a Director of the Pan-Asia Investment Team and Head of China for Clearwater Capital Partners, where he led a number of successful restructurings including Pacnet, AIT, and TT&T. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Shia was an Associate in the Restructuring Group of Alvarez & Marsal in Hong Kong and New York. He began his finance career with Lehman Brothers in their Investment Banking Group after finishing business school in 2001. Mr. Shia is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Hong Kong, and is fluent in Cantonese and conversant in Mandarin.

Mr. Shia received a MBA at University of Chicago and a BA in Business Economics at UCLA.

Dr. Tessitore has over 27 years of investment experience and manages long-only equities at Gramercy (including a global equity strategy and an emerging markets equity strategy) utilizing the Global Optimization Strategy, a strategy that he co-developed with Dr. Harry Markowitz and has managed since its inception in August 1997. Additionally, Dr. Tessitore is a member of the Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy in July 2005, Dr. Tessitore was a Fund Manager at City of London Investment Management. From 1995 to 2000 he was the Associate Director of Research at Daiwa Securities Trust Company. Prior to that, Dr. Tessitore was a Graduate Faculty Member in Finance at Rutgers Graduate School of Management. He has given numerous conference presentations on theory and practice of portfolio selection and most recently at the 2010 Quantitative Methods in Finance Conference in Sydney. His publications in closed-end funds and other areas of finance have appeared in journals such as Mathematical Finance, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Investing and Global Finance Journal.

Dr. Tessitore obtained a Ph.D. in Finance from Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Additionally, he received a B.Sc. in Physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Dr. Vinson is responsible for programming and database management for Gramercy’s long-only equities strategies. Dr. Vinson developed the interface for the equity optimization program as well as the logic and coding of the simulator used by the team.

Prior to joining Gramercy in June 2006, Dr. Vinson was an Assistant Fund Manager at City of London Investment Management. From 1994 to 2000, he was an Associate at Daiwa Securities Trust Company.

Dr. Vinson obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from Rutgers University and a BA in Physics from Rice University.