Altegris Managed Futures Strategy Fund

Winton was founded by David Winton Harding and started trading in October 1997. Mr. Harding is one of the pioneers of trend-following systematic trading in Europe. Whilst at Winton, Mr. Harding has been registered with the CFTC as an Associated Person (“AP”) and listed as a Principal of Winton and has been an Associate Member of NFA since January 1998.

Winton’s investment process is probably best understood by starting with the founding principle and philosophy laid down by David Harding. For the past 25+ years David has believed that markets do not adhere to the Efficient Market Hypothesis, that they are not perfect and do not move according to a random walk.  Therefore the intelligent application of financial mathematics coupled with robust statistical research into financial markets can be used to create a scientific investing system that can perform in all market conditions over long time horizons.

Winton’s founding principle was, and remains, the belief that robust statistical research provides the richest and most reliable source of information on market behavior. Staffed by scientists and computer software engineers it uses financial mathematics as the basis for investment decisions.  Researchers study huge volumes of data, about the past movements of financial prices taken from markets around the world. Making statistical inferences from history has enabled Winton to develop a scientific investing system which can be applied in a disciplined fashion both now and over the coming years.  Research is the largest area of investment in the company which employs approximately 240 people.

Mr. Harding graduated from Cambridge University with a First Class Honours degree in Natural Sciences specializing in Theoretical Physics. In September 1982, he joined stockbroker Wood MacKenzie as a graduate trainee and became involved with futures trading just as the London International Financial Futures Exchange opened.

A year later, in September 1983, he left Wood MacKenzie and moved to Johnson Matthey & Wallace, a commodity futures broker, where he was involved in gilt trading and sales. When that company closed due to the failure of its parent company, in November 1984 Mr. Harding left it and joined Sabre Fund Management, one of the UK’s first CTAs where he was an Associate Member of NFA from April 1986 until July 1988 and registered as an AP from May 1986 until July 1988. In his new position, for the first time, Mr. Harding was able to apply his scientific training to develop techniques for trading a wide variety of futures markets. In November 1986, Mr. Harding left Sabre Fund Management to join Brockham Securities, the Adam Family sugar trading company, where he assisted in development and marketing of futures fund management services.

In February 1987 he left to form Adam, Harding and Lueck Ltd (“AHL”). AHL brought together the programming and system development abilities of Michael Adam and Martin Lueck with Mr. Harding’s research and marketing skills. AHL rapidly became a successful CTA and in 1989, The Man Group PLC (formerly ED&F Man PLC) acquired a 51% stake and began distributing AHL’s products globally. Over the next five years, the three principals built a firm with assets under management of $300 million and a staff of nearly 100, including research teams developing mathematical and statistical trading strategies. AHL is still the flagship fund of The Man Group which is a FTSE 100 Company. Mr. Harding was an Associate Member of NFA and an AP of Man AHL USA Corp from July 1988 until January 1996. He was also listed as a Principal of Man AHL USA Corp from July 1988 until February 1995.

In 1993, Mr. Harding was invited to present a paper to a special symposium of London’s prestigious Royal Society, on the subject “Making Money from Mathematical Models.” This paper was subsequently incorporated into two books. In 1994, ED&F Man Group floated on the London Stock Exchange and acquired the remaining 49% of AHL. Mr. Harding then formed and ran Man Quantitative Research, an in-house advanced statistical research team until August 1996.

In August 1996 Mr. Harding left ED&F Man Group and in February 1997 he founded Winton where he continues to lead the company’s research efforts.

Mr. Harding is also a trustee of the Winton Charitable Foundation, which in 2007 endowed the Winton Professorship of the Public Understanding of Risk in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Cambridge University. Similarly, in 2008, the David Harding Foundation endowed the David Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany.  In 2010 The David Harding Foundation gave £20 million to the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge to fund the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability.

Dr. Welton is a principal of the firm and the Chief Executive Officer.  In his role, he oversees all internal departments, with an emphasis on trading and risk management.  He has been an active investor since 1981 and an investment manager since 1989.  Dr. Welton has served on committees for the Managed Funds Association (MFA) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Futures Association (NFA) from 1997-2000.  He has also spoken at numerous conferences in the U.S. and internationally, participated in panel presentations in many venues, and authored articles in a variety of publications focusing on alternative investments.  Dr. Welton currently serves as an investment committee member of a foundation, a California pension plan and an endowment.  He holds undergraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin, UCLA, and Stanford University respectively.

Salem is the president and founder of Abraham Trading Company.  Salem grew up in Canadian, Texas, where his family has been involved in the ranching and commodities business for over 100 years.   Salem attended the University of Notre Dame starting in August of 1984.  Salem did extensive research in the technical and methodological aspects of futures trading. Combining the information he gathered with ideas that he developed during his research, he began the task of back-testing the profitability of numerous trading theories.  Salem graduated cum laude with a BBA in Finance in December of 1987 and moved back to Canadian, where in January of 1988, he began to manage customer accounts using his systematic approach.  He became registered as a Commodity Trading Advisor in October 1988 and organized Abraham Trading Company in 1990 to act as a CTA for all customer accounts.  Over 23 years of trading and research make Salem one of the most experienced traders in the business.  Salem is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is a member of the National Futures Association.  He owned seats and held full memberships at both the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Zbigniew Hermaszewski – Founding Principal and Co-Head of Research and Technology

Zbigniew Hermaszewski (Zbys) has over 28 years of experience within the financial industry. He has been registered with the CFTC as an associated person of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since September 21, 2005 and listed as a principal of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since August 25, 2005. In February 2000 he formed Altis Partners Limited a systematic CTA, and worked there until the formation of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited in March 2005. Between November 1999 and February 2000 he was self-employed incorporating Altis Partners Limited. From January 1998 to November 1999 Zbys was a Director of Research at Quality Capital Management a systematic CTA, where he was responsible for research and technology, system design and implementation. From April 1997 to December 1997, he was not employed and worked on the development of the trading system now utilized by Altis. From March 1994 to March 1997 he worked for London based global asset management firm Sabre Fund Management as Director of Research, researching Sabre’s proprietary systems and product construction. From January 1994 to March 1994 he was not employed. During 1993 (May to December) he was employed as a Senior Researcher at the London based investment management firm Adam Harding & Lueck, responsible for portfolio construction, trading system research and implementation. From November 1992 until April 1993 he was not employed. From October 1989 to October 1992 he was a Director at the Union Bank of Switzerland, here he was involved in OTC equity option markets and trading as well as experiencing risk and position management.  Zbys was an Account Executive at the London based trading company James Capel & Co from July 1985 to July 1989 where he traded financial futures and options, and from December 1982 to June 1985 he was an analyst at the specialist energies and metals research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie & Co, modeling interest rate futures and options against underlying markets.  Zbys is a Physics graduate of Imperial College, London.

Stephen Hedgecock – Founding Principal and Head of Operations

Stephen Hedgecock has extensive experience within the financial industry in implementing automated investment management systems, trading and client development. He has been registered with the CFTC as an associated person of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since September 21, 2005 and listed as a principal of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since August 25, 2005. In February 2000 he formed Altis Partners Limited a systematic CTA, he worked here until the formation of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited in March 2005. Between December 1999 and February 2000 he was self-employed incorporating Altis Partners Limited. From September 1995 to November 1999, Stephen was employed by Quality Capital Management a systematic CTA, starting as Director of Trading and then serving as an Executive Director with responsibilities in the daily management of the company, including the supervision of all trading activity.  From October 1991 to August 1995 he was employed by London based global asset management firm Sabre Fund Management and held the position of Chief Dealer, progressing to Executive Director, at Sabre he managed a team trading over 90 different commodity and financial instruments in cash, forward, futures and options markets. From October 1990 to September 1991, Stephen worked as a Trader at Moore Capital Management.  From November 1989 to September 1990, he worked as a Foreign Exchange Dealer at Citibank. From July 1989 until October 1989 he was not employed. From July 1987 to June 1989 Stephen worked as a trader at Nederlandse Varia Maatschappij.

Alex Brunwin – Founding Principal and Co-Head of Research and Technology

Alex Brunwin has experience within the financial industry through both contracting and permanent positions in technology based roles, specializing in the project management of front and middle office trading and deal capture systems. He has been registered with the CFTC as an associated person of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since September 21, 2005 and listed as a principal of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since August 25, 2005. In February 2000 he formed Altis Partners Limited a systematic CTA, he worked here until the formation of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited in March 2005. From February 1996 to October 2000 he owned and ran his private consultancy business APB Consulting Ltd, during this time he expanded and developed systems, most notably in risk management in Capital Markets, foreign exchange rate interfaces, deal capture and commission databases. He worked as a contractor during this time for clients such as Banque Paribas, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, SBC Warburg Dillon Reed, Link Asset & Securities Ltd and has served as Director of Information and Technology at Quality Capital Management from June 1996 to February 1998 as part of his consultancy work. From March 1994 to January 1996, worked as a Market Data Systems Consultant at Midas-Kapiti International Limited. From January 1992 to February 1994, he worked as a programmer at Sabre Fund Management. From July 1991 to January 1992, he was travelling. Alex Brunwin graduated in July 1991; he obtained a BSC Honors in Physics from Bristol University.

Natasha Reeve-Gray – Founding Principal and Head Business Development and Marketing

Natasha Reeve-Gray has 16 years of experience in the alternative investment industry, ranging from trading operations to institutional sales and client liaison. She has been registered with the CFTC as an associated person of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since September 21, 2005 and listed as a principal of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited since August 25, 2005. In February 2000 she formed Altis Partners Limited a systematic CTA, she worked here until the formation of Altis Partners (Jersey) Limited in March 2005. Between December 1999 and February 2000 she was self-employed incorporating Altis Partners Limited. During April 1997 to November 1999 she worked for systematic CTA Quality Capital Management as a trader, sharing responsibilities with the Executive Director for all trading activity and implementation. Prior to this Natasha worked as a middle office manager and broker for commodity and futures broker firm Refco Overseas and Refco Inc between September 1995 and April 1997. From March 1994 to September 1995 she held a marketing role at the UK based broker Glynwed Metal Services, where she managed and organized all sales administration and group inventory. Natasha has completed three professionally recognized modules via the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Svante Bergström is an Economics and Business Administration graduate from the Stockholm School of Economics. Between 1984 and 1991, Svante Bergström worked for Hagströmer & Qviberg Fondkommission, both as a stock broker and later as head of the firm’s bond trading department. In 1993, he joined Nordbanken as a quantitative analyst and a bond trader within the Strategic Trading unit. In 1996, Mr Bergström set up Nordbanken’s Proprietary Trading unit, where the investment methodology for Lynx was originally formulated. Bergström is a founding partner and has been portfolio manager of Lynx since the fund’s inception.

Jaffray has 25 years of experience trading financial markets using proprietary quantitative models that he has developed. In 2003, Jaffray co-founded QIM to offer the Global Program to outside clients. He guides all aspects of QIM’s business and is chiefly responsible for the constant innovation and improvement of the models and techniques that underlie QIM’s predictions, trading, and risk management.

Jaffray served as head trader for Blue Ridge Trading from October 1991 to July 1994. He then founded Woodriff Trading as a CTA and managed client money there until October 1997. In January 1998, he joined Société Générale in its New York office, where he served for two years as a director in the Treasury department, trading proprietary funds in futures, currencies and U.S. equities. Following his departure from Société Générale in March 2000, Jaffray and Michael Geismar began managing their own money in a short-term, market-neutral equities program. In October 2002, Jaffray also co-founded Biomind, a bioinformatics consulting and software firm.