African-American hedge fund managers

For all of the hedge fund guys out there, can you guys tell me why do you think their are almost no black or African Americans in the hedge fund industry; not to mention any hedge fund managers at all? Is this an industry that blacks just do not apply to? Thanks.

39 Comments
 

Pipeline is incredibly thin. Not very many black people in investment banking/ other feeder proportions. In general this will lead to worse representation as you move up in terms of industry selectivity

 
Best Response

The hedge fund industry is itself a niche industry within financial services. Plain and simple the biggest obstacle is access and opportunity, something that very African Americans within financial services are afforded. There are only a small handful of Black hedge fund managers who have the ability and necessary experience to attract investment. Even those qualified cannot necessarily attract funds from a beneficiary pool that will allow them to grow, especially for a space that has contracted as many firms have closed since the recession. There are people like Robert Smith, Robbie Robinson, Robert Johnson that have had great success in alternative investments that have shown success but few have been able to scale to that level of investments within the hedge fund space yet.

 

Not a hedge fund, but still a professional investor: Robert F. Smith of Vista Equity Partners, which is a PE/VC type of firm. He is the 2nd richest black American right after Oprah from what I have read.

 

Lmao no one is going to just make HF's more diverse; it's built on talent. If the black guy is better, then by all rights he should get the role and stay in the role. If not, he shouldn't. It has nothing to do with race.

 

Very true. It's all about who makes money at the end of the day.

When I pull a deal off the table, I leave Nagasaki behind
 

td12 no not a loaded question; just curious about the hedge fund industry and are we (African Americans) do we have a presence at all working with some of the big hedge fund firms or if any Blacks have started their own Hedge funds.

THJ
 

lol i think i remember this guy is elaine pao's husband, that woman who was the reddit ceo and complained of asian discrimination and then maybe lost the law suit or something?

i think that buddy fletcher also lost a discrim suit haha, man they are just so oppressed :(

 

Statistically speaking black people make for far less of the population, and the percentage that attend college is even lower. I would say go out and be the first. If you have the right credentials you will not be disqualified due to your race. Go out and make a name for your self no matter what firm or the ethnicity of the manager.

 

I'm not sure why it matters. Black are under repped in banking. OF COURSE they are under repped in the most elite investment vehicles. Of the 2% of black people who have the intellectual capacity to succeed there, how many were educated at top schools, did time at top tier BB, got AM/HF exposure, and can raise enough cash to launch a fund.

This guy is rich and runs money in Austin FYI https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2015/09/29/meet-the-african-a…

 
"HazelJ" Of the 2% of black people who have the intellectual capacity to succeed there, how many were educated at top schools, did time at top tier BB, got AM/HF exposure, and can raise enough cash to launch a fund.

What is that supposed to mean? The "2%" of black people. Not sure if it's what you meant but you seem to imply that black people aren't as smart and can do the job properly.

Black people at top schools are not going into high finance as there just isn't an interest there. The majority are interested in STEM fields and therefore you'll find a greater number of black people there. Literally is an issue of having a legitimate interest in the field and working hard to get to that point.

 

Lmao we have the PC kid over here. It's not about black people being intellectually inferior (they're not at all), but at that age (24), a huge percentage of these kids haven't even completed college, let alone a stint at an investment bank. Yes, this is due to systemic oppression, but yes also, these guys don't have the intellectual capacity to succeed here. Put a white guy under shitty conditions and he would be just as poor a candidate. It has nothing to do with race, don't flip on everything like a snowflake when it's very clear what HazelJ is trying to say

 

Was considering this the other day. Though yes, would agree with the general sentiment here. Looking at many of the most senior successful black folks on Wall Street, many have stayed in the relationship management/investment banking side of the business rather than the markets/trading side of the business (vernon jordan, bill lewis, ray mcquire, etc.) Additionally, HF talent takes time to develop, and since banks have only recently begun adding "serious" diversity initiatives to recruiting, we still need time to see if the budding analysts at banks and those who've crossed as associates into PE will turn towards the HF space, stay in banking, or do PE (where folks like Robert Smith and Frank Baker are doing really well). Black people make up an extremely small % of people going into banks and when you think of how small a % of kids at banks become hugely successful at HF's, it becomes clear why we're so underrepresented in the industry.

 

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