Mayo Center - Darden Capital Management - DCM Funds

Leadership Team

Ian Thompson, Chief Executive Officer
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: J. P. Morgan Private Wealth Management (Buyside)

Prior to Darden, Ian worked as an Equity Analyst at Regions Bank in Birmingham, Alabama, where he conducted diligence on private equity and venture funds for the bank’s Corporate Development group. In addition, he held various positions in corporate treasury and finance. Ian graduated from the University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in finance. This summer, he will be interning with the J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Washington, D.C.

Vedant Jain, Chief Investment Officer
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Jefferies (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Vedant was a Portfolio Manager at Bellerophon DMCC, a hedge fund focused on US equities and derivatives, where he led a team of three and co-managed the investment portfolio and investor relations. During this time, he built in-depth domain knowledge across several sectors, including semiconductors, technology, fintech, and electronic vehicles. Prior to Bellerophon, he was an investment banker in India, focused on M&A and strategic advisory, where he managed multi-million-dollar client relationships across various sectors. Vedant graduated from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, with a BSc (with Honors) in Economics, and has completed his CFA charter. He will be interning at Jefferies LLC in New York City as an investment banking summer associate.

Austin Roye, Chief Financial Officer
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Deloitte (Consulting)

Prior to Darden, Austin worked as a Performance and Investment Operations Associate at Dodge & Cox, a San Francisco based $350B+ AUM investment firm focusing on mutual funds and private client assets. At Dodge & Cox, Austin partnered with portfolio managers to create, maintain, and distribute investment materials to over 500+ clients. Before diving into the world of investments, he worked at IBM selling endpoint management security software to C-Suite executives across the western US. Austin graduated from the University of Michigan, receiving a Bachelor in Business Administration. This summer, he will intern within the Strategy M&A team at Deloitte in Los Angeles. 

Akshay Mattu, Chief Operations Officer
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Jefferies (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Akshay worked as a management consultant at Accenture Strategy, New Delhi within the retail and CPG space. He has also spent seven years in the CPG industry, working with the likes of The Kellogg’s Company and Marico Limited, as an Area Sales Manager, National Key Accounts Manager, and Brand Manager, managing a business portfolio of more than $50 Million and more than 200 team members. Akshay graduated with a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology and did a postgraduate diploma in marketing from Xavier Labour Relations Institute. This past summer, he interned at Jefferies in the Investment Banking Division in New York.

Fund Overview

The Cavalier Fund is a long/short equity fund investing predominately in domestic equities across the investable market capitalization range and targeting net long exposure of 80%. The fund aims to generate positive risk-adjusted returns by utilizing a bottom-up strategy to identify undervalued companies with defensible competitive advantages and long-term earnings potential. Additionally, the ability to short stocks and indices that are expected to decrease in value allows the fund to lower volatility of returns and enhance alpha. Over a medium- to long-term horizon, the fund seeks to outperform the S&P 500 Index through prudent stock selection and portfolio management.

The Cavalier Fund in alignment with the broader goals of Darden Capital Management aims to provide students with a unique learning opportunity to gain practical hands-on experience and enhance their understanding of security valuation and portfolio management with the expectation of furthering their pursuit of careers in the investment management industry.

Portfolio Leadership

Peter Hogan, Senior Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Guggenheim (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Peter worked as an Account Manager at Bloomberg LP. In this role, he developed trusted relationships with buy-side clients to drive revenue opportunities and grow his book of business. Peter began his career in Bloomberg’s analytics department supporting cash equity and equity derivative workflows. He graduated from The College of William & Mary with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. This summer, he will be interning at Guggenheim Partners in New York as an Investment Banking Summer Associate.

Camm Johnson, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Harris Williams (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Camm was an Engineer Officer in the Army supporting the Special Operations Command on civil engineering projects. While in the Army, Camm attended various military leadership schools such as Ranger School and Sapper Leader Course. Camm graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Jack Kemp, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Barclays (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Jack spent four years in New York City at BlackRock where he was responsible for the delivery of BlackRock Solutions’ enterprise investment management system for external clients. He worked across the full investment lifecycle with a variety of clients including pensions, insurers, and asset management firms. He graduated Cum Laude from Davidson College in North Carolina with a degree in Economics and spent time interning for an asset management firm in Charlotte as an investment analyst.

Mqondisi (MQ) Ndlovu, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Goldman Sachs (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Mqondisi was a Senior Manager at EY in the Technical Accounting Group based in London, United Kingdom. In this role, he provided solutions to complex accounting questions related to transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, debt refinancings, and investment valuation. Additionally, he was responsible for pre-issuance reviews of annual reports, interim reports, and financial statements for a portfolio of entities listed on the London Stock Exchange and issuers of debt listed on various exchanges. Mqondisi is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science from the University of South Africa. This summer, he will be interning in investment banking at Goldman Sachs.

Cavalier Fund Investment Thesis

The Cavalier Fund strategy focuses on long-term performance through prudent security selection, portfolio diversification techniques, and the benefits of enhanced returns and lower volatility generated through short positions. The fund intends to minimize cash allocation and portfolio managers may invest opportunistically across sectors.

For long positions, the fund employs a bottom-up investment approach focused on identifying undervalued investment opportunities relative to long-term earnings potential using fundamental analysis. For short positions, the fund seeks to identify companies with flawed business models, unsustainable performances or financial positions, overly optimistic analyst expectations, and/or signs of potential earnings manipulation and may also consider event/catalyst-driven opportunities.

Our fund will hold approximately 15-25 long positions at all times. As well, the value of our short positions will not exceed 20% of our total assets. The Cavalier Fund is able to invest in all capitalizations and sectors, excluding the microcap designation.

Fund Overview

The Colonnade Fund is a Real Estate Fund investing in primarily publicly traded real estate securities, including REITs and other real estate related stocks. The portfolio can also hold bonds, cash, and ETFs related to the real estate industry. The Fund will seek to invest in single name positions in equity REITs, mortgage REITs, and infrastructure securities. In terms of allocation, the fund will strive to hold 65% of the portfolio in publicly traded REITs and the remaining 35% in real estate adjacent securities. Over the medium to long term, the fund will seek to outperform the FTSE NAREIT US Real Estate Index.

Additionally, the Colonnade Fund, in alignment with the broader goals of Darden Capital Management, aims to provide students with a unique learning opportunity to gain practical hands-on experience investing in real estate securities. Students interested in a career in real estate or the broader investment management industry would find this opportunity extremely useful.

Portfolio Leadership

Ben Forde, Senior Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Marsh & McLennan (Insurance)

Prior to Darden, Ben was an Associate at Chatham Financial in their Real Estate sector. He assisted clients with a variety of interest rate risk management problems and focused his time in the Defeasance and Prepayments practice. In the Defeasance practice, he worked closely with clients to guide them through the complex process, align external stakeholders, and meet the underlying real estate transaction deadline. When not working on transactions, Ben provided ad-hoc analyses to provide insights into a client's real estate portfolios and their exposure to interest rate movements. Ben graduated from Haverford College with a B.S. in Mathematics and minors in English and Mathematical Economics. This summer, he will be interning with Marsh McLennan in their Finance Leadership Development Program.

Onyeka (Kelvin) Chima, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Jefferies (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Kelvin was an Associate at African Capital Alliance (ACA), a leading pan-African investment firm sponsoring funds and managing investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this role, he closely supported the group CFO in driving the execution of the financial strategy across ACA, which has over $1 billion in capital commitments across real estate, private equity, and asset management.

Tara Dilmaghani, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Hines (Real Estate)

Prior to Darden, Tara was a Credit Fixed Income Analyst at U.S. Bank in Charlotte, NC. Tara supported investment grade Debt Capital Markets coverage for 50+ clients across 4 industries (Tech, Media, and Telecom, Banks and Broker Dealers, Aerospace & Defense, and Food & Beverage), which included creating pitch presentation materials, preparing pricing updates, and running public bond market deal processes. She also assisted with Liability Management coverage for all clients across the 8 different Debt Capital Markets coverage teams, which included performing tender and exchange offer analyses, running financial models, and leading tender or exchange deal processes. Tara graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Minor in Spanish. This summer, she will be interning with the DC Real Estate Development team at Hines.

Parks Robinson, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Morgan Stanley (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Parks was an associate at Chilton Trust Company in New York. During his time at Chilton, he advised ultra-high net worth families and individuals on asset allocation and portfolio implementation across a number of internally managed equity and fixed income strategies. Parks graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Hispanic Linguistics. This summer, he will be interning with the Investment Banking division at Morgan Stanley in New York.

Fund Overview

The goal of the Darden Fund management team is to deliver returns that exceed our benchmark while incurring a comparable level of risk. We believe that superior risk-adjusted returns will result from primary, value-added research that leverages our general management education at Darden.

Our equity investment strategy is focused on the small-cap segment; our equity portfolio benchmark is the S&P SmallCap 600. We believe that markets are least efficient in the small-cap arena, offering us the greatest opportunity for generating positive alpha. Furthermore, while we are focused on bottom-up research, we are optimistic about a reversal of the long bear market. Small-caps have historically outperformed in the initial stages of a bear market, offering additional upside potential to the Darden Fund.

Small companies typically carry more firm-specific risk than larger firms. As a result, the current management team will ensure adequate diversification by holding a larger number of equity positions (~40) than has been true historically (~25). In addition, careful attention will be paid to matching industry exposure to the benchmark. 

Portfolio Leadership

Tom Alappat, Senior Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Oliver Wyman (Consulting)

Prior to Darden, Tom was a Principal Digital Engineer at Northrop Grumman, a global aerospace, defense, and security company, where he designed custom processing units. Before that, he worked in Raytheon Technology Corporation’s research and development group, designing novel optical sensing solutions. Between those roles, Tom founded an energy storage company, Bandit Energy, that provided peak shaving services to industrial clients. Tom graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he was a student senator, student union executive board member, and class vice president. This summer, Tom will be interning with Oliver Wyman’s Private Capital group in their DC office. 

Adair Maynard, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Harris Williams (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Adair predominantly worked in the chemicals and plastics industries. She held various engineering and R&D roles, later transitioning to become a Market Specialist at AdvanSix Inc, a US-based vertically integrated diversified chemicals and plastics manufacturer that spun off from Honeywell in 2016. In this role, she led business intelligence reporting to executive, board, product, and sales leaders, and she spearheaded strategy and customer acquisition for high growth markets like semiconductor process materials. Adair received various industry accolades such as 2022 Women in Manufacturing Virginia Woman of the Year and 2023 SEMICON West 20 under 30. Adair graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Virginia Commonwealth University with a M.S. in Computer Science. She will be interning with Harris Williams in Richmond, VA as a Summer Associate.

Mayesha Mehnaz, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Barclays (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Mayesha worked as an Associate Director at Standard Chartered Bank in the corporate banking division. In this client coverage role, she managed a portfolio of large corporates by utilizing the bank's debt, working capital and equity markets solutions. She graduated from the University of Dhaka with a Bachelor in Business Administration. This summer, Mayesha will be interning at Barclays's Investment Banking Division with the Technology team in New York.
Kate Watkins, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Evercore (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Kate worked in strategy and analytics at Greensky, a financial technology firm out of Atlanta. While at Greensky, Kate was responsible for the company’s home improvement lending portfolio, including loan portfolio losses and performance. She also spent two years as Director of Clinic Operations for a healthcare start-up in Alabama. In her time there, she helped grow the company’s presence from nine to 16 clinics, drive profitability, and launch new products and services. Kate graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University with a degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering as well as a degree in Economics. She will be interning as an investment banking associate at Evercore over the Summer.

Darden Fund Investment Thesis

We believe that the market is least efficient in small-cap segment offering the greatest opportunity for generating positive alpha. Small cap stocks have outperformed mid and large-cap stocks for six consecutive years, and continued this trend in 2004 outperforming the general market by 10%.

It will be difficult for small-cap stocks to continue these outsized returns particularly in an environment of rising interest rates, which has traditionally favored large-cap stocks. However, The Darden Fund managers aim to outperform our competitive benchmarks through a process of disciplined fundamental research and analysis. By leveraging our team’s diverse experiences and educational foundations, we hope to realize superior returns while remaining conscious of the inherent risk of our investments.

Fund Overview

The objective of the Jefferson Fund is to maximize investment returns, while at the same time minimize systematic risk. Diversification is not only achieved at the sector/industry level, but also through asset allocation. As part of Darden Capital Management, the Fund’s other objective is to provide students with an opportunity to enhance their understanding of security valuation and portfolio valuation techniques, with the expectation of furthering their pursuit of careers in the asset management industry.

The Jefferson Fund seeks to generate excess returns through a value-based strategy, whereby out of favor or undervalued investment opportunities are identified primarily through a bottom-up process. We believe that this style of investment, which emphasizes the importance of valuation and seeks to identify companies trading at a discount to their intrinsic value, will lead to consistent long-term outperformance. The Jefferson fund concentrates on companies with market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion and with deep and sustainable competitive moats, which we believe positions the fund to capture above average investment returns. At any given time, the Fund will hold between 15-30 positions. Individual holdings will be limited to a maximum of 6% at time of investment.

According to the Fund’s mandate, it will hold a maximum of 30% of market value in international stocks, 20% in ETFs, and 30% in gross short exposure. From time to time, the Fund may invest opportunistically in corporate bonds or US Government issued securities. The managers intend to minimize the cash allocation.

The Fund is managed against the Russell 1000 Value Index.

Portfolio Leadership

Justin Anderson, Senior Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Wells Fargo (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Justin worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He was in charge of managing the $28 billion P&L and coordinating with executive stakeholders to develop the three year financial plan. Earlier in his career, he worked in various operational and strategy roles across Hewlett Packard Enterprise, assisting general managers in pricing, budgeting, financial forecasting and cost management. He has a bachelor’s in business administration with a minor in Economics, from the University of Texas at Austin. This summer, he will be interning with the Tech, Media, and Telecom group at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jericho Matulin, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Darden Capital Management Summer Manager

Prior to Darden, Jericho worked as a Trader in a proprietary desk trading fixed income and money market securities at East West Banking Corporation. Before his trading role at East West Bank, he worked as a Valuation Risk Manager at Deutsche Bank where he analyzed and valued Fixed Income and Derivatives structured trades executed in the European and Asia Pacific region. Earlier in his career, he worked at JP Morgan as a Fund Accountant for the Pension Fund business division. Jericho is a CFA Charterholder and registered CPA in the Philippines. He graduated from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of City of Manila) with a BS in Accounting.

Atigya Mohnot, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Bank of America (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Atigya worked as an underwriter in credit risk wealth management team of JP Morgan; catering to the loan requests of ultra-high net worth individuals. As the youngest lead underwriter for the Philadelphia and Ohio Markets, she managed loan book of $2.5 billion, specializing in diverse credit types secured by high-value assets such as art, aircraft, and real estate. Her expertise includes comprehensive credit analysis, from structuring credit requests and recommending risk grades to negotiating terms and providing strategic financial advice to HNIs. She is a CFA Charter holder, Chartered Accountant and did Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance. She will be interning with Bank of America's Healthcare Investment Banking group in New York this summer.

Katie Nunner, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: EY Parthenon (Consulting)

Prior to Darden, Katie worked as an associate director at Crowell & Moring International in Washington, DC. She routinely collaborated with global executives and leaders to drive policy goals, including advising and managing the world’s largest public-private partnership in healthcare focused on advancing ethical business practices. Katie started her career at the World Bank, supporting areas in the World Bank’s private sector investments including partnerships in accessing financing for early-stage entrepreneurs and the design of social impact bonds. She holds a Bachelor of Science in economics management from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MSc in development management from the London School of Economics & Political Science. She will be interning at EY-Parthenon in New York City.

Jefferson Fund Investment Thesis

The Jefferson Fund seeks out of favor or undervalued investment opportunities. At any one time, we intend to hold between 15-30 equity positions. The managers will have no industry bias and will invest opportunistically in any and all sectors. The Fund will purchase companies with a minimum market capitalization of $1 billion, with no maximum capitalization. Because of the managers’ bias towards undervalued companies and businesses that demonstrate high returns on invested capital, the managers expect new investments to concentrate on companies with market capitalizations on the lower end of the Fund’s mandate. From time to time, the managers may identify and invest in undervalued companies with larger capitalization.

Managers intend to minimize the cash allocation.

Fund Overview

The Monticello Fund’s philosophy begins with the premise that superior returns over time can best be achieved through investment in undervalued companies with superior and sustainable growth prospects while integrating macroeconomic and local market factors into stock selection decisions. As a result, the Fund will consist of a blend of companies domiciled around the globe.  By employing a bottom-up approach with intensive research focused on company fundamentals and macroeconomic and local market factors, the Fund’s managers are able to identify undervalued, financially strong, and well-managed domestic and international companies in a global sector context.  Further, the managers each strive to continuously educate ourselves with regards to investment analysis and portfolio management theory. The Fund's benchmark is MSCI All Country World Index.

Portfolio Leadership

Danna Wang, Senior Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Amazon (Tech)

Prior to Darden, Danna worked as a Senior Financial Analyst at American Credit Acceptance at Spartanburg, SC. Danna graduated from Monash University in Australia with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Brandeis University with a master’s degree in finance. In her spare time, Danna loves hiking, cooking and doing yoga. Danna is also a stock analysis content creator with 25k followers. This summer, Danna will intern with AWS. Danna is a CFA charterholder.

Jin(JJ) Jiang, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Bank of America (Sellside)

Before Darden, JJ spent nine years in the technology sector. Initially, she worked as a systems engineer in Japan, specializing in enterprise resource systems for three years. Subsequently, JJ founded and led the Beijing office of an international Internet advertising firm. In this role, she managed a team of over ten people across various countries, developing advanced internet advertising solutions for overseas clients. JJ graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Science and Engineering from Fudan University. Outside of her professional interests, she enjoys playing poker and mahjong. This summer, she will intern with the Technology, Media, and Telecom group at Bank of America.

Mariana Perez-Maya, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: J. P. Morgan Private Wealth Management (Buyside)

Originally from Mexico City, Mexico, Mariana graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in 2017. After graduation, she spent six years as an M&A Associate at Grupo BAL, Mexico’s third-largest conglomerate, where she analyzed investment projects and acquisitions in various industries, including electricity, oil & gas, real estate, and retail. This summer, she will intern at J.P. Morgan Private Bank LATAM in Houston, TX.

Sadman Safat, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Moelis (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Sadman spent close to a decade at Standard Chartered Bank. In his last role, he was a Director & Head of Credit Analysis for Corporate and Institutional Banking, leading a 25-member team managing a $6.5 billion portfolio. He played a key role in structuring capital-lite transactions, executing industry-first initiatives, and mobilizing $1 billion in COVID-19 relief funds. In parallel, Sadman co-founded OMS Advisory, an investment banking advisory firm specializing in project financing, debt restructuring, and M&A, where he led multiple high-value transactions. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, a Masters in Economics from East West University, Dhaka, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Dhaka’s Institute of Business Administration.

Monticello Fund Investment Thesis

Buy decisions are based on a rigorous research process that pays special attention to relative valuation on a local market and broad sector basis, profitability, management strength and competitive advantage while taking into consideration both global market and business risk.  As a result, the Fund will be comprised of approximately 20-40 individual equity holdings with differing market capitalizations from a variety of countries and sectors.

Fund Overview

The Rotunda Fund integrates sustainability research with fundamental analysis to select investments that are likely to outperform the market due to the improved long-term financial performance and lower risk features that accompany sustainable practices.  Sustainability research provides unique and valuable insights into management and internal operations of an organization.  Companies with sound environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) practices have competitive advantages over their peer institutions; these competitive advantages can include lower costs due to efficiency, reduced risk of litigation/environmental liabilities, and lower volatility of raw material costs.  Therefore, sustainability practices are expected to yield market-outperforming risk-adjusted returns.  The Rotunda Fund integrates sustainability research with fundamental analysis to purchase “best in class” companies at attractive valuations. 

Portfolio Leadership

Nilukshi Jayawardena, Senior Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Bank of America (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Nilukshi was an investment professional at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), where she managed the end-to-end deal execution process and portfolio management for IFC in South Asia. In this role, Nilukshi was involved in executing the largest debt investment for IFC in South Asia and managed a debt and equity portfolio of $250 million. Nilukshi’s portfolio comprised blue-chip companies both in India and Sri Lanka. Additionally, Nilukshi worked in investment banking prior to this role and was involved in some of Sri Lanka’s landmark IPOs and M&As. She graduated from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, with a BBA in Finance. She will be interning at Bank of America’s Consumer and Retail Group in New York City as an investment banking summer associate.

Lawson MacDougall, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Barclays (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Lawson was a Corporate Development Associate at Dye & Durham, a leading legal technology company based in Toronto, Ontario. In this role, Lawson assisted the company in executing upon it’s M&A strategy, completing multiple transactions across Canada, the UK, and Australia. Lawson graduated with Honors from Hobart College where he was also a member of the Men’s Varsity Ice Hockey team. This summer he will be interning with Barclays’ Power & Utilities Group in New York City as an Investment Banking Summer Associate.

Nico Martinez, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Citi (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Nico was a Manager at Deloitte within its healthcare practice. With over 9+ years of management consulting experience, Nico provided strategic advisory services focusing on performance improvement, strategy formulation, pandemic response, policy development, and risk management. He successfully led multiple teams tasked with delivering seamless client experiences. Concurrently with his professional commitments at Deloitte, Nico also presided over a vibrant Spanish-speaking religious congregation in the greater Washington, DC area, where he supported families facing substantial health, legal, and financial challenges. Nico holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Brigham Young University. This summer, he will intern at Citigroup’s Investment Banking Division, working with the Global Energy group in Houston, Texas.

Isaac Mills, Portfolio Manager
Darden Summer 2024 Internship: Jefferies (Sellside)

Prior to Darden, Isaac was the Head of Investment Management for the Life Insurance Business of AIICO Insurance, one of the largest Insurance Companies in West Africa, where he managed a $400m investment portfolio.  Before that, he was a senior associate in the business consulting team at EY Nigeria, providing Investment Strategy, Risk Consulting, and Valuation Services to Insurance Companies and Banks.  He also worked for three years in Corporate Banking in Ghana, managing Financial Institutions and Custody clients. Isaac earned a B.Sc. in Actuarial Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and is a CFA Charter Holder. He will be interning as an investment banking associate at Jefferies this summer.

Rotunda Fund Investment Thesis

The Rotunda Fund employs a two-step process to select and evaluate opportunities: a threshold step (size and information availability) and an investment evaluation step (ESG, industry, and financial evaluation). 

The threshold step requires (i) market capitalization of $500 million and above and (ii) sufficient disclosure of relevant sustainability-related data.  It is expected that companies reporting under the Carbon Disclosure Project, or a similar industry-standard report, will fulfill this threshold of required disclosure.  Alternatively, companies that publish a corporate sustainability report and/or are required to report data to the US Environmental Protection Agency, such as the chemical and utility industries, will also meet the threshold criteria. 

The companies that meet the requirements in the threshold step will then be analyzed in a three-part investment evaluation step.  This investment evaluation step seeks companies with:

1. Best-in-class ESG metrics relative to peer companies and industry best practices.
2. Industry or industries served, and position within those industries, that is conducive to long-term financial strength.
3. Superior fundamentals, both qualitative and quantitative/valuation, which indicate the potential for favorable risk-adjusted returns.