How to Scale a Research Project?

Today I am speaking with Russell Korgaonkar, CIO of Man AHL.

In his role, Russell oversees a large research organization and so we spend a large part of our conversation talking about research management. Russell provides his thoughts on topics such as determining which projects to take on, quantifying investments in technology, data, and people, how to avoid group think, and how to incentivize both researchers and reviewers. There is tremendous organizational alpha to be gleaned here.

In the back half of the conversation we discuss some of the research that Russell has published on dynamic risk controls. He explains how risk management signals are akin to alpha signals and how the practice of managing risk through 2020 differed from the theory of doing it.

We conclude with Russell’s opinion as the most important due diligence question he could ask, either of another manager or of his own researchers.

Please enjoy my conversation with Russell Korgaonkar.