Where core values fuel performance
About Us
Over 21 years of experience deploying relative value strategies across fixed income markets for institutional investors
Garda embraces one investment strategy with one focus: Protect and grow capital for institutional investors who entrust their money to us so they can deliver on their promises to their stakeholders. Our rigorous approach to fixed income relative value investing, and our integrity, has earned us the trust of investors and counterparties over many market cycles. We take this responsibility seriously, and we work hard to meet it with distinction.
“We invest heavily on the front end of any partnership to ensure it’s a good fit for each of us. We work closely with our investors and their advisors to make sure they understand the nature of the opportunities that we pursue, our investment philosophy, and how we utilize leverage to implement our strategies. It is equally imperative that we are confident that we can deliver on the investors’ stated long term investment objectives.”
-Jeff Drobny, Chief Executive Officer
Values
Be who you say you are, do what you say you will
We have a passion for investing and a 21-year track record of positive performance through many market cycles. We stay focused on our expertise: fixed income relative value strategies.
Be transparent and honest
We communicate often, taking the time to explain how we see the markets, what we’re doing in response, and why. We always strive to deliver insight and clarity for our investors.
Be rigorous
We work hard and don’t cut corners. Our investment process is highly disciplined. Clearly defined objectives and risk thresholds are integrated across what we do.
Be fair
Our clients, employees, and counterparties are our partners – we will treat them fairly. We value long-term relationships above short-term gains.
Strategy
Garda’s fixed income relative value strategy captures opportunities in global interest rate disparities and sovereign debt instruments across developed markets.
Our strategy is designed to deliver consistent, positive returns through varying market cycles that are uncorrelated to broader market movements.
We employ proprietary analysis to identify opportunities that may arise from:
- Supply and demand imbalances in sovereign bonds
- Segmentation among markets, such as interest rate futures, cash bonds and interest rate swaps
- Divergent interest rate policies amongst monetary authorities
Portfolio construction primarily utilizes relative value strategies, and typical trading themes are long/short in nature.
Our firm has offices globally, including in:
Wayzata
New York City
West Palm Beach
Scottsdale
Geneva
Zug
Copenhagen
Singapore
Leadership Team
Click names to expand bio
*Member of Executive Committee
Mr. Drobny is the Chief Executive Officer of Garda, where he provides overall leadership for the firm.
Mr. Drobny launched the Fixed Income Relative Value Strategy at Black River in 2003, where he was also a Principal and served as the Global Head of the Relative Value and Commodity-Related hedge fund businesses. In 2016, Mr. Drobny co-founded Garda as CEO and CIO, to continue managing the Fixed Income Relative Value Strategy and has led the growth and development of the firm since inception. Prior to that, Mr. Drobny worked in Cargill’s Financial Markets Group in London, before later returning to the U.S. to oversee trading management for Cargill’s Fixed Income Arbitrage business.
Mr. Drobny graduated from Union College with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
Mr. Magnusson is the Chief Investment Officer of Garda’s Fixed Income Relative Value Strategy. Mr. Magnusson provides strategic direction for the investment strategy of the firm.
Prior to co-founding Garda in 2016, Mr. Magnusson worked at Black River and its predecessor, Cargill Financial Markets. He began his career at Cargill in 1996 working within the Corporate Treasury Group. Mr. Magnusson then joined the Fixed Income Relative Value Portfolio Management Team in 2000. Following the formation of Black River in 2003, his Portfolio Management responsibilities continued to grow and in 2008, he became the Senior Portfolio Manager for the Fixed Income Relative Value Strategy, that continues to be the strategy managed at Garda today. He assumed CIO responsibilities for the strategy in 2022.
Mr. Magnusson graduated Summa Cum Laude from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and German. He also holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and is a CFA® charterholder.
*Member of Executive Committee
Mr. Bennett has dual responsibilities as co-head of Garda’s Geneva office and as a Portfolio Manager responsible for trading developed rates markets with an emphasis on European interest rates and government bond markets. Mr. Bennett joined the Portfolio Management team at Garda through the Associate Development Program at Black River. Prior to Black River, Mr. Bennett interned as a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Mr. Bennett obtained a Bachelor’s degree with a major in Economics and European History from the University of Notre Dame.
Mr. Cameron, as head of Garda’s New York-based trading team, is responsible for USD rates trading as well as commodities, equity derivatives, MBS and interest rate/fx volatility trading.
Mr. Cameron joined Garda in 2016 with more than 25 years of experience trading and managing fixed-income businesses in New York, London, and Tokyo with his primary focus being interest rate derivative trading. Before joining Garda, Mr. Cameron spent more than 18 years at JP Morgan and was most recently their Global Head of USD interest rate swaps, with prior leadership of USD rate trading for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Previously, he was the executive head of a proprietary trading group at JP Morgan and managed core European swaps trading before the European Monetary Union. Mr. Cameron started his career in the middle office for HSBC before joining their interest rate derivatives team in New York and Tokyo.
Mr. Cameron holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Mr. Chen is Head of Business Development focusing on talent recruitment and corporate strategy.
Prior to joining Garda, Mr. Chen spent eight years at Aksia where he was most recently the Strategy Head responsible for investment sourcing and due diligence across fixed income arbitrage, futures, and volatility strategies.
Mr. Chen holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Finance and Accounting from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.
Mr. Corti is a Portfolio Manager and the Global Head of Inflation at Garda.
Mr. Corti joined the portfolio management team at Garda in 2017. Prior to joining Garda, Mr. Corti spent over five years at Citigroup Global Markets, where he was most recently a vice president and trader of inflation-linked securities.
Mr. Corti holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematical engineering and a Master of Science in mathematical engineering and quantitative finance from Politecnico di Milano.
Mr. Farrell is the Chief Risk Officer of Garda, responsible for heading the Risk Management Group and measuring and assessing risk for the fixed income relative value strategies.
Mr. Farrell joined the Fixed Income Relative Value team at Black River in 2013. Previously, Mr. Farrell worked at Scotiabank from 2010-2013 as the Market Risk Manager for the US Rates business in New York. Mr. Farrell began his career in 1998 with JP Morgan, spending 8 years in their Proprietary Positioning Business in a variety of roles. From 2002-2006, Mr. Farrell was a trader on the European Rates Relative Value desk in London. Upon returning from London, he worked at Deutsche Bank in New York during the financial crisis focused on risk and valuation in the Global Markets Finance group.
Mr. Farrell graduated from The George Washington University with a B.B.A. in Finance and International Business.
Mr. Fisk is Garda’s Head of Finance and Liquidity, responsible for managing counterparty relationships including all financing facilities, cash management, clearing and custody infrastructure, and overall firm wide credit exposure to those counterparties.
Prior to joining Garda, Mr. Fisk served as Global Head of Hedge Fund Risk, Finance and Liquidity at Black River, having joined the firm initially as Leverage Manager in 2002. From 1999-2002, Mr. Fisk served in an electricity trading position within Cargill’s Energy Division. Mr. Fisk originally joined Cargill in 1990 as part of the team responsible for establishing the London office of the Financial Markets Group. He held a variety of positions in London including equity trading, managing the administrative function for the London office, and providing a supervisory role for the Geneva, Moscow, Warsaw, and Istanbul locations. Prior to joining Cargill, Mr. Fisk held various Treasury positions with Chase Manhattan Bank in London from 1987-1990.
Mr. Grover is Head of Investor Relations, responsible for capital raising and the relationship management of current and prospective investors.
Mr. Grover worked at Cargill starting in 1993 in the Financial Markets Group, where he spent ten years before eventually joining Black River Asset Management at its inception in 2003 to lead the capital raising and investor relations team.
Mr. Grover graduated from Albion College with a bachelor’s degree in economics and management and earned an MBA in finance from the University of Michigan.
Mr. Jørgensen has dual responsibilities as a Portfolio Manager focused on Relative Value trading in European and Scandinavian rates and basis markets and as head of Garda’s Copenhagen trading team.
Mr. Jørgensen joined Garda in 2017 following a 16-year career at Danske Bank, where he most recently led European rates and global swaps trading.
Mr. Jørgensen holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and Finance from Aarhus School of Business.
Ms. Kittiko is Garda’s Chief Financial Officer. In this capacity, she oversees Garda’s financial activities and partners with the CEO and senior management on business planning and financial strategy. She is responsible for accounting and control, tax, and financial analysis and reporting.
Prior to joining Garda, Ms. Kittiko served as Controller for Black River Asset Management from 2011-2016. Immediately prior to her tenure at Black River Asset Management, Ms. Kittiko worked for CarVal Investors where she held positions including Director of Operations and Administration Manager. Ms. Kittiko also spent two years as Controller at Global Trade Resources, an emerging markets hedge fund in Minneapolis.
Ms. Kittiko graduated from the College of St. Catherine with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting with a Spanish minor.
Mr. Kumar serves as Chief Technology Officer, leading Garda’s application development and infrastructure teams.
Prior to Garda, Mr. Kumar joined Black River in 2004 as a Senior Research Analyst on the Fixed Income Relative Value desk, before becoming an Enterprise Systems Manager, where he was responsible for the selection and implementation of the firm’s portfolio management system and proprietary data warehouse system. From 1998-2004, Mr. Kumar held various IT roles with the financial markets group at Cargill, where his experience spanned operations, accounting and risk systems.
Mr. Kumar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Computer Science) from Bangalore University, Bangalore India and an MBA (General Management) from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. McCloskey has dual responsibilities as co-head of Garda’s Geneva office and as a Portfolio Manager responsible for trading developed rates markets with an emphasis on European peripheral interest rates and government bond markets.
Prior to joining Garda, Mr. McCloskey spent over eight years at Barclays Capital, where he was most recently a Director and Co-Head of the European Government Bond trading desk. He has additional European government bond experience from trading/market analysis positions at Dresdner Kleinwort, Jefferies and Bank of America.
Mr. McCloskey holds an MA in Mathematics and a Diploma in Applied Statistics both from Oxford University.
Mr. McGarry is the Senior Portfolio Manager for Garda’s Fixed Income Relative Value Strategy. Mr. McGarry is responsible for the management of Garda’s investment team and the implementation of the strategy. He has been with Garda since inception, and before becoming SPM for the strategy in 2022, focused on Macro Relative Value opportunities across the global interest rate spectrum with over 20 years’ of trading experience.
Prior to Garda, Mr. McGarry was a Portfolio Manager at Black River, having joined in 2015. He also worked as a Portfolio Manager at both BlueCrest Capital and 5:15 Capital; Managing Director and Global Head of USD interest rate swaps at BNP Paribas; and was a Senior Dealer and Head of EUR interest rate swaps at Danske Bank. Mr. McGarry began his career at Bank of America working as a trader in London.
Mr. McGarry holds a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Studies and a Master of Finance degree from University College Dublin.
Mr. Michaux serves as Garda’s Chief of Staff, responsible for leading and supporting the design and execution of Garda’s strategic initiatives, while maintaining oversight of its talent and human resources functions.
Mr. Michaux previously served as Garda’s Chief Talent Officer. Prior to joining Garda, Mr. Michaux led the human resources function at Black River Asset Management, where he originally joined in 2006 as an HR generalist. Mr. Michaux began his career in 2003 as an HR generalist at Dunwoody College of Technology.
Mr. Michaux graduated from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management. Mr. Michaux also holds an associate degree in computer networking systems from Dunwoody College of Technology.
Mr. O’Connell is a Portfolio Manager focused on U.S. Relative Value opportunities.
Mr. O’Connell joined Garda in 2017 after spending over seven years at JP Morgan in various roles in both sales and trading in New York and London. Mr. O’Connell was most recently a Vice President and Head of the London USD Swaps Desk.
Mr. O’Connell holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Mendoza College of Business, at the University of Notre Dame.
Mr. Shane serves as Garda’s General Counsel, responsible for legal, regulatory, and compliance matters impacting the firm.
Mr. Shane was previously Garda’s Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel. Before joining Garda in 2017, Mr. Shane spent five years at Wayzata Investment Partners LLC, most recently as its Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to that, Mr. Shane practiced in the investment management group at the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP and served as an attorney in the U.S. Army.
Mr. Shane received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Mr. Vereecken is Garda’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for leading the operational functions within Garda’s investment process.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Vereecken was Deputy COO & Head of Middle Office and Trade Support. Previously, he was a Portfolio Manager at Garda primarily responsible for Fixed Income Relative Value trading in North American markets. He became part of the investment team when he joined Black River in 2002. Before Black River, Mr. Vereecken worked at Cargill from 1998-2002 where he advised on acquisitions in Cargill’s Strategy & Business Development department, and worked as a Merchant in its Grain & Oilseeds Division. Previously, Mr. Vereecken worked at Bain & Company in Paris and Brussels.
Mr. Vereecken graduated magna cum laude from the University of Gent, Belgium with a Master’s degree in Electrotechnical Engineering. Mr. Vereecken also holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he was an Honorary Fulbright Scholar and was awarded the title of Palmer Scholar for academic excellence.
Mr. Zhang has dual responsibilities as head of Garda’s Singapore trading team and as a Portfolio Manager primarily responsible for Japanese fixed income relative value trading.
Mr. Zhang joined Garda in 2020 from Millennium Management, where he was most recently Senior Portfolio Manager with a primary focus on Japan fixed income relative value trading. Prior to that, Mr. Zhang worked for over eleven years as Senior Trader at Capula Investment Management, focused on Japan fixed income relative value, and spent two years at Bear Stearns in London as a swaps trader. Mr. Zhang began his career at JPMorgan Chase.
Mr. Zhang holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Economics and an MSc in International Banking and Finance from the University of Reading.
News
Click headlines to go to full article. Some of the articles contain endorsements. The articles are published by independent third parties, and Garda did not provide cash or non-cash compensation to obtain the endorsements. No material conflict of interest exists as the sources are independent from Garda. Refer to Legal page for other important disclaimers regarding links to news articles.
Breakeven rates above 2.5% would signal fear of more sustained upside inflation risk
10/03/2024
MarketWatch
Fed rate cuts could prove to be a double-edged sword when it comes to inflation
08/06/2024
MarketWatch
Bond Yield Volatility Has Fund Managers Overhauling Trading Strategies
05/16/2024
Bloomberg
Powell Juices Bond Market Bet on Inflation With Tilt to Jobs
03/28/2024
Bloomberg
CPI inflation will almost surely be above 3% well into midyear, Garda’s Magnusson says
03/26/2024
MarketWatch