Our Team
Core Team
Investment Strategy • Portfolio Management
Ziad Makkawi
Founder & CEO
Three decades of experience building and leading investment firms across venture capital, asset management, and investment banking. Currently chairs EQUIAM's Investment Committee while serving on the investment committees of Dubai Future District Fund ($200M sovereign venture) and advising Playbook ($200M Indian growth fund). Previously founded and sold Algebra Capital ($1.5B AUM) to Franklin Templeton, and led Istithmar World's $5B PE portfolio as CEO/CIO. Started career as systematic arbitrage trader at JP Morgan.
Private Markets • Systematic Investing
John Zic
Founding Partner
Initial architect of EQUIAM's systematic investment model for private markets. Seven years leading the firm's capital deployment and portfolio management across multiple funds. Previously early hire at Forge (NYSE: FRGE) where he developed the first private market index based on real-time secondary pricing data. Deep expertise in private secondary market dynamics and data analytics. Started career at EY's consulting practice.
Private Equity • Deal Execution
Arin Nazarian
Partner
Decade of principal investment experience with over $1 billion deployed across private markets. Leads investment execution, deal sourcing, and diligence at EQUIAM. Previously rose from seventh hire to Principal at Kingfish Group. Earlier experience includes Lehman Brothers and investing for a Goldman Sachs founding partner's family office.
Quantitative Analysis • Systematic Strategies
Joe Day
Partner
Quantitative investment specialist with expertise spanning public and private markets. Previously Partner at Tribe Capital developing data-driven strategies for late-stage private companies, and investor at Bridgewater Associates designing systematic equity strategies. Unique combination of theoretical depth and practical finance expertise.
Machine Learning • Investment Technology
Legal & Compliance • Fund Formation
Yusef Alexandrine
Chief Operating Officer
Yusef is the Chief Operating Officer at EQUIAM. Prior to joining EQUIAM, Yusef was a Director and Senior Counsel at Allianz Global Investors, where he oversaw the hedge funds and the institutional accounts businesses. At Allianz, Yusef was also responsible for ensuring compliance with all regulatory developments impacting the North America region. Previously, Yusef was an associate at K&L Gates LLP in the investment management and corporate practice groups, where he counseled a broad range of financial industry clients on regulatory compliance, fund formation, and corporate transactions. During law school, Yusef worked as a regulatory intern at the Pacific Exchange (now NYSE Arca).
Fund Operations • Process Optimization
Eric Borrow
Director, Operations
Eric is Director at EQUIAM in the Operations function. Prior to joining EQUIAM, Eric was a Healthcare Services Associate at Guggenheim Securities, where he executed deals in the acute and post acute spaces, with additional analytical experience in HCIT. Previously, Eric was a Vice President at BNY Mellon where he supported the outsourcing of Bridgewater's existing back office infrastructure to BNY Mellon, built and advised on operational processing tools, and oversaw Bridgewater's daily equity/ETF operations.
Institutional Sales • Investor Relations
Kirk Oliver
Director, Placement & Distribution
Kirk has led the institutional outreach and distribution since 2020. He is in charge of qualifying and sourcing investors, strategic outreach initiatives, and managing the firm's distribution partner relationships. He also manages several key broker relationships for the investment committee. Kirk was formerly institutional equity sales at B. Riley Financial with a 10-year career managing institutional investor relationships globally. He worked with a variety of start-ups in an advisory capacity and has bootstrapped various projects in the Tech, Finance, & Real Estate sector. He is a web developer hobbyist.
Advisory Board
Industry titans who've managed $1T+ AUM, led global enterprises, and created the infrastructure of today's private markets.
Join Our Team
We're always looking for exceptional talent. While we may not have specific openings today, we believe great people create their own opportunities.
Systematic Thinkers
Bridgewater, Two Sigma, JP Morgan quant types who can build, not just analyze
Speed & Ownership
Execute in days not months. Own your vertical completely in our 8-person team
Technical + Finance
Code and build like an engineer, think and invest like a financier
If you think you'd be a great addition to EQUIAM, we'd love to hear from you.
Send your resume to info@equiam.com