Our Team

8
Professionals
Lean, nimble team
90+
Investments Completed
Since 2018
$10B+
Collective Private Assets Managed
Team's career total
6
World-Class Advisors
Industry leaders

Core Team

Ziad Makkawi

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.

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John Zic

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.

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Arin Nazarian

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.

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Joe Day

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.

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Laxus Tat

Machine Learning • Investment Technology

Laxus Tat

Principal, Investment Engineering

Lead engineer for EQUIAM's proprietary investment technology platform. Pioneered integration of LLM/ML tools to accelerate investment analysis capabilities. Expertise bridges quantitative analysis and practical implementation.

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Yusef Alexandrine

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).

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Eric Borrow

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.

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Kirk Oliver

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.

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Advisory Board

Industry titans who've managed $1T+ AUM, led global enterprises, and created the infrastructure of today's private markets.

Vijay Advani

Asset Management, Distribution, Financial Markets

Vijay Advani

Advisor

Former CEO Nuveen ($1T+ AUM), Co-President Franklin Templeton

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Mike Ryan

Institutional Investing, Public Markets, Endowment Management

Mike Ryan

Advisor

CEO Bullet Point Network, Former Head of Public Equity Harvard Endowment

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Thomas Buberl

Insurance, Global Operations, Corporate Leadership

Thomas Buberl

Advisor

CEO of AXA ($850B Assets), Board Member IBM

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Perry Ha

Venture Capital, Asia Markets, Technology Investing

Perry Ha

Advisor

Founder & MD Draper Athena, MIT Board of Trustees

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Kelly Rodriques

Fintech, Alternative Assets, Private Markets Infrastructure

Kelly Rodriques

Advisor, Executive Committee Member

CEO Forge, Former CEO PENSCO (sold to Opus Bank)

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Najam Kidwai

Technology Ventures, IPOs, Early Stage Investing

Najam Kidwai

Advisor, Executive Committee Member

Founding CEO of 2 IPO'd companies, Original EQUIAM investor

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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