Robyn Grew, the trusted insider to lead Man Group hedge fund

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LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) –

There are few jobs Robyn Grew hasn’t mastered at Man Group, the $145 billion hedge fund where money is constantly pouring into a fast-growing company she helped turn around.

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Grew, who was named the new CEO Thursday, has held compliance, commercial, legal and operations executive roles for the past 14 years as Man evolved from a disparate group of isolated companies into a senior technology-based investment manager.

As she becomes one of the most powerful women in money management, Grew must apply her insights to a range of challenges from growing competition, expanding regulations, and escalating geopolitical tensions.

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“There aren’t many people who have covered as wide a range of activities as I have. She knows the business,” said Jonathan Sorrell, president of New York-based $10 billion Capstone, who worked alongside Grew at Man and previously held her current job as president. From the inside out.

“She will be comfortable making the big calls that are required,” he told Reuters.

The London-listed company will be led by two women for the first time in its 240-year history by the end of 2023, after long-term chief executive Luke Ellis retired in September, and Ann Wade replaced veteran banker John Cryan as chairman.

Dave Sanyal, CEO of Varo Energy and former non-executive director of Man, said Grew has demonstrated its strength alongside CEO Luke Ellis and predecessor Emmanuel (Manny) Roman in executing a decade of repositioning and growth for the hedge fund.

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He said that this achievement may mean that only adjustments are needed.

“There is a nimble agility to the company today and it doesn’t need a massive change. Robin has been an ally to Manny and Luke in bringing the company to success,” Sanyal said.

Roman doubled the size of Mann’s executive committee when he took over from Peter Clarke as CEO in 2013. That committee oversaw a revival plan to offset falling assets and reverse poor stock performance.

Grew, a member of the leadership team at the time, was credited by Sanyal for later endorsing the hedge fund solutions business, where clients were given opportunities to choose bets and investment strategies better suited to their needs rather than investing in a one-size-fits-all portfolio.

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The business helped Mann turn the tide on years of erratic net inflows. Man Group now has more than 60% of its assets operating in this way.

Grew has also improved the company’s compliance, he said. “She never took a checkbox approach. She helped people understand what was really needed. She took the time and really helped people become better at their jobs,” he said.

Under her guidance, Mann implemented a further company reform in 2019, which eased the company’s regulatory capital requirements and laid the foundations for greater investment in product innovation. She has led her own diversity program and works with many industry-wide initiatives.

“In the end, she’s someone you can always count on,” Sorrell said.

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Currently based in New York, Grew will be relocating to London by the time she takes over, but Mann indicated that she will continue to spend significant time in the US, where she is focused on building her brand to compete against her competitors there.

While some might view the transatlantic drive plan as a slight on London’s hedge fund scene, others were more sanguine about the role Grew could play in defending UK money in the US, where billionaire managers such as Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and Pershing Square boss Bill Ackman are household names.

A senior hedge fund source told Reuters her appointment could help the UK asset management industry become more visible to US investors, who are eyeing Europe and Asia further as the dollar weakens.

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“Any Man Group CEO will spend a decent amount of his time in the US where the majority of client capital comes from and where a lot of money is invested,” said Capstone’s Sorrell.

Gru lives in New York with her wife, son, and “spiritual Cockapoo,” as stated on Mann’s website. But she grew up in Essex, east of the British capital, where she attended a grammar school before reading Business Law at Coventry University.

Moving into finance, Grew held senior compliance positions at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital and later worked at LIFFE, the futures exchange later called ICE Futures Europe.

She joined Man GLG in 2009 as Chief Compliance Officer but moved on to serve as Global Head of Legal & Compliance, Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel, Group COO and Head of ESG, and currently serves as its President. She will take over as CEO on September 1.

“Well, what a day,” Grew said in a LinkedIn video post. (Reporting by Neil Mackenzie and Sinead Cruz; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and David Gregorio)