Financial Strategies Group
Finance and risk management recruitment specialists
Expertise, Discretion and Achievement
The financial recruitment specialists at Smith Hanley Associates anticipate, evaluate, and fulfill the specific quantitative, trading and technology needs for Wall Street’s elite investment banks and hedge funds.
As a leading finance and risk & compliance recruitment agency, our Group’s continued noteworthy success is attributable to the following principal factors:
A Keen and Current Knowledge of the Ever-Changing Marketplace
Discretion
Emphasis on Long-Term Career Achievement
Financial Strategies Group
Rick Wastrom
Partner
Division: Financial Strategies Group
Richard Wastrom is a founding partner of Smith Hanley Associates and is the co-manager of the Financial Strategies Group (FSG). He directs searches in both the Institutional Investment and the Alternative Investment Management communities. His work encompasses a broad range of directives including chief investment officers, chief financial officers, chief technology officers, as well as roles within single and multi-family offices. Additional mandates involve investment research strategists, risk managers, and quantitative portfolio managers. Mr. Wastrom’s depth of experience and long-term relationships in the dynamic financial markets field have yielded proven expertise, respect and success (as noted by Emanuel Derman in his memoir, My Life As A Quant). He received his BA in Business Administration from the University of Vermont.
Jud Smith
Partner
Division: Financial Strategies Group
A partner at Smith Hanley Associates, Jud has been with the firm since 1995. Having more than 25 years of experience in the field of portfolio management, quantitative research and technology recruitment for the financial industry, he fulfills both contingent and retained searches. Jud has worked in all facets of quantitative research and trading recruitment from individual portfolio managers to the establishment of several systematic global hedge funds managing billions in client capital. He has also filled a plethora of quantitative and technical roles. From the chief technology officer of a $10BB hedge fund, to the lead developers and quantitative analysts of countless trading desks at the world’s leading investment banks and hedge funds, Jud’s vast network of connections offers both clients and applicants an experienced and informed resource in the global market. A 1993 graduate of Hobart College, Jud has a Bachelor of Science in political science.
Deirdre Kiniry
Managing Director
Division: Financial Strategies Group
Deirdre Kiniry is a Managing Director and has been with Smith Hanley Associates since 2000. Deirdre has over 30 years of recruitment experience covering a diverse range of searches in the financial services sector for institutional asset managers, investment banks and hedge funds. She has completed senior-level marketing and business development searches for several alternative asset management clients. Other successful mandates have included sector-specific portfolio managers and analysts. Deirdre is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.
Rory O’Neill
Director
Division: Financial Strategies Group
Rory O’Neill is a Director at Smith Hanley Associates within the Financial Strategies Group. She focuses on asset management and hedge fund clients across all strategies, with particular expertise in fundamental long/short equities. Rory brings more than twenty years of experience in finance to Smith Hanley. Prior to joining Smith Hanley, she worked at SAC (now Point72) in equities management as the Director of Broker Relations, at Lehman Brothers for eight years in equity research and equity sales marketing, and at Intel Corporation’s treasury department. Rory holds an MBA with concentrations in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Kyle Duncan
Executive Recruiter
Division: Financial Strategies Group
Kyle Duncan joined Smith Hanley's Financial Strategies Group as an Executive Recruiter in 2023. Specializing in quantitative and technical recruitment, Kyle has more than a dozen years of recruiting experience including his most recent work at a leading Fintech company. He is a successful consultative and strategic partner to both clients and candidates throughout the recruitment process. Kyle holds a Bachelor's degree in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College and a Master's in Public Policy from Trinity College.
Tom Burdo
Executive Recruiter
Division: Financial Strategies Group
Tom Burdo brings 17+ years of experience with him to Smith Hanley with both executive agency and in-house recruitment experience. He focuses on technical and quantitative talent while covering a broad range of searches in the financial services sector for hedge funds, institutional asset managers, proprietary trading firms and investment banks. Previously, his agency experience was with InSite Search, in-house recruitment experience with DATTO, CT’s first & only technology unicorn company and most recently Schonfeld Strategic Advisors. Tom has a BS in Business Management from the University of Rhode Island.