Lee Levy is Founder and General Partner of Canid Asset Management LLC, a boutique asset management fund based in San Francisco offering a broad range of wealth management solutions. Launched in 2009, Canid successfully manages a liquid long/short equity portfolio that specializes in protecting investor capital during highly volatile markets using quantitative, fundamental & tactical investment approaches hedged with sophisticated option strategies. The firm posted 2013 returns 2000 bps greater than Hedge Fund Indices.
With more than eighteen years of professional investment and risk management experience, Lee is a seasoned and accomplished fund manager, having achieved high performance with low correlation to the Long/Short Hedge Fund Indices. In the height of the economic crisis, 2008 investor losses under Lee’s management were less than 4.98% vs. benchmark losses of 20 to 40%.
Prior to founding Canid Asset Management, from 2002 until 2008, Lee was Head of Trading, Operations & Risk Management at Pacific Edge Investment Management, a $400 million long/short value hedge fund, where he developed myriad stock selection models and disciplined investment strategies while trading stocks, options, convertible bonds and distressed debt. He managed the firm’s trading and research relationships with over 50 firms and acted as liaison between external and internal research, analysts and portfolio managers, handling infrastructure decisions including evaluation and selection of prime brokers, execution brokers, trading systems, platforms, soft dollars, best execution and other fiduciary responsibilities for the firm’s domestic and offshore funds.
From 1999 to 2001, Lee was Senior Trader and Risk Manager at Bowman Capital Management, a US$6billion long/short growth hedge fund complex, where he was responsible for trading international shares, educating portfolio managers and analysts on the differences in trading in various international markets vs. domestic markets, and implementing execution and risk management strategies. During his time at Bowman, Lee traded U.S. and international equities and equity options and evaluated capital structure arbitrage opportunities.
Prior to Bowman, Lee held key roles at Robertson Stephens, Piper Jaffrey and Refco International, trading a wide array of hedging products, futures, OTC equities and testing mechanical trading strategies.
Lee conducted his MBA coursework at the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota (1998) and a in BA in Economics and International Relations from The American University (1993).
He is a frequent speaker on behavioural finance and investing, and lectures at various business schools including the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley.
