By Sophie Lindqvist

Walleye Capital is hiring Balyasny chief equities strategist Jordan Tanner and Millennium's Anna Dev to rebuild its equity long-short desk, while Balyasny is reportedly preparing to take Millennium portfolio manager Antoine Iskandar — a manager who oversaw more than $600 million — from its rival. The two moves show how aggressively multi-strategy funds now trade talent among themselves.

The exchange of personnel runs wider than hedge funds. PJT Partners has recruited Riccardo Villa from Rede Partners as managing director; RBC Investor Services has hired securities finance trader Stewart Weatherill from Northern Trust; Morgan Stanley has named Victoria Hegan head of institutional structured derivative sales for the Americas; and Mayer Brown has added former CFTC senior special counsel Danielle Abada as a partner. Each hire targets a specific capability: private-markets structuring, securities lending capacity, derivatives distribution and regulatory coverage.

What does the Walleye–Balyasny sequence change?

Tanner, currently chief equities strategist at Balyasny, will work across fundamental equities, volatility and central strategies at Walleye. Dev, the second hire, will focus on recruiting investment talent and identifying external investment opportunities — a role that matters because Walleye is increasing allocations to external managers.

The hires replace capacity lost in September, when equity long-short executive Matt Giannini returned to Citadel.

On the other side of the trade, Balyasny is reportedly lining up Iskandar, a senior portfolio manager at Millennium based in Switzerland. According to Bloomberg reporting, Iskandar managed more than $600 million in strategies spanning equities, relative value and equity derivatives. He had previously explored launching his own investment firm. The appointment has not been formally confirmed.

Where does each hire land?

• PJT Partners — Riccardo Villa, managing director. Villa joins from Rede Partners, where he co-headed capital solutions after arriving in 2024. Before Rede, he spent nearly two decades at Lazard, working on private-markets financing, continuation vehicles and structured capital solutions. The appointment lands as private fund managers seek new liquidity options, NAV financing and alternative capital structures.
• RBC Investor Services — Stewart Weatherill, associate director, securities finance. Weatherill brings more than two decades of securities lending and trading experience. He spent roughly 10 years as a senior securities finance trader at Northern Trust, and before that 12 years in securities lending sales trading at Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank. Based in London, he reports to Chris Barrand, managing director and co-head of securities finance.
• Morgan Stanley — Victoria Hegan, head of institutional structured derivative sales, Americas. Hegan joins from Deutsche Bank, where she led investment solutions and commodities distribution for the Americas before departing in late September. She spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs in London and New York, moved to Miami-based crypto infrastructure firm Fireblocks in 2022 in corporate development, and returned to New York banking after 15 months, landing at Deutsche Bank in 2024.
• Mayer Brown — Danielle Abada, partner, Capital Markets, New York. Abada most recently served as senior special counsel in the CFTC's Market Participants Division and previously advised Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson. At the agency she worked on digital assets, prediction markets, event contracts, blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. She joins the firm's derivatives, structured products and fintech practices, advising institutions on regulatory matters.

Who is taking the top jobs?

Two chief executive transitions moved in the same week.

Mike Post announced on LinkedIn that he has been named CEO of BXS (Best Execution Solutions), a financial technology firm specializing in regulatory reporting, compliance and trade analytics for capital markets. Post was previously BXS's chief operating officer and managing partner, overseeing operations, sales, business development and strategic initiatives. He has served on the board of the Security Traders Association of New York and as an adviser to the Security Traders Association of Florida.

Bow River Capital promoted Greg Hiatrides to chief executive officer, succeeding founder Blair Richardson, who moves into the chairman's role after 23 years at the helm. Hiatrides joined the alternative asset manager in 2015 and most recently led its private equity business, building out its lower-middle-market investment platform. Richardson will continue supporting investor relationships and strategic development.

Nodal Exchange set its succession date far in advance: Demetri Karousos takes over as chief executive officer on March 16, 2027, succeeding Paul Cusenza, who retires the previous day after more than 19 years leading the exchange. Karousos currently serves as president and chief operating officer of Nodal Exchange and CEO of Nodal Clear, positions he retains. Cusenza remains chairman of the boards of both organizations. The CFTC-regulated exchange serves the electricity, natural gas and environmental derivatives markets.

What does Clearstream's appointment signal?

Philippe Mueller has been named head of digital products and transformation at Clearstream Fund Services, expanding a role he has held in various forms across more than 25 years with Clearstream and Deutsche Börse Group. He previously served as executive director and head of the transformation office and digital.

His new responsibilities cover four areas:

• digital fund distribution;
• distributed-ledger-enabled processing;
• transfer agency innovation;
• private-markets automation.

The appointment places Mueller at the center of Clearstream's effort to modernize fund infrastructure as tokenization and blockchain-based processing gain traction across asset management.

Why the bench-building now?

Read together, the moves sort into three pressures. Funds need portfolio managers with proven capacity — hence the bidding for Iskandar and the Tanner-Dev pair. Banks and servicers need product specialists as structured products, private markets and securities financing grow — hence Villa, Weatherill and Hegan. And firms facing rulemaking on digital assets and AI want regulators who wrote the policy inside the building — hence Abada.

Iskandar's reported book of more than $600 million is the number that anchors the hedge fund contest; the CFTC pedigree is the asset that anchors the law firm hire. Expect the exchange of strategists between multi-strategy funds to continue while allocated capital chases proven managers.