In 2007, Alan Brazil started a strategy group at Goldman that offered both internal and external investors a perspective on macro themes. Clients thought his views added value because they were unique versus their current sources of macro thinking.  They thought that Alan combined the perspectives of an economist, a trader, a trading desk risk manager and a researcher to create a single consistent views of macro themes and provided asymmetric trade ideas to position for those themes. Over the years many of those views and recommended positioning have been successful. One such example became public in November 2011 when the Wall Street Journal published a piece on my negative views on European Banks, which was the opposite of the house research view at the time.  Part of the success of Alans ideas can be attributed to his learning about the art of investing from many of the top investors in the world from long/short equity hedge funds to large real money asset managers. One of those painful but crucial lessons was adding probably the most important part of any trade:   identifying a catalyst that would drive the realization of a trade.      

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Strategist and Desk Risk Manager

• Head of Cross Asset/Hedge Fund Strategies, Goldman Sachs, 2007-2016

• Head of Mortgage Strategies, Goldman Sachs, 2001-2007

 

Research

• MD and Head of Mortgage Research, Goldman Sachs, 1994-2001

• Head of Mortgage Product Management, Lehman Brothers 1991-94

 

Trader

• Headed Treasury and Mortgage option desk at First Boston, 1990-91

• Headed Mortgage options desk, GNMA trader, Citibank, 1987-90

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Economist

• Financial markets briefer for Chairman Volker, Board of Governors of The Federal Reserve 1984-87

• Phd in Economics, University of Chicago, 1986