Henry G. "Hank" Higdon, Managing Partner

Hank Higdon's experience in the executive recruiting industry spans 35 years, the first 15 of which were spent with Russell Reynolds Associates. At Russell Reynolds, Hank spent six years in New York before establishing and building the firm's Houston office. He then moved to Los Angeles to manage the firm's west coast operations that included offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Menlo Park. He served on the firm's five-person Executive Committee. In February 1986, Hank left to become Chairman and one of the founders of Higdon, Joys & Mingle, Inc., which evolved into Higdon Group, and now into Higdon Partners. Hank is a graduate of Yale University, and has been recognized as one of the top 100 executive search professionals in America in the book, Career Makers, published by Harper Collins, and is also included in The Global 200 Executive Recruiters, published by Jossey-Bass. For The Career Navigation Handbook: America's top executive recruiters on choosing and changing your career path published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 2004, Hank was selected to author the section on "Careers in Investment Management."

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Maryann Bovich, Partner

Maryann Bovich has 20 years of recruiting experience, the majority of which has been focused on senior level recruiting in the asset and wealth management fields. In addition to servicing traditional asset management clients, she has considerable experience working with alternative investment firms such as hedge funds, fund of funds, and private equity firms, in recruiting both investment and non-investment professionals. Maryann joined Higdon, Joys & Mingle in 1986, after having spent her earlier years overseeing the recruiting function in the Sales and Trading area at Bankers Trust Company in New York. Maryann is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.

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Jane Bierwirth, Partner

Jane Bierwirth joined the firm in 2004, having most recently served as a Managing Director in Korn/Ferry International’s New York office and a member of the firm’s global financial markets practice. Her search experience has been focused on recruiting investment, business development, and finance professionals for traditional and alternative asset management firms and family offices. Jane has a broad-based background in finance, having worked for more than 15 years for Chemical Banking Corporation in leveraged finance and private banking. Jane holds a B.A. from the University of Lancaster in England and an M.B.A. from Wharton.

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Derek Braddock, Partner

Derek Braddock joined the firm in 2005 and previously had over nine years of experience in financial services, predominantly in sales and product management roles. At Higdon Partners, his search experience has been focused on investment and sales/marketing professionals, notably in the alternative investments arena. Derek began his career at Lord, Abbett & Co. in mutual fund sales and marketing. He then joined Salomon Smith Barney, where he became an Assistant Vice President, Nasdaq Trading, specializing in high tech companies while working closely with research and research sales. After receiving his M.B.A. in 2000, he spent over four years at Charles Schwab Company in San Francisco with responsibility for overseeing Schwab Institutional's trading technology offering. Derek earned his B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

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David M. Cochran, Jr., Partner

Joining Higdon Partners in June 2006, David was previously associated with Spencer Stuart for more than five years, lastly as a founding member of the firm’s North American Human Resources Practice. He started at SpencerStuart in the Global Asset Management Practice representing global investment banks, institutional asset managers, hedge funds, insurance, and reinsurance companies, and was a member of the firm's global Hedge Fund Practice with responsibility for the firm’s North American hedge fund searches. David has search expertise in portfolio management, sell- and buy-side research, sales/marketing, risk management, back office/operations, trading, and human resources. Earlier in his career, he was a Sales Trader with Weeden & Company, an institutional equity broker, and also spent six years as a Vice President with Wilkinson Boyd Capital Markets, an institutional fixed income research/sales/trading boutique. David earned a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University in 1994, where he lettered in both varsity hockey and lacrosse, and resides in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife and two children.

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Joshua Zabar, Associate

Josh joined Higdon Partners in 2007 from Vista Research, a Standard & Poor’s business. At Vista, Josh was responsible for establishing and developing relationships with professionals at public and private organizations across all industry sectors. He actively recruited these individuals to serve as consultants for a client base consisting of traditional and alternative asset managers. Prior to Vista Research, Josh was a consultant to the world’s largest private industrial supplier, McMaster-Carr, in Los Angeles, California. His earlier experience includes a campaign funding role with the Office of United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in Washington D.C. Josh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, where he lettered in varsity baseball.

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Laurie Anne Eamma, Director of Research

Laurie Anne, who joined the firm in 2000, is involved in all phases of the search process, providing research on investment management firms (traditional and alternative), personnel movement, market/performance data, industry developments, etc. Prior to joining Higdon Partners, she served for six years as a real estate paralegal with several New York law firms, including Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, and has experience in the fields of social work and education. Laurie Anne is a cum laude graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University (TX), earning her B.A. degree in both English and Sociology.

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Lorraine Brennan, Partner -- Administration

Lorraine Brennan has been associated with the firm since 1989. She has oversight responsibility for all operations and administration. Earlier in her career, Lorraine served in the fields of education, insurance, travel, and community affairs. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from the College of Mount St. Vincent in Riverdale, New York.

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