Opportunities And Risks, Hedge Fund Strategies

Risk and opportunity.

For investors, understanding the opportunities and risks of hedge fund strategies is of paramount importance.

Panelists at the Southeast Chapter of HFA on Thursday, Oct. 28, will provide insights about where fund of hedge funds managers expect returns to be generated in the months ahead, and how high-net-worth investors should approach due diligence and selection.

Moderator is Mitch Ackles, CEO, Hedge Fund PR and director, Hedge Fund Association.

Investors and managers may register for $25; service providers, $100.

Space is limited. For details, membership or directions to this session at The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, Manalapan, Florida, visit www.thehfa.org.

Panelists include Brian Daly, partner, Rockmore Capital, LLC; David Friedland, president, Magnum U.S. Investments and president, Hedge Fund Association; Harry Haynes III, founding partner, FISCO, LLC and managing director, FISCO Investment Management; Kevin Simpson, president and CCO, Capital Wealth Planning, LLC; Mike Williams, founder and president, Access Fund Management.

Wagner Elected To Bankers' Bank Northeast Board

William Wagner, president and CEO of Chicopee Savings Bank, Chicopee, Mass., has been elected to the Bankers’ Bank Northeast board of directors.

“I remember Bill’s comment at our annual meeting several years ago, when he challenged attending shareholder banks to follow his bank’s lead by using all the pertinent services we offer,” said Peter Sposito, president and CEO of Bankers’ Bank Northeast. “He made a great impression on us then, and I know Bill’s commercial loan experience will enhance our Board’s expertise in that important segment of our activities.”

Wagner, a resident of Longmeadow, Mass., has been president of Chicopee Savings Bank since 1984. Previously, he spent 18 years with Park West Bank, West Springfield, Mass.

Bankers’ Bank Northeast, based in Glastonbury, Conn., serves more than 200 community banks throughout New England and New York state. Nationally, there are 20 bankers’ banks that work with more than 6,000 community banks in all 50 states.

Reveal Imaging Tech Awarded Airport Contract

Reveal Imaging Technologies has signed a $3.9 million contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for developing an enhanced personnel inspection system for U.S. airports.

The technology will combine multiple sensors with automated detection technology.

To develop the screening system, the company will use a combination of broadband acoustic sensors and broadband active millimeter wave sensors.

The company corporate headquarters is located in Bedford, Mass.

Michael Ellenbogen is president CEO, and co-founder. Prior to Reveal, he served as vice president of product and business development for PerkinElmer Detection Systems where he oversaw the R&D, engineering and marketing efforts.

Dr. Richard Bijjani is chief technology officer, and has been a thought leader in security technology for nearly 20 years. In 1990, he managed R&D during the development of a dynamic signature verification product at Kumahira Inc., one of the very first biometrics products in the industry. Bijjani has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

CEO: People You Should Know

Guggenheim Partners (GP) has appointed Alan Schwartz as executive chairman, to "help develop the firm’s banking and trading businesses while building its established investment management unit."

Schwartz will also supervise around $100 billion in asset management and advisory accounts at GP, which is a global, independent, privately held, diversified financial services firm with more than $100 billion in assets under supervision.

He was previously the CEO of Bear Stearns.

Transfer of Wealth? Or Innovative Economy

Projected oil use cost and importation over the next 10 years is $10 trillion. That's the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.

American ingenuity applied to any problem usually serves up net results. During war, innovations are forced into reality due to necessity. Humans working literally under the gun, means improvisation with a real deadline.

According to a 1995 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, periods of high productivity run right beside periods of high job growth throughout the last half of the 20th century.

"An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage."

- Jack Welch
former CEO, General Electric

“Innovation leads to job growth directly and clearly,” said Robert Atkinson, president, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a non-partisan "think tank".

In a new ITIF report UC Davis scholars Fred Block and Mathew Keller analyzed a sample of innovations recognized by R&D Magazine as being among the top 100 innovations of the year over the last four decades. (See full report.)

The ITIF was launched in 2006 and is co-chaired by Jennifer Dunn and Calvin Dooley, former members of Congress.

The mission is to "formulate and promote public policies to advance technological innovation and productivity internationally, in Washington, and in the United States. Recognizing the vital role of technology in ensuring American prosperity, ITIF focuses on innovation, productivity, and digital economy issues."