Fourteen months after leaving the CEO job at GAM, Alex Friedman is back. He is going into business with a former colleague at the Swiss asset manager.
Alex Friedman, ex-CEO of GAM, is launching a think tank, Jackson Hole Economics, together with Larry Hathaway, according to the latter's Linkedin status. Hathaway, who left the battered Swiss asset manager in August, and Friedman worked together at UBS before reuniting at GAM.
It is Friedman's first foray back into business after leaving Zurich-based GAM in November of 2018. The economist-turned-CEO's handling of an internal whistleblower was heavily criticized. GAM's future under new CEO Peter Sanderson remains uncertain, as finews.com reported.
Past Mistakes
It isn't immediately clear what the new venture, first reported by trade publication «Citywire», will do. A mission statement on Hatheway's LinkedIn profile said the think tank's goal would be to mull «what has gone wrong over the past 25 years, as well as to illuminate what has gone right, to articulate the implications for economics, politics, the environment, and finance.»
Friedman and Hatheway said they also want to offer suggestions on how to grow sustainably and inclusively. Friedman spent nearly five years as UBS' private banking investment chief, while Hatheway was chief economist for its investment bank for 23 years. Friedman's illustrious credentials include a stint in the Clinton White House and degrees from elite universities Columbia and Princeton.
