Sandra Manzke

Sandra Manzke

Sandra Manzke is something of a legend in the hedge fund industry. The founder of Tremont Capital Management, she was an influential figure from the outset, with the knack of spotting talented managers such as Peter Lynch, founder of the Magellan fund, before they became famous.

Tremont was the first major investment consultancy to focus on hedge funds, making its first investment 20 years ago. Under Manzke, it developed the first market-cap-weighted hedge fund index.

Tremont?s history of doing things differently seems to be a direct reflection of Manzke?s somewhat iconoclastic character. There cannot be many investment consultants who joined the industry straight from film school nor could there have been many film students in the 1960s who worked their way through university on Wall Street.

?The creativity developed from going through arts school has always been a positive,? says Manzke. ?Tremont was the first to do many different things and they?ve taken on a life of their own.?

Another of Tremont?s firsts was setting up the Minority Equity Trust in 1990 which, backed by Bankers Trust and Chrysler, became the first fund of hedge funds made up exclusively of funds managed by women and ethnic minorities.