Ms. Cooley joined Crestline in 1998 and is Managing Partner and CIO of Crestline Summit Strategies, a multi-strategy, multi-PM, market neutral hedge fund manager. She also serves on Crestline Inc.’s (parent company) Management Committee. A veteran in the alternative investment industry, Ms. Cooley has experience as a portfolio manager, risk manager and trader in equity, fixed income and derivative markets. Ms. Cooley previously was the CIO of Crestline’s Hedge Funds of Fund business, which grew to $4bn AUM at its peak, overseeing manager selection and portfolio management, since joining the firm. From 1986 through 1997, Ms. Cooley was a derivatives trader and risk manager with Taylor and Company, an investment firm associated with the Bass Family of Fort Worth, TX (one of the earliest multi-asset, multi-strategy alternative asset managers). Ms. Cooley began her career in the investment industry at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company (later merged into JP Morgan) where she specialized in futures markets in both New York and Chicago after receiving her BA in Economics from The College of William and Mary in 1983. Ms. Cooley serves on the Advisory Board of Texas Wall Street Women and the Investment Advisory Committee of Texas Employee Retirement System. Ms. Cooley serves on the Board of Directors of Catholic Charities of Fort Worth.
Mr. Arbour joined Crestline in 2007 and currently leads Crestline Summit Strategies including portfolio construction, strategic and tactical capital allocation, hedging and all underlying investment strategies. Prior to Summit's inception in 2015, he was the Head of Equity Strategies for Crestline Partners, the firm's fund of hedge funds. Prior to Crestline, Mr. Arbour was in the equities division at JPMorgan with a primary focus of generating and tailoring trades for hedge funds and institutional clients. His previous experience includes equity research at an institutional long-only investment firm. He holds a BBA in Finance from Texas Christian University, is a CFA charterholder, and is a member of the Dallas Fort Worth Society of Financial Analysts.
Alex Didych, CFA, FRM, PRM joined Crestline in 2007 and is Managing Director of Crestline’s Investment Risk team. Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Didych was Head of Market Risk Management, New York, at AMRO Bank N.V. Mr. Didych led the team responsible for the market risk management of trading activities that cover Credit, Local Markets, Equity and IR Derivatives Desks. In addition, he aggregated risk across the various products and trading desks to assess broader portfolio risks. Mr. Didych graduated summa cum laude with a M.S. in Applied Math-operations Research from National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Ukraine and also has a M.B.A. with high honors from the University of Chicago.
Melinda Lilly joined Crestline in 2015 and is the Chief Operating Officer for the Crestline Summit Equity Alpha fund. Prior to joining Crestline, Ms. Lilly was the Director of Operations at Paradigm Advisors with responsibilities in various capacities of the business including compliance, research, operations, and Investor Relations. Prior to joining Paradigm Advisors, Ms. Lilly was a Financial Representative at Fidelity Investments working in trading, client service, and branch operations, as well as serving as a point person to Fidelity’s high net worth clientele. Ms. Lilly graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Psychology from Lee University.
Scott Nelson joined Crestline Summit in 2022 and is a Managing Director, Head of Client Partnership Group. Mr. Nelson has 30+ years of investment industry leadership and distribution experience. In his role at Crestline Summit, he is responsible for distribution as well as investor and consultant relations. Prior to joining Crestline Summit, he was Global Co-Head of Business Development & Investor Relations at Eisler Capital. Previously, he was Head of the Investor Group at Autonomy Capital, a global multi-asset class, global macro alternative investment manager. Prior he was the Chief Operating Officer at Deephaven Capital Management, a global multi‐strategy alternative investment manager. Prior to Deephaven, Mr. Nelson was Chief Operating Officer at Provident Advisors LLC, a multi‐strategy alternative investment manager. He previously served as the Executive Vice President of Allianz Dresdner Asset Management where he was the head of the single strategy hedge fund business and as President of American Express Asset Management’s Advisory Capital Strategies Group, and Senior Managing Director of Alternative Investments where he led the single‐manager hedge fund and multi‐manager, fund of hedge funds businesses. Scott holds a B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College.
Mr. McGowan joined Crestline in 2020 and is the Deputy Chief Compliance Officer. He is also a member of the ESG Committee. Mr. McGowan was previously the Deputy Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Surveillance at Carlson Capital in Dallas from 2016 – 2020 overseeing the firm’s transactional compliance program and serving as a member of the firm’s Best Execution and Soft Dollar Committee and the Compliance Committee. From 2008 – 2016, Mr. McGowan had worked on the Equities Compliance Advisory Teams of UBS, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan in New York providing compliance coverage and guidance to the cash equities, derivatives, and capital markets business lines. Mr. McGowan was a regular representative of his firms in various industry groups including SIFMA and FIF and served as the chairperson for JP Morgan’s Equities Best Execution Committee. Mr. McGowan is admitted to practice law in New York and Texas. Mr. McGowan received his JD at St. John’s University in 2006 and BA at the College of the Holy Cross in 2003.