The 20 Rising Stars of Fixed Income 2008

he said. “The fixed-income market is larger and more diverse, which should lead to more individual customization, not less.” A trained engineer, Rice began working in the fixed-income markets after earning his master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1989. He started out in institutional sales at Merrill Lynch in New York before heading west to join Union Bank of California in San Francisco as head of its fixed-income strategies group. He later took a job as director of taxable fixed-income trading at Stone & Youngberg LLC, also in San Francisco, for four years before moving to Seattle to join Davidson in early 2003. The key to success in any business is knowing what you do well and doing just that, Rice asserted. A car enthusi- ast, he pointed to the brands that have been successful over time as examples. Ferrari has been successful because it only produces a set number of sports cars per year, while Mercedes got off track when it bought Chrysler and tried to be all things to all people.“One thing that is great about Davidson is that we know what we want to do and what we do well,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t try new things or want to grow, but we do so within the principles of our underlying philosophy.” Looking ahead, Rice sees a fixedincome market that is much the same as it is now, with continuing innovation and the introduction of new products. The basic principals of client servicing are what are most impor tant, he maintained. “Products may come and go, but the basics of the business are pret- ty much the same,” he said. “Treat your clients well and keep their interests first, and everything else will take care of itself.” 18. RAMAN SRIVASTAVA Managing Director and Team Leader – Portfolio Construction and Quantitative Research Putnam Investments, Boston Age: 32 Education: University of Waterloo (B.S. in Mathematics and Actuarial Science); Carnegie Mellon University (M.S. in Computational Finance) Mentors: Rob Bloemker, Deputy Head of Investments and Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income, Putnam Investments; Kevin Cronin, Head of Investments, Putnam Investments; Bill Kohli, Team Leader – Portfolio Construction, Putnam Investments Srivastava is a managing director and team leader of the portfolio construction and quantitative research groups at Putnam Investments. He said he considers his job to be fastpaced, competitive and directly responsive to world political, economic and demographic trends – a combination he finds both challenging and satisfying. A chartered financial analyst, he joined Putnam’s fixed-income team in 1999 after a two-year stint as an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia. When approaching the fixed-income markets, Srivastava aims to emulate none other than Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett. He is particularly impressed with the way Buffett allocates capital, noting that the fixedincome team at Putnam has the ability to take a longer-term investment view than many of its competitors, a capability that he calls a ‘luxury.’ FIXED INCOME RISING STARS 23 18 . RAMAN SRIVASTAVA MAY 2008

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