The GCW Team
Our team is geographically distributed in important hubs of financial market and investing activity.
David Bizer
Siggi Thorkelsson
Adam Domat
Svetlana Bryzgalova
Peter DeMarzo
Ramy Goldstein
Matthew Luckett
Peter Sabtchevsky
John R. Wickham
1 Knightsbridge Green, 5th Floor, London SW1X 7QA
David Bizer
Mr. Bizer is a co-founder of GCW Global Customised Wealth, where he oversees all aspects of the business.
Prior to founding GCW, Mr. Bizer was a Managing Partner at Jasper Ridge Partners, a California-based investment manager, where he contributed to all aspects of the firm’s investment strategy, with particular focus on portfolio construction, the firm’s risk factor overlay program and new product development.
Mr. Bizer serves on the Board of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the London School of Economics North American Advisory Board and is a Trustee of the Stanford Foundation (UK) Ltd. Previously, Mr. Bizer served on Nomura’s Wholesale Executive Committee and held various senior management positions at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Bizer has served on the Council of Economic Advisers under two U.S. Presidents. Additionally, he was a visiting assistant professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a visiting assistant professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Mr. Bizer has published articles in the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy and the Journal of Monetary Economics, among other periodicals and publications.
Mr. Bizer received his Ph.D. and MA in Economics from Stanford University and an AB from the University of Michigan.
Siggi Thorkelsson
Mr. Thorkelsson is a co-founder of GCW Global Customised Wealth, where he oversees all aspects of the business.
Prior to founding GCW, Mr. Thorkelsson co-founded and was Chairman of Fossar Investment Bank, an Icelandic Investment Bank that merged with VÍS, a Nasdaq Iceland listed insurance company in 2023. He has also been active as a founding investor in a number of companies, including Amaroq Minerals Ltd where he currently serves as a Non-executive Director.
Previously, Mr Thorkelsson had over 20 years’ experience in the banking and securities industry having held leadership positions at investment banks in New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Most recently, he was Head of Equities EMEA at Barclays Capital in London and a Director of Barclays Capital Securities Limited. Prior to that, he was Head of Equities Asia Pacific including Japan at Barclays and Nomura after having held a number of senior roles at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Thorkelsson has served as a Director of various listed and unlisted companies in Iceland, UK and Switzerland. He was appointed by the Government of Iceland, the Chairman of the government’s Advisory Committee on the elimination of currency controls in the aftermath of financial crises in Iceland and appointed by the Minister of Culture as the Chairman of the Board of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Thorkelsson holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iceland and an M.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University.
Tim Babich
Tim Babich is focused on direct and co-investments at GCW and serves on the investment committee. In addition to his role at GCW, Tim is the founder and CEO of Nexxus Holdings, an investment firm primarily dedicated to managing his personal investments. Tim is also founder and director of the RUNX1 Research Program, a non-profit grant-funding and advocacy foundation for patients with the inherited blood cancer disorder, RUNX1 Familial Platelet Disorder.
Tim was the founder and CEO of Fortelus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar London-based hedge fund focused on special situations and distressed debt. During the life of Fortelus Capital, its returns consistently outperformed peers, and it won the 2009 Eurohedge Fund of the Year Award. Tim also founded and served as Chairman of FCM Bank, a Malta-based online bank which was founded in 2012 and ultimately sold to a European payments platform in 2017.
Prior to founding Fortelus Capital Management, Tim was a member at Silver Point Capital General Partner, a Greenwich, CT-based multi-billion dollar hedge fund. As the fund’s first employee after the CEO/founder, Tim helped grow Silver Point from its initial capital to a multi-billion business. He then relocated to London to help establish the Silver Point office. Tim began his career at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking division.
Tim graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics and an M.B.A. in Finance as well as a B.A.S. in Computer Sciences from the School of Engineering. He currently serves on the Board of the Management and Technology Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
Svetlana Bryzgalova
Svetlana Bryzgalova is Assistant Professor of Finance at London Business School. Svetlana earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 2015 and became Assistant Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business before returning to London in 2018. Svetlana’s research focuses on adapting cutting-edge statistics and machine learning tools for asset allocation and tests of cross-sectional asset pricing models. She’s a regular speaker in both academic and industry conferences, won the award for Best Paper in Asset Pricing at SFS Cavalcade 2020, and was a co-organizer of the virtual research forum “AI and Big Data in Finance” (https://www.abfr-forum.org).
Peter DeMarzo
Peter DeMarzo is the Staehelin Family Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the current President of the American Finance Association and has served as the past President of the Western Finance Association. He has published research on corporate investment and financing, asset securitization, financial contracting, and market regulation. Recent work has examined the optimal design of securities, dynamic compensation mechanisms, regulation of insider trading and broker-dealers, bank capital regulation, and the influence of information asymmetries on corporate disclosures and investment. He is co-author of the leading corporate finance textbook, and has served as associate editor of the Review of Financial Studies, Financial Management, and B.E. Journals of Economic Analysis and Policy.
Before joining Stanford, Peter was on the faculty of U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution. DeMarzo received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1989 and M.S. in Operations Research in 1985 from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Cognitive Science and in Applied Mathematics in 1984 from U.C. San Diego.
Ramy Goldstein
Ramy Goldstein is a pioneer of data-driven businesses in finance. He was a co-founder of IVC, one of the first movers in Europe in high-frequency trading in 2003, a firm he then headed for 10 years. Previously, Ramy was vice chairman at the Union of Switzerland (UBS Limited) in London where he founded UBS’ global equity derivatives division. Ramy held various other senior positions at UBS and at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in New York, Tokyo and London. Currently, Ramy invests, advises and mentors in data-driven activities in other sectors.
Ramy has a long and successful track record of creating and operating profitable businesses using his deep, hands-on expertise in enterprise risk management and finance. He received his Ph.D., M.Phil. and M.A. degrees in economics from Yale University, where his Ph.D. thesis adviser and mentor was the late Professor Steve Ross whose work reshaped the field of financial economics. He received his B.A. in economics from Cambridge University. He is a founding member of the Foundation of the Advancement of Research in Financial Economics and an Inaugural Member of the Yale Development Council.
Matthew Luckett
Matthew Luckett is focused on direct and co-investments at GCW and serves on the firm’s investment committee. In addition to his role with GCW, Matt is also co-founder and a general partner of Lampros Capital, an alternative investment firm focused on special situations and technology-enabled private credit.
Most recently, Matt was a general partner of Balestra Capital, Ltd., a multi-billion dollar global macro investment firm, where he was responsible for portfolio strategy, research and portfolio risk supervision. During his tenure, Balestra was ranked in the top 10 best-performing macro funds (5-10 year track record) globally by HRFI.
Prior to Balestra Capital, Matt was a Principal and a Wall Street Journal-rated equities research analyst at Soundview Technology Group and a technology industry analyst at Gartner Group, where he covered software, data analytics and applications development. Matt has been a direct investor in over 40 private companies and real estate projects. He has held numerous board seats for private companies and non-profit organizations.
Matt graduated with honors from Georgetown University where he received the George F. Baker Scholarship and was a trustee of the scholarship as an alumnus. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Georgetown Scholars Program, which supports first-generation students and he previously served on the Georgetown College Board of Advisors. He is an accomplished marathoner and an All-America age-group triathlete and Ironman, and competed for Team USA at the 2014 World Championships.
Peter Sabtchevsky
Peter Sabtchevsky is a Principal at GCW Global Customised Wealth and a member of the quantitative analytics team, where he has responsibility for quantitative analytics, portfolio construction modelling, and risk management.
Prior to joining GCW Global Customised Wealth in 2018, Peter was a Ph.D. Researcher at the Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics, focused on quantitative investment management. Previously, Peter worked as an investment analyst at Invest Fund Management where he was responsible for asset allocation and portfolio management. Prior to that, Peter was at Goldman Sachs (Japan) and the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ.
Peter received his Ph.D. in Finance in 2018 and M.Res. in Finance in 2015 from the London School of Economics. He received his M.A. in Mathematical Finance in 2013 and B.A. in Finance in 2012 from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.
Adam Domat
Adam Domat is a partner at GCW focused on investment activity across all asset classes. Adam serves on the firm’s investment and portfolio construction committees and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Most recently, Adam was a Principal at Jasper Ridge Partners, a California-based investment manager, where he focused on portfolio construction, the firm’s risk factor overlay program and investment selection in Marketable investments. He helped develop Jasper Ridge’s portfolio construction models and served on that firm’s portfolio construction committee.
Previously, Adam was an analyst at Morgan Stanley, where he advised on, structured and executed interest rate and foreign exchange risk management strategies on behalf global corporate clients.
Adam holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Finance from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Adam is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.
John R. Wickham
John Wickham is a founding partner of Collwick Capital, a private investment firm founded in April 2010 and based in Charlotte, N.C. He is involved in all aspects of the business including manager selection, portfolio construction, investor relations and day-to-day operations.
Prior to founding Collwick, John held numerous senior global management roles in the Equities, Equity Derivatives and Prime Services businesses at Lehman Brothers (and subsequently Barclays Capital) from 1992 to 2009. In addition to his operating responsibilities, he also was a member of the Firm’s Management Committee, the Equity Executive Committee, and the Fixed Income Operating Committee. From 1985 to 1992, John held various positions in corporate derivative sales and structured finance for Bankers Trust Company in New York.
John graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1984 with a double major in Economics and History. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
Currently, John serves on the Board of Trustees at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va. and is a member of the investment committee. He is also a member of the vestry at Christ Church in Charlotte, N.C. Previously, he was a board member and chair of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at The University of North Carolina and a board member and chair at The Relatives, an organization serving at risk youth.