Marquette finance students had an opportunity to learn about
Racon Capital Partners’ investment strategies and approaches
The students in Dr. David Krause’s investment classes were able
to hear from Mike Keough and Jackie Darr of Racon Capital Partners – a Milwaukee-based
hedge fund.
Dr. Krause said, “We learned
about how Racon, a global macro investment firm, employs a systematic and
quantitative investment approach. Without going deeply into their strategy, we
learned about their platform that seeks to anticipate correlation shifts and
market environments.”
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| Mike Keough, Jackie Darr and Dr. Krause in Marquette's AIM Room |
“Citing instances since the Financial Crisis, Mike and Jackie
gave the students examples of how asset classes react to economic information
at different speeds. Showing how correlations can change quickly and how information
can be gleaned from various finance futures, they gave us an appreciate of the importance
of identifying key market signals,” Krause commented. “And using the current holdings in the AIM
Funds, Mike and Jackie generated a report that showed the students how to interpret
the various multi-factor measures of risk that can impact the portfolios.”
“This visit was another example of the value of applied
learning. While text books are useful in presenting the theory behind a strategy,
until you hear from the people that are implementing the strategies you really
don’t have an understanding of all the elements that are involved in the
process.”
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| Mike Keough, Founder and CIO of Racon Capital Partners |
Mike Keough is the Founding Principal and Chief Investment
Officer of Racon Capital. He oversees the firm’s investment strategies, capital
allocation and corporate governance. Prior to forming Racon Capital in 2013,
Mike was a Principal at Stark Investments where he spent 16 years trading event
equity, distressed, convertible arbitrage, equity derivatives, commodities and
was ultimately responsible for managing the firm’s Global Macro Strategies.
Before joining Stark in 1996, Mike was a Senior Trader for
Cargill, Inc. Mike holds a Masters of Business Administration from the
University of Chicago Booth School of Business (1994) and a Bachelor in
Business Administration from the University of Iowa College of Business (1986).
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| Jackie Darr, President and COO of Racon Capital Partners |
Jackie Darr is a Principal and Chief Operating Officer of
Racon Capital. She is responsible for all matters related to business and
strategic planning. Jackie brings to Racon over a decade of industry
experience. Prior to joining Racon, she was Co-Head of Business Development and
served as Chief Administration Officer with oversight of Investor Relations,
Human Capital and Corporate Operations at Stark Investments, a global multi-asset
alternative investment manager.
Prior to joining Stark in 2006, Jackie held
various management positions with Novo Recruiting and Strong Investments, and
she also previously ran her own recruiting and human capital consulting firm.
Jackie holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lake Forest College (1997).
