The founding partners of Forefront have brought their expertise from previous, highly successful entrepreneurial and institutional trading ventures. Most notable of these is Pali Capital, a leader in providing independent value added institutional brokerage and research services for the hedge fund industry. With this collective Wall Street. experience, they have developed a model that meets the needs of today’s sophisticated investor. The partners have known each other since the early 1990s.
Bradley Reifler – Founder and CEO
Bradley Reifler was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pali Capital Inc., an NASD member firm. Pali was acquired by the Euram Group in 2001, but repurchased in March 2007, whereby he became Chairman. During this period, Pali Capital grew into a company with revenues of over $200 million per year, more than 200 employees and offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Austria, Singapore and Latin America.
Reifler resigned his duties from Pali and, in 2009 became the Chief Executive Officer of Forefront Advisory, a global financial services firm. In 1982, he founded Reifler Trading Corporation, a firm engaged in the execution of global derivatives, which was sold to Refco, Inc. in 2000. In 1992, Brad founded Reifler Capital Management, a commodity pool advisor focused on commodity-based and foreign exchange trading strategies. From 1995 until 2000, he managed Refco, Inc.'s Institutional Sales Desk, where he was responsible for sales and execution of global derivatives, foreign exchange, and creating custom investment programs for institutional and high-net-worth clients. Brad serves on multiple corporate boards and advisory boards. He is also a Trustee of the Millbrook School and Chairman of the Finance Committee. Brad received his degree from Bowdoin College.
Luis was the Senior Managing Director of Global Plus+ Investment Management (GPIM), an institutional and Private Wealth Advisor focused on fixed-income opportunities, from 2005 until January 2009. GPIM, a division of Pali Capital Inc. was sold to an international insurance and asset management group in February, 2009. Luis was a senior member of the Management Committee of Pali Capital Inc. from where he advised and worked with Forefront’s CEO Brad Reifler.
Luis began his career in finance in 1985 as a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch & Co, where from 1998 to 2005 he held a variety of roles, including responsibility for Central America, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and Israel. He left Merrill Lynch in December 2004 as Managing Director of the flagship International Private Client business which had 85 client advisors and $9 billion under advisory.
Luis is a member of the Investment Management Consultant’s Association and earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation in 2003.
Gustavo will lead Forefront Advisory’s international expansion where we find particularly exciting opportunities in rapidly developing countries. Gustavo has shown exemplary skills at creating networks and new businesses in Latin America.
Prior to moving to New York in 1996, Gustavo was the President of Fiduciaria BNC, an investment management company which supervised more than two billion USD in funds, trust funds and fiduciary projects.
Gustavo was a First Vice President at Merrill Lynch International’s Latin America Group from 1998 to 2005.He played a significant role in the firm’s expansion into the private client and institutional sales business in key markets in the region.
Before helping to found Forefront, Gustavo led the Global Products Group at Pali Capital Inc., a New York broker dealer focused on institutional clients. In his leadership role there, Gustavo successfully introduced the firm to fixed income structuring and issuance. He created and led a sales team that raised over four hundred million USD in assets for secured bank loan managers and twenty five million USD in firm capital for Pali.
Gustavo holds a Law Degree from Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Colombia and Masters In Business and International Affairs from Columbia University in New York.
From 1993-2002, David held significant roles of responsibility at the Pershing Division of Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette where he was a Business Unit Comptroller and also Chief Financial Officer of the Pershing Trading Company. During this period he also headed financial operations at REFCO Inc.
From 2002-2008, David was Chief Financial Officer and head of International Operations at Pali Capital Inc., successfully managing financial growth and expense control and overseeing expansion into London, Singapore and Latin America.
David has a demonstrated record of successfully managing financial and operations risk, and heads Corporate Risk Management for all Forefront companies.
Sambo has over 25 years experience in the Institutional Equities business as a producer and manager.
After 8 years in London with First Boston, and then UBS, focusing on European, Mid-Eastern, and Asian institutions, Sambo returned to New York in 1994 to manage the institutional equities business for UBS.
In 1998, Sambo joined SG Cowen, where he headed up the equity business, to include convertible arb, program trading, ADR's and options. While at SG Cowen, Sambo was a member of the Executive Committee, the Management Committee for Sociate Generale North America, as well as the Capital Markets Screening Committee.
After serving in Vietnam in the US Army, Sambo returned to school, and earned a BA from Hampden-Sydney College in International Relations.
Renee M. Noto - Senior Managing Director
Renee has been active in the financial services and hedge fund industries since 1989 and has been instrumental in advising many highly regarded hedge funds. From 2005 to 2008, Renee was the Founding and Managing Member of Talon Advisors, LLC, a fund of funds company where she was responsible for the investment and management of several funds. Prior to Talon, from 1998 to 2005, she was a founding partner of Narragansett Asset Management, a family of hedge funds with over $1 Billion in assets.
She began her career as a research analyst working for Peter Lynch at Fidelity Investments and served as a research analyst at several hedge funds before the founding of Narragansett.
Renee serves on investment committee of the Emma Willard School and the board of advisors of the Integrative Health Center at Greenwich Hospital.
Renee is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a Master Degree from Harvard University.
