Leadership Team
Shlomi Raz - Founding Partner
Shlomi is the Founding Partner of Aardvark Associates from 2009. Having worked in the financial industry, Shlomi’s experience working at an investment bank provides for an appreciation for the challenges of hiring from outside the firm as well as having a deep understanding of buy-side considerations, given years of buy-side interaction and execution. Shlomi’s area of expertise lies in sales/marketing, trading, securitization, principal investment, and research across all asset classes.
Shlomi was Head of Structured Products Marketing at Goldman Sachs overseeing a team of more than 25 professionals. He was responsible for the development of Structured Credit Marketing/Structuring/Sales and Cross-Asset Hedge Fund Marketing. Before that Shlomi was Head of credit hybrids, interest rate derivates marketing at JPMorgan.
Johnny Rainton - Director
ABS & Asset Finance
Johnny is a Director at Aardvark Associates in New York, and was hired in 2013. He has built a specialization in Structured Finance working across securitization and structured credit. Expertise includes banking, sales, trading, structuring, and analytics. Johnny has a depth knowledge across all asset classes such as MBS, ABS, CMBS, and CLO/CDOs. Over the years, Johnny has helped developed and maintained numerous global client and candidate relationships across both leading investment banks and private and public investing firms. Johnny earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford Brookes University and a Masters from Ohio University.
Oliver Reed - Director
Energy Infrastructure & Private Credit
Oliver brings over fourteen years of financial recruiting experience to his role as a Director at Aardvark Associates. Oliver joined Aardvark in 2012 and was hired to build out the firm's fixed income business and is now responsible for managing the energy & infrastructure and Private credit business. Oliver started his career at Tardis Group where he worked as a Junior Researcher for their equities business. After spending 1-year gaining insights into the world of executive search, Oliver was hired by Globency as a junior recruitment consultant and was instrumental in building out their business and presents in the equities and fixed income space. Oliver graduated from Oxford Brooks with a BS in Languages for Business.
Judy Chu - Director
Investment Banking & Asset Finance
Judy brings over five years of professional experience to her role at Aardvark Associates and is currently focused on Investment Banking hires across leveraged finance, M&A, restructuring,. She graduated from Hunter College with a BS and began her career in sales at the Conference board. Her strong communication and sales experience help make the switch to executive recruitment and has helped Judy foster strong relationships with both clients and candidates.
Ashley Hamilton - Director
Credit/Private Credit
Ashely has been at Aardvark Associates since 2015 and was hired to build out the firm's credit business. Ashley’s strong experience and knowledge of the industry combined with his strong interpersonal skills have made him very successful at originating new business, understanding client's needs, and accurately assessing candidates. Ashley has built a strong reputation in this market across the sell-side and buy-side among top-tier banks, hedge funds, and alternative asset managers. He holds a BA from Michigan University in Economics & Finance.