Before founding Summerwood Phil was co-founder and President of Polar Securities Inc., a Toronto based registered securities dealer managing hedge funds since 1991. In addition to Chairing the Portfolio Management Committee and being Head of Risk Management at Polar, he managed the company’s growth from $65 million in assets in 2000 to over $525 million in 2005.
Drawing on his background in the industry Phil also applies his knowledge and experience to the governance function of hedge funds. He acts as a director of fund companies and fund management companies for a number of European based fund managers.
Phil has participated on a number of regulatory and industry committees. Among many he is a past Chairman of the Alternative Investment Management Association - Canada (AIMA Canada) and was Vice Chair of the Market Rules Advisory Committee of IIROC, the regulator for trading in Canadian equity markets.
Phil Schmitt is a Chartered Financial Analyst and graduated with a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 1980.
Faran Siddiqui is a Portfolio Manager with Summerwood Capital Corp. and President of Tradewinds Capital Management Inc.
Prior to joining Summerwood, Faran Siddiqui worked as the VP, Systems, Strategies, and Investments at Norstar Securities Inc. for a brief period from November 2007 to April 2008. From January 2003 to October 2007, Faran worked as a Trading Strategist for Polar Securities Inc., a hedge fund manager since 1991. Preceding this, Faran specialized in consulting in the areas of Risk Management and algorithmic trading systems for a variety of firms including TD Canada Trust, CIBC, and Polar Securities Inc. Earlier in his career, he worked as the Treasury Risk Position Manager for Canada Trust where his primary function was to create the daily Financial and Risk Position for the bank. Faran began his full time working career in the financial industry in 1994 working as a systems analyst for the Asset/Liability Management Group.
Faran Siddiqui graduated with a Bachelors of Applied Science from the Engineering Science program at the University of Toronto in 1994.