Firm Management
Terence R. Kooyker – Co-Founder, Partner, CEO, CRO
• Co‐founded Valent after serving as a Managing Director, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Blenheim Capital Management (BCM), which he joined as a research analyst and trader in October 2007 following graduate school
• At Blenheim, initially specialized in precious metals and, since, has since diversified his commodity coverage to include most sectors of the commodity complex. Led Blenheim’s expansion into new markets such as freight, energy basis, rhodium, iridium, rare earth elements and other physical markets
• From 2015 to 2019, served on BCM’s allocation committee, which determined PM allocations of the $9 billion in peak assets
• Graduated with honors from Columbia Business School with an MBA, with distinction from Oxford University with an MSc in Physiology, and Brown University with a BSc in Neuroscience
Augustine (“Gus”) Rossi – CFO, Managing Director
• Previous to Valent, Senior Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and a minority owner of Blenheim Capital Management, which he joined in April 2006 and was responsible for administrative and financial matters at the firm
• From September 1999 to March 2006, Vice President and the Controller of Financial and Taxation Reporting at DPM Mellon, LLC and its predecessor, Derivatives Portfolio Management LLC, where he was responsible for all clients’ monthly and annual financial reporting to investors, as well as managing all year‐end audits and tax return data, with a staff of over 54 accountants
• From September 1997 to September 1999, Supervisor of the Taxation Department at Caxton, where his responsibilities included the managing of the tax staff, researching tax compliance issues, and preparing tax returns for all entities in the Caxton umbrella of funds
• Graduated from The University of Scranton with a BA in business and received CPA certificate from the state of Pennsylvania
Anne S. Forbes – Head of Investor Relations
• Joined Valent at inception with responsibility for investor relations
• Prior to Valent, member of the investor relations team at Blenheim Capital Management, L.L.C. from August 2014 through September 2019. Joined Blenheim from Deutsche Bank Inc. where she was responsible for U.S. listed derivative clearing and was both a relationship manager and product specialist for listed derivatives and OTC clearing. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2007, Ms. Forbes started her career as an Associate in the listed derivative space at Morgan Stanley
• Graduated from the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University in Maryland with a BA in International Business and a minor in Spanish
Matt Griffith – Head of Operations
• Leads middle office duties and trade processing for the firm and assists risk, compliance and accounting functions, as well as portfolio management/front office, on matters involving Valent’s trading operations
• Prior to Valent, Operations Manager at Blenheim Capital Management since December 2007. Joined Blenheim from Stonebrook Structured Products, a commodities-based hedge fund, as a back office analyst. Prior to joining Stonebrook, Mr. Griffith started his career as a monthly reconciliation associate at Derivatives Portfolio Management in August 1998
• Mr. Griffith graduated from Kutztown University with a BS in Finance
Managed By a Diverse and Experienced Team
Fund Management
James (“Jay”) Tatum – Co-Founder, Portfolio Manager
• Co‐founded Valent after serving as a Portfolio Manager at Blenheim Capital Management
• 14 years of experience as a metals trader, first as a proprietary trader and then as a portfolio manager
• Previously portfolio manager at Millennium Management, The Carlyle Group/Vermillion Asset Management and Susquehanna International Group
• Joined Vermillion in 2011 to head and manage risk across all of the firm’s funds in base and precious metals. In 2014, launched Vermillion’s Aeris Metals Fund
• BS in Computer Science from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain
Ingrid Sternby – Senior Analyst, Base Metals
• 20+ years of experience researching base metals
• Previously worked as a base metals research analyst at Blenheim Capital Management, Brevan Howard, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and UBS
• BsC in Business Administration and Economics from Stockholm University and Sorbonne Paris I Pantheon
Arlette Umuhoza – Senior Analyst, Precious Metals
• 5 years of experience Trading & Researching precious metals and energy E&P
• Joined Blenheim Capital Management in 2013 as a research analyst focusing on platinum group metals and energy prior to joining Valent
• BsC in Computer Science from Oklahoma Christian University, Masters in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School
Lisa Leon – Quantitative Analyst, Chief Software Architect
• Joined Blenheim Capital Management in 2011 where she programmed, developed and maintained the firm’s risk and allocation systems, and also created quantitative analysis and trading models
• Previously a partner and Director of Integration at Investor Analytics (IA), a SaaS provider of risk management tools for the hedge fund industry, where she was responsible for designing the back-end platform for appropriate modeling and proxies
• Formerly, Associate in the Hedge Fund Administration at Derivative Portfolio Management (DPM), where she was Vice President of the Futures and FX technology platform and managed a coding team of 20 people
• B.S in Computer Science / BA in Economics and Rutgers University
Managed By a Diverse and Experienced Team
Fund Management
James (“Jay”) Tatum – Co-Founder, Portfolio Manager
• Co‐founded Valent after serving as a Portfolio Manager at Blenheim Capital Management
• 17+ years of experience as a metals trader, first as a proprietary trader and then as a portfolio manager
• Previously portfolio manager at Millennium Management, The Carlyle Group/Vermillion Asset Management and Susquehanna International Group
• Joined Vermillion in 2011 to head and manage risk across all of the firm’s funds in base and precious metals. In 2014, launched Vermillion’s Aeris Metals Fund
• BA in Computer Science from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain
Ingrid Sternby – Senior Analyst, Base Metals
• 20+ years of experience researching base metals
• Previously worked as a base metals research analyst at Blenheim Capital Management, Brevan Howard, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and UBS
• BsC in Business Administration and Economics from Stockholm University and Sorbonne Paris I Pantheon
Donna Vareha-Walsh - Head of Physicals Trading
• 22+ years of experience in minor and base metals trading and procurement
• Director of Indium Corporation from 2015 – 2022. Led the Trading business and grew the global trading arm of Indium Corp’s Metals, Compounds, Reclaim and Recycling business unit. Oversaw the Global Supply Chain and International Trade Compliance, a role that encompassed all procurement, inventory and logistics activities
• Prior to 2015, served as Director of Global Procurement for a global premium alloy company and Director of Metallurgical Operations and Procurement for a global tungsten-based business
• BS in Finance from Duquesne University and MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. C.P.A.
• Former Chairwoman of the Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA), Board Member of the American Tin Trade Association
Arlette Umuhoza – Senior Analyst, Precious Metals
• 5 years of experience Trading & Researching precious metals and energy E&P
• Joined Blenheim Capital Management in 2013 as a research analyst focusing on platinum group metals and energy prior to joining Valent
• BsC in Computer Science from Oklahoma Christian University, Masters in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from Columbia Business School
Lisa Leon – Quantitative Analyst, Chief Software Architect
• Joined Blenheim Capital Management in 2011 where she programmed, developed and maintained the firm’s risk and allocation systems, and also created quantitative analysis and trading models
• Previously a partner and Director of Integration at Investor Analytics (IA), a SaaS provider of risk management tools for the hedge fund industry, where she was responsible for designing the back-end platform for appropriate modeling and proxies
• Formerly, Associate in the Hedge Fund Administration at Derivative Portfolio Management (DPM), where she was Vice President of the Futures and FX technology platform and managed a coding team of 20 people
• B.S in Computer Science / BA in Economics and Rutgers University
Soujanya (Souji) Duggirala – Analyst
• Joined Valent in January 2023 as an Analyst to contribute fundamental and quantitative data analysis, maintain existing models, and create/present novel models and trade ideas to the CIO
• Previously a Quantitative Researcher Intern at Soros Fund Management, a Data Scientist at IBM, and a Summer Analyst in Quantitative Analytics at Bank of America Corporation
• BS in Industrial & Systems Engineering, Minor in Economics from Georgia Institute of Technology, MS in Financial Engineering with a Concentration in Machine Learning from Columbia University
Firm Management
Terence R. Kooyker – Co-Founder, Partner, CEO, CRO
• Co‐founded Valent after serving as Partner, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Blenheim Capital Management (BCM), which he joined in October 2007
• At Blenheim, diversified his commodity coverage to include most sectors of the commodity complex. Led Blenheim’s expansion into coal, minor precious metals, rare earth elements and other physical metal markets, and energy basis
• From 2016, as Partner, he helped oversee the Firm's overall risk exposure and operation, and served on BCM’s allocation committee which determined PM allocations of the $9 billion in peak assets
• Graduated with honors from Columbia Business School with an MBA, with distinction from Oxford University with an MSc in Science and Medicine of Athletic Performance, and Brown University with a BSc in Neuroscience
• Serves as Senior Advisor to the World Bank for Sustainable Development in South America
Augustine (“Gus”) Rossi – CFO, Managing Director
• Previous to Valent, Senior Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and a minority owner of Blenheim Capital Management, which he joined in April 2006 and was responsible for administrative and financial matters at the firm
• From September 1999 to March 2006, Vice President and the Controller of Financial and Taxation Reporting at DPM Mellon, LLC and its predecessor, Derivatives Portfolio Management LLC, where he was responsible for all clients’ monthly and annual financial reporting to investors, as well as managing all year‐end audits and tax return data, with a staff of over 54 accountants
• From September 1997 to September 1999, Supervisor of the Taxation Department at Caxton, where his responsibilities included the managing of the tax staff, researching tax compliance issues, and preparing tax returns for all entities in the Caxton umbrella of funds
• Graduated from The University of Scranton with a BS in Accounting and received CPA certificate from the state of Pennsylvania
Anne S. Forbes – Head of Investor Relations
• Joined Valent at inception with responsibility for investor relations
• Prior to Valent, member of the investor relations team at Blenheim Capital Management, L.L.C. from August 2014 through September 2019. Joined Blenheim from Deutsche Bank Inc. where she was responsible for U.S. listed derivative clearing and was both a relationship manager and product specialist for listed derivatives and OTC clearing. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2007, Ms. Forbes started her career as an Associate in the listed derivative space at Morgan Stanley
• Graduated from the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University in Maryland with a BA in International Business
Matt Griffith – Head of Operations
• Leads middle office duties and trade processing for the firm and assists risk, compliance and accounting functions, as well as portfolio management/front office, on matters involving Valent’s trading operations
• Prior to Valent, Operations Manager at Blenheim Capital Management since December 2007. Joined Blenheim from Stonebrook Structured Products, a commodities-based hedge fund, as a back office analyst. Prior to joining Stonebrook, Mr. Griffith started his career as a monthly reconciliation associate at Derivatives Portfolio Management in August 1998
• Mr. Griffith graduated from Kutztown University with a BS in Finance