Hiring Talent Top Priority for Canyon Partners CTO
Christopher Borghi
Chief Technology Officer
Canyon Partners 2000 Avenue of the Stars, 11th Fl. Los Angeles, CA 90067
SIZE OF FIRM:
$20 billion in assets under management.
PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
CTO, Integrated Finance Limited; VP, global equity sales & trading, JPMorgan Chase; director, equity sales & trading, Credit Suisse First Boston; director of trading technology, Moore Capital Management; equity technology, Alliance Capital Management; application development, Salomon Brothers.
EDUCATION:
B.S. in computer science with a minor in physics, Ithaca College.
WHO WAS YOUR MENTOR?
It's hard to name one specific person. There have been many senior leaders with whom I was able to make a connection and get a lot of direction. I believe that the cross-pollination has been very positive for my career and personally.
WHO INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST IN YOUR CAREER?
Tom Sanzone at Salomon Brothers. The firm's culture and his leadership style have made a long-lasting impression -- hopefully, in a good way. It was a fabulous time of innovation, and there was terrific work and projects. It was my first job on Wall Street and it helped formulate a lot of my views on life as I moved through the workplace.
WHAT WORK EXPERIENCE HAD THE MOST LASTING IMPRESSION ON YOUR CAREER?
The five years that I worked for Salomon Brothers. The firm's culture, drive for innovation and the actual project work have all created a toolbox of experience that I leverage to this day. That was the part of my career when I was very hands-on, and it was a time when we had to build everything -- you couldn't buy it. We were doing a lot of state-of- the-art innovation, moving away from mainframe technology to client/server technology.
IN 2007 AND 2008, VMware was the emerging technology that became mainstream. The next thing beyond that will be more wireless convergence, and we're keeping an open mind as to how that might affect business workflow. As far as nontechnology changes, we see a trend toward more derivatives products, especially in the alternative investment space. There's also a fundamental push to raise the bar in terms of operational excellence.
IN 2007 AND 2008, VMware was the emerging technology that became mainstream. The next thing beyond that will be more wireless convergence, and we're keeping an open mind as to how that might affect business workflow. As far as nontechnology changes, we see a trend toward more derivatives products, especially in the alternative investment space. There's also a fundamental push to raise the bar in terms of operational excellence.
Christopher Borghi
Chief Technology Officer
Canyon Partners 2000 Avenue of the Stars, 11th Fl. Los Angeles, CA 90067
VITALS:
IT Budget:
$8 million.
Key Technology Management:
NA
Size of Technology Team:
18 and growing.
Percent of IT Projects Outsourced:
Less than 10 percent.
Key Technology Partners:
Hardware: Cisco, Hewlett-Packard and EMC.
Software: Microsoft, Advent and Eze Castle.
Software: Microsoft, Advent and Eze Castle.
Success Metrics:
A project cannot be launched without a set of fundamental goals and objectives. We use these goals -- coupled with client satisfaction, cost and time to market -- to measure our success.
TOP 3 CURRENT PROJECTS
Headquarters Relocation
Our firm is in a growth spurt, and we ran out of space. In doing a headquarters move, we are taking advantage of revamping a lot of infrastructure, including putting in a brand-new data network and a voice over IP telephony system.
Core Security Master Database
As we've grown in size and complexity, we needed a core database to store securities setup reference data, which will feed other systems. We're taking the route of buy rather than build. Currently, we're in the final throes of vendor selection.
Recruiting/Hiring
It's an oldie, but a goodie: The growth spurt is adding complexities and increasing demand for automation. As a result, we're looking for more staff -- people with experience in financial management and financial services. We currently have about 18 [technology] employees, and we're looking to add about seven new staffers.
2009 INITIATIVES
Recruiting/Hiring
As with 2008, this will be a top priority.
Straight-Through Processing And Automation
As the firm grows in assets and complexity, there are new financial securities that need automation and securities that previously were not in high volume but have matured to a more high-volume mode. We need to ensure there's enough automation so they are scalable and to reduce risk operationally.
Major Upgrade to Portfolio Accounting Software
We use Advent Portfolio accounting software, and we forecast that we'll be making a major upgrade to the front-end technology, which is a large undertaking.
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