Context Asset Management has appointed Andrew Wert as managing director and senior portfolio manager for single-manager funds.

In his new role, Wert is responsible for the investment management of Context's single-manager products, including portfolio structure and design, sub-adviser selection, due diligence and risk management.
 
Context launched its inaugural product, the multi-manager and multi-strategy Context Alternative Strategies Fund (CALTX), earlier this year.
 
"Andrew has nearly two decades of experience leading asset allocation, risk management and proprietary trading for financial institutions and endowments, which uniquely positions him to help us expand our product offerings," says John Culbertson, managing director and chief investment officer of Context. "Retail and institutional investors continue to express a desire for access to more alternative mutual funds, including single-strategy investment vehicles. Andrew's expertise regarding these strategies will enable us to create a broad array of well-managed alternative mutual fund products for advisors and their clients."  
 
Wert reports to Culbertson and serves on Context's investment committee.
 
Prior to joining Context, he founded investment advisor Cohesion Capital and spent five years as managing director of absolute return investments at the Brown University Investment Office in Providence, RI. While at Brown, Wert was responsible for the university endowment's hedge fund, fixed income and commodity investments, and designed and oversaw the systems and infrastructure for risk management and reporting.
 
Wert also worked for ten years at BNP Paribas, where he was a senior proprietary trader and later head of active portfolio strategies for North America, managing an equity derivatives group business line.
 
"Alternative mutual funds can be an important tool for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and reduce volatility by allocating to non-correlated investments," says Wert. "I look forward to working with my new colleagues to build a robust portfolio of single-manager funds that encompass a wide array of strategies and that appeal to a broad spectrum of investors."