Keith Danko

Keith Danko is the Founding Partner and Managing Member of Witherspoon Partners.

Mr. Danko has over two decades of experience building and managing businesses, much of it as a leader in the alternative assets industry. Most notably he restructured and served as CEO and CIO of ACAM Advisors (the former Allied Capital) where from 2003 to 2007 he managed top-quartile fund of hedge funds portfolios for large institutional clients, created and managed the ACAM ACES (Asset Class ETF Select) Fund, and developed several nine-figure institutional relationships. During Mr. Danko’s tenure at ACAM the equity value of the firm increased by 900%.

Prior to founding Witherspoon Partners Mr. Danko served as CEO of CQS US and was also a Partner at Titan Capital. At CQS he managed the launch of the US business, including SEC registration, and established the CQS brand and marketing effort in the Americas. At Titan he embarked upon a turnaround of the firm, including the development of the Titan Asia Fund and the Hong Kong office, working with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japanese investors and regulatory regimes.

Mr. Danko began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he served as an Executive Director and headed international mortgage securities. A pioneer in the global asset securitization market, he developed the first UK sterling multi-tranche mortgage issue and the first UK auto receivables securitization, and he introduced and sold the first UK subordinated mortgage securities into the Japanese institutional market. These transactions were the first pound sterling mandates for UK issuers in the history of Goldman Sachs. After seven years at Goldman, he left to found Minnisink Partners and the registered investment advisor Witherspoon Investment Management, as well as the software company Tachyon Systems.

Mr. Danko earned a BA from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard University and is a graduate of The Lawrenceville School. He is a regular contributor to SmartBlogs/SmartBriefs on Leadership, and has published numerous research pieces, including in 2005 the influential white paper, Portable Alpha: An Updated Perspective. He holds FINRA Series 3, 7, 24, 63, 65 and 79 licenses.

Jim Butler

Jim Butler is a Senior Advisor of Witherspoon Partners.

Mr. Butler spent the majority of his career at Credit Suisse First Boston, where for over two decades he was responsible for all taxable fixed income sales (high grade and high yield, cash, and derivatives) for a wide variety of institutional investors such as BlackRock, MetLife, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, and John Hancock, and for public funds such as the State of Wisconsin and the Public Funds of Ohio.  His responsibilities included corporate and mortgage securities and private placements, short-term, corporate, and municipal fixed income products.

Following his tenure at Credit Suisse, Mr. Butler held senior sales positions at Barclays, Lazard Freres, Jefferies, and from 2009 until joining Witherspoon Partners, at Seaport Group in New York.  At Seaport, he served as Managing Director, Sales, and significantly expanded the firm’s relationships with major institutional clients.

Mr. Butler earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Indiana University. He holds FINRA Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.

Sean Ballard

Sean Ballard is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Eigenvector Capital, a firm focused on systematic value investing. Prior to founding Eigenvector, Mr. Ballard was a Director at Palestra Capital Management, which he joined prior to its launch in 2012. Preceding Palestra, Mr. Ballard was Director of Business Development for Titan Capital Group, a volatility-focused hedge fund, from 2008 to 2012 where he was responsible for global marketing and investor relations initiatives. Before Titan, Mr. Ballard worked at leading investment firms Lionstone Capital Management and Torrey Associates. From 2002 to 2006 he was a professional at Goldman Sachs in its Investment Management Division where he was responsible for private client portfolio asset allocation modeling and investment implementation. Mr. Ballard serves on the Business Affairs committee of the board of scientific publisher Annual Reviews. He also serves on the Finance Committee for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, is the chairman of Menlo Park’s Community Crisis Management Advisory Board, and a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated with a BS in Economics from Brigham Young University.