Key Takeaways
- • Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, and J. Tomilson Hill, president and CEO of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), received Institutional Investor's 2017 Lifetime Achievement awards, recognized at the publication's 15th annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards dinner in June 2017.
- • Griffin founded Citadel in 1990 at age 22 with $4.6 million in capital backed by legendary investor Frank Meyer; the firm has grown to manage more than $26 billion in assets with flagship funds Wellington and Kensington Global Strategies delivering annualized returns of 19 percent since inception.
- • Griffin pioneered advances in credit derivatives and trading technology, and expanded Citadel's business model beyond core hedge funds by founding Citadel Securities in 2002, a separate market-making business that has become award-winning in its own right.
- • Hill joined Blackstone in 1993 and was tasked with launching BAAM in 2000, establishing the firm's fund-of-hedge-funds business after building a traditional banking career that included co-founding First Boston's mergers and acquisitions department.
- • The two honorees represent contrasting paths to prominence in alternative asset management: Griffin's entrepreneurial trajectory from Harvard undergraduate to hedge fund founder, versus Hill's progression through institutional banking and private equity leadership.
Summary
Institutional Investor magazine honored two titans of alternative asset management with its 2017 Lifetime Achievement awards: Ken Griffin of Citadel and J. Tomilson Hill of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management. The recognition, presented at the publication's 15th annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards dinner in June 2017, reflects the outsized influence both executives have exerted on the institutional investment landscape over decades.
Griffin's career trajectory stands as one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial arcs in modern finance. After trading equities from his Harvard University dormitory as a 19-year-old sophomore, Griffin founded Citadel in 1990 at just 22 years old with $4.6 million in starting capital, backed by legendary hedge fund investor Frank Meyer. Over nearly three decades, Griffin built Citadel into one of the largest and most successful alternative asset managers globally, with assets exceeding $26 billion. The firm's flagship multi-strategy hedge funds—Wellington and Kensington Global Strategies—have generated annualized returns of 19 percent since inception, establishing a performance benchmark of exceptional consistency. Beyond hedge fund management, Griffin demonstrated strategic vision by establishing Citadel Securities in 2002 as a separate, award-winning market-making business, diversifying revenue streams while maintaining the parent firm's investment discipline. At age 48 at the time of this honor, Griffin had already constructed a hedge fund platform with competitive depth and breadth unmatched in the industry.
Hill's path to prominence followed a more traditional institutional trajectory. A Harvard College and Harvard Business School graduate, Hill began his career at First Boston, where he rose to co-found the investment bank's mergers and acquisitions department. In 1993, at age 68 (at the time of this award), he joined Blackstone and rose to vice chairman. In 2000, Hill was entrusted with launching Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the firm's fund-of-hedge-funds business, a role that positioned him at the forefront of the institutional allocator movement into hedge fund strategies. His leadership of BAAM established a significant distribution channel and validation mechanism for hedge fund managers seeking institutional capital.
Together, Griffin and Hill's recognition underscores the dual engines driving alternative asset management's institutional adoption: the visionary entrepreneur building differentiated investment platforms from inception, and the seasoned capital allocator leveraging institutional relationships and infrastructure to channel capital into hedge fund strategies at scale.
Griffin's career trajectory stands as one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial arcs in modern finance. After trading equities from his Harvard University dormitory as a 19-year-old sophomore, Griffin founded Citadel in 1990 at just 22 years old with $4.6 million in starting capital, backed by legendary hedge fund investor Frank Meyer. Over nearly three decades, Griffin built Citadel into one of the largest and most successful alternative asset managers globally, with assets exceeding $26 billion. The firm's flagship multi-strategy hedge funds—Wellington and Kensington Global Strategies—have generated annualized returns of 19 percent since inception, establishing a performance benchmark of exceptional consistency. Beyond hedge fund management, Griffin demonstrated strategic vision by establishing Citadel Securities in 2002 as a separate, award-winning market-making business, diversifying revenue streams while maintaining the parent firm's investment discipline. At age 48 at the time of this honor, Griffin had already constructed a hedge fund platform with competitive depth and breadth unmatched in the industry.
Hill's path to prominence followed a more traditional institutional trajectory. A Harvard College and Harvard Business School graduate, Hill began his career at First Boston, where he rose to co-found the investment bank's mergers and acquisitions department. In 1993, at age 68 (at the time of this award), he joined Blackstone and rose to vice chairman. In 2000, Hill was entrusted with launching Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the firm's fund-of-hedge-funds business, a role that positioned him at the forefront of the institutional allocator movement into hedge fund strategies. His leadership of BAAM established a significant distribution channel and validation mechanism for hedge fund managers seeking institutional capital.
Together, Griffin and Hill's recognition underscores the dual engines driving alternative asset management's institutional adoption: the visionary entrepreneur building differentiated investment platforms from inception, and the seasoned capital allocator leveraging institutional relationships and infrastructure to channel capital into hedge fund strategies at scale.
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