Competition for investment and recruiting talent remains a central operational issue for large hedge funds, particularly as firms expand specialist hiring teams. Citadel’s chief people officer Sjoerd Gehring has now left the $67 billion firm less than two years after joining from Apple.
Highlights
- Citadel’s chief people officer Gehring, who joined in late 2024, has exited amid ongoing competition for hedge fund talent and leadership reshuffling.
- Citadel experiences turnover in business development, with Eleanor Sharkey departing, Freya Maynard promoted, and five external hires made in the past two months from JPMorgan and Barclays.
- Verition executive Sapna Vir will join Citadel in December 2024 as head of business development for the firm’s credit unit, further strengthening recruitment leadership.
Leadership change amid hiring pressure
As first reported by Business Insider, Citadel confirms Gehring’s departure and says its People Team remains focused on attracting top talent and developing employees. A Citadel spokesperson says the firm appreciates his time at the company, while Gehring declines to comment.
Gehring joins the hedge fund in late 2024 after previous roles at Apple, Johnson & Johnson and Accenture. His responsibilities span firm-wide recruiting as well as broader human resources functions including talent development, performance evaluation and compensation, and his corporate biography is removed from Citadel’s website as of Friday morning.
In a recent interview, Gehring describes how Citadel converts a floor of its midtown Manhattan office into a talent and recruitment center with a private VIP entrance and a large display showing data about the firm and its employees. He replaces Matt Jahansouz, who leaves in 2024 after three years in the role to join online apparel company Quince.
Recruiting reshuffle across business units
Citadel’s business development teams, which internally source and assess portfolio managers, also face recent turnover. The latest departure is Eleanor Sharkey, who leads business development for the firm’s international equities arm from London.
A person close to the Miami-based firm says Sharkey’s deputy, Freya Maynard, takes over her role, while Mackenzie Snyder and Olivia Cascio are promoted to lead business development for Surveyor and for Fixed Income and Macro, respectively. Citadel also makes five outside hires in the past two months for recruiting across its fundamental stock-picking operations, drawing additions from firms including JPMorgan and Barclays.
Verition executive Sapna Vir is set to join Citadel in December as head of business development for its credit unit. Although Citadel’s business development executives report to the chief people officer, they recruit on behalf of investment leaders including Justin Lubell in Global Equities and Navneet Arora in Global Quantitative Strategies.
In our earlier coverage of Barclays’ BARC outlook, we noted the bank’s shares holding a strong bullish trend above key moving averages while executives signaled a more cautious approach to risk after setbacks in private-credit deals. The piece also highlighted Barclays’ push to secure a full Saudi Arabia banking license as it expands its Middle East presence, while flagging that overbought technical readings could raise the chance of a near-term pullback despite positive momentum.
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