Ricky Sandler

The Evolution of Hedge Fund Management

Erik Schatzker, Dmitry Balyasny, Andrew Feldstein, Dawn Fitzpatrick, Ricky Sandler

At the 2018 Milken Institute Global Conference, industry leaders including Eric Schatzker, Dawn Fitzpatrick, Ricky Sandler, Andrew Felstein, and Dimitri Baljasny analyzed the hedge fund sector's shift away from the traditional "2 and 20" fee model toward performance-based structures and institutional scale. Panelists argued that generating sustainable alpha now requires massive capital deployment for technology and data science, driving market consolidation while forcing managers to adopt hybrid fundamental-quantitative approaches or co-invest in niche specialists. Looking ahead, the group anticipated that hedge funds would outperform long-bias markets over the next three to five years as capital retreats from crowded strategies, though they warned that absolute returns may remain suppressed due to elevated asset prices in a late-stage cycle.