Walleye is adding PMs internally and putting money to work externally

Walleye Capital isn't letting the recent departure of a key executive derail the expansion of its stock-picking unit. The $17 billion asset manager has hired a pair of executives this month to support its equity long-short division, after Matt Giannini left to return to Ken Griffin's Citadel in September. Giannini had been the chief operating officer of the unit, a significant addition to the firm, before departing after less than a year in the role.

Walleye has hired Jordan Tanner, Balyasny Asset Management's chief equities strategist, and Anna Dev, a Millennium Management recruiter, a person close to the firm told Business Insider. The hope is that the two hires will help keep growing the head count and risk-taking capacity for the stock-picking unit, which is run by Anil Gondi, a former Balyasny portfolio manager who previously worked with Tanner. Tanner will work across the firm's fundamental stock-picking, volatility, and central strategies teams.

He will be tasked with using artificial intelligence and other technologies to increase collaboration among the different teams, the person said. Dev, meanwhile, will focus on recruiting investing talent across the firm and evaluating external investment opportunities. The pair will both begin at New York-based Walleye in mid-2027.

Walleye, which gets its name from the freshwater fish native to Minnesota, the firm's original headquarters, declined to comment. External investments are a priority for Walleye. In 2026 alone, the firm's long-short equity division has added 14 external managers, a person close to the firm said.

There are three other external stock-picking firms that Walleye is planning to back that have yet to launch, the person close to the manager said. The expansion this year nearly doubles the firm's roster of external stock-picking funds; Walleye started the year with investments in 18 equity long-short funds operating outside the firm's walls, the person said. Half of the equity long-short's market exposure is now run by outside funds, the person said.

Spin-outs by former Citadel PMs have been a focus, as Business Insider previously reported. The manager also wants to grow its internal PM bench. Three new PMs are set to start before the end of the year — Mike Scheer, formerly of Jain Global, Matt Aleksinas, formerly of SIR Capital, and Mike Li, formerly of Junto.

The manager has another five new stock-picking PMs who will trade for Walleye once their non-compete periods expire next year, the person said. It's been a challenging year, performance-wise, for the firm's multistrategy fund. Walleye has lost money in eight of the year's first nine months, Business Insider has previously reported, and is down 0.5% through 2026's first three quarters, trailing rivals and the overall market.

By comparison, PivotalPath's multistrategy index has returned more than 6% through the same time period. Last year, the manager produced a 15.5% gain, besting larger firms like Millennium. Correction: October 16, 2026 — An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated Anna Dev's focus while she was at Millennium. It has been updated.