Rob Pardue

Rob Pardue has 7 years of experience working at financial institutions.
He joined Smith Barney in 1995 as a research assistant for an equity analyst in Boston.
In 1996, he was recruited by Morgan Stanley for an analyst program sponsored by the technology and operations divisions.
During this training program Mr. Pardue received significant exposure to all the equity trading desks.
He later helped start a group focused on operational risk management.
In this role, Mr. Pardue planned, designed and built distributed systems to monitor operational risk and eliminate manual errors.
He subsequently took a position on the convertible securities desk where he provided daily support to the institutional sales force and the position traders.
In this role, Mr. Pardue handled all customer service issues for domestic and international convertible clients, including all hedge fund business.
By leveraging his technical and operational expertise, Mr. Pardue helped create improved risk reporting that resulted in a 75% decrease in the dollar value and the age of failed securities transactions.
Since entering business school, Mr. Pardue has interned at two venture capital firms where he has helped to evaluate business models and structure financing rounds.
Mr. Pardue completed the Honors Program and received a B.A.
in English from Boston College and an M.B.A.
from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
He joined Akela in 2001 prior to the fund’s launch.