Candidate · Head of AI & Trading

Varun Agarwal, CFA, CTP

Quant by training. Risk leader by trade. AI builder by curiosity. Where alpha strategies, machine intelligence, and rigorous analytics meet.

va2238@caa.columbia.edu · 443-714-2151 · LinkedIn · GitHub
CFA · CTP MS OR · Columbia CAIA L2 Candidate
$21B
Risk-managed at Harvard Mgmt
13+ yrs
Institutional risk & analytics
5
Production AI / automation projects
60+ hrs/wk
Saved via Excel/VBA automation

Career timeline

2012 → present
'12 Harvard Management Co.
'19 Johns Hopkins Inv. Office
'22 University of British Columbia
'24 The Nature Conservancy Inv. Office
'26

Education timeline

2006 → 2012 · degrees · then CFA / CTP / CAIA
'06 BS · PEC
'08 MBA · IIFT
'12 MS Columbia University
CFA Charterholder CTP — Certified Treasury Professional CAIA · Level II Candidate

Experience

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All Analytics / Risk Operations Systems AI / Tech

The Nature Conservancy — Office of Investments

Associate Director, Operations and Risk
Arlington, VA
4/2024 – present

Analytics / Risk / Reporting

  • Built monthly Performance Report with reconciliation and accuracy tracking.
  • Stopped missed capital calls via enhanced cash reporting and alerts.
  • Created Dollar Value Added framework for Investment Committee decisions.

Operations

  • Cut custodian book-closing time through staffing and process redesign.
  • Accelerated monthly reporting from 5 days → 1 day using benchmark data.
  • Cut audit-prep time via process redesign and reduced auditor scope.
  • Fixed double-counting, auto-sweep, and fee-payment defects.
  • Onboarded team members and absorbed accounting workflows with zero disruption.

Systems

  • Built custodian account mapping in Backstop; new transaction types for stock distributions.
  • Created maker-checker process for Backstop uploads.
  • Led adoption of new Backstop asset classification system.
  • Standardized naming conventions across systems to automate reporting.

Selected AI / Technology Projects

  • Investment Research CRM — internal platform with semantic search and Q&A across ~1,150 managers' documents and notes.
  • LTP Performance Dashboard — interactive SharePoint dashboard for the $3.2B / 245-manager pool — NAV, bridges, benchmark excess.
  • Reconciliation Suite (Public + Private) — custodian-vs-internal dashboards with shared sign-offs and auto-generated memos.
  • MSCI Total Plan API Toolkit — Python integration pulling Caissa exposures, performance, and risk into internal tools.
  • AI Strategy — authored Office of Investments AI strategy on Claude-driven workflow automation.

Independent Consultant

Risk & Operations Advisory
Baltimore, MD
7/2023 – 4/2024
  • Advised Middle East endowments on building risk and operations functions.
  • Recommended best practices across workflows, risk frameworks, staffing, and tech.

UBC Investment Management (UBCIM)

Director, Head of Risk and Portfolio Analytics
Vancouver, Canada (remote)
7/2022 – 6/2023

Analytics / Risk / Reporting

  • Implemented board-approved four-pillar risk management framework.
  • Built risk monitoring dashboards for ad-hoc and routine reporting.

Operations

  • Established accounting and capital-flow controls; managed vendors (Burgiss, Axioma, Northern Trust).

Systems

  • Led tool evaluation; selected Axioma and Caissa, negotiated contracts and SOW.
  • Implemented Axioma and Caissa within an aggressive 6-month deadline.

Johns Hopkins University

Associate Director, Reporting and Endowment Analytics
Baltimore, MD
2/2019 – 7/2022

Analytics / Risk / Reporting

  • Built standard and ad-hoc reports for IC, university officials, and senior management.
  • Built automated "5 PM Daily Flash" covering cash, exposures, market moves, flows, and est. performance.
  • Built "Early Performance Report" delivering performance within 6 business days of month end.

Operations

  • Produced annual endowment spending policy recommendation.
  • Recalculated intra-quarter fund returns at custodian and internal systems; raised data quality.
  • Built semi-annual attribution tables decomposing FY/CY return drivers.

Systems

  • Rolled out Caissa and Private-i Excel add-ins team-wide.
  • Automated reports in Excel VBA, cutting errors and production time.

Harvard Management Company

Vice President — Total Portfolio Risk & Quantitative Analysis
Boston, MA
1/2012 – 6/2017

Analytics / Risk / Reporting

  • Risk-managed $17B of hedge funds and $4B of in-house trading.
  • Measured market, liquidity, and tail risk; alerted IC and CRO to material changes.
  • Evaluated 40+ new managers across strategies.
  • Monitored 50+ funds: investor letters, common positions, and operational due diligence.

Operations

  • Coordinated cash flows, capital calls, distributions; monitored exposures vs. guidelines.
  • Automated risk reports in Excel VBA, saving 60+ hours per week.
  • Created a 1-page hedge fund analysis template adopted across asset classes.

Systems

  • Led tool evaluation across Solovis, Cognity, Novus, Caissa, Barra, and Bloomberg; selected MSCI Barra.
  • Built multi-factor equity risk model in MSCI Barra; improved ex-ante risk analysis.

Earlier roles

ICICI Bank · MathWorks · UBS Wealth Management Research
Mumbai · Natick · New York
2008 – 2011
  • ICICI Bank — Manager, Structured Finance (Mumbai, 2008–10).
  • MathWorks (MATLAB) — Computational Finance Intern (Natick, 2011).
  • UBS Wealth Management Research — Equity Research Intern (NY, 2011).

AI & automation projects

Built at The Nature Conservancy, Office of Investments
Semantic search · Claude API

Investment Research CRM

Internal platform with semantic search and Q&A across ~1,150 managers' documents and notes. Replaces folder-diving with conversation.

Dashboard · SharePoint

LTP Performance Dashboard

Interactive dashboard for the $3.2B / 245-manager Long-Term Pool — NAV bridges, benchmark excess, manager-level drilldowns.

Reconciliation · Workflow

Reconciliation Suite

Public + Private custodian-vs-internal dashboards with shared sign-offs and auto-generated memos. Replaces email chains with audit trail.

Python · MSCI API

MSCI Total Plan API Toolkit

Python integration pulling Caissa exposures, performance, and risk directly into internal tools — no more manual exports.

Strategy

Office of Investments AI Strategy

Authored institutional AI strategy centered on Claude-driven workflow automation across research, ops, and risk.

Tools, software & education

Investment systems

MSCI Total Plan (Caissa) MSCI Barra Solovis Axioma Bloomberg FactSet Capital IQ Backstop Burgiss / Private-i Northern Trust

Software & languages

Claude API Python (pandas, Flask) JavaScript SQL Excel VBA MATLAB Git

Education

★ MS, Operations Research
Columbia University2012
MBA
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade2008
BS, Electrical Engineering · summa cum laude
PEC University2006

Credentials

  • CFA Charterholder
  • CTP (Certified Treasury Professional)
  • CAIA Level II Candidate