Jon Havice, Founder and CIO, DGV Solutions

A nearly 30 year career has given Jon Havice exposure to just about every strategy across the spectrum of asset markets. A freshly minted Wharton graduate with a major in engineering, Jon came upon O’Connor Associates in the early 1990’s where he cut his teeth trading listed currency option markets. Pre-euro, Jon would experience seminal FX vol events like the ERM unwind,Tequila crisis and Asian contagion in short order, gaining an appreciation for the impact of positioning on currency vol surfaces. As his career progressed, Jon would manage the gamut of arbitrage strategies, focusing on exotic options, convertible bonds, capital structure and muni bonds and dispersion. Our discussion brings to life the lessons to be had from trading through market crisis periods, including the importance of counterparty risk and the degree to which asset prices can stray from fundamental value. We also dive into the vol risk premium, exploring its attributes and how it has evolved over the years in light of the heavy hand of Central Banks. In a world of exceptionally low rates, Jon worries about the glut of yield-chasing capital in private credit and the potential that valuation distortions have resulted. Today, Jon is CIO of DGV Solutions, a firm he founded in 2014 to offer customized investment management products in a transparent and cost efficient manner. His firm deploys its expertise with a purpose, partnering with clients with inspiring missions that Jon and his team feel very connected to. Please enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Jon Havice.

Om Podcasten

The Alpha Exchange is a podcast series launched by Dean Curnutt to explore topics in financial markets, risk management and capital allocation in the alternatives industry. Our in depth discussions with highly established industry professionals seek to uncover the nuanced and complex interactions between economic, monetary, financial, regulatory and geopolitical sources of risk. We aim to learn from the perspective our guests can bring with respect to the history of financial and business cycles, promoting a better understanding among listeners as to how prior periods provide important context to present day dynamics. The “price of risk” is an important topic. Here we engage experts in their assessment of risk premium levels in the context of uncertainty. Is the level of compensation attractive? Because Central Banks have played so important a role in markets post crisis, our discussions sometimes aim to better understand the evolution of monetary policy and the degree to which the real and financial economy will be impacted. An especially important area of focus is on derivative products and how they interact with risk taking and carry dynamics. Our conversations seek to enlighten listeners, for example, as to the factors that promoted the February melt-down of the VIX complex. We do NOT ask our guests for their political opinions. We seek a better understanding of the market impact of regulatory change, election outcomes and events of geopolitical consequence. Our discussions cover markets from a macro perspective with an assessment of risk and opportunity across asset classes. Within equity markets, we may explore the relative attractiveness of sectors but will NOT discuss single stocks.