Who We Are
Westrock Asset Management, LLC (the “Firm” or “Westrock”) is a multi-strategy investment manager that seeks to apply a 100% systematic approach across investment strategies developed through mathematical and statistical methods. Our aim is to construct a diversified portfolio with low correlation to traditional asset classes, providing consistently attractive, risk-adjusted returns for our founders and partners.
What We Do
We launched our first investment vehicle in June 2016. Over the next eight years we built out and diversified this investment platform with our own capital, seeking to apply our investment approach to a broad array of asset classes and lowly correlated strategies. During the summer of 2022, we implemented our low-beta, multi-strategy approach, resulting in the attractive, highly liquid investment solution we manage today.
Approach
Westrock pursues a near-zero beta to traditional markets. Our goal is to traverse dynamic investment landscapes with certainty, providing extensive diversification for our partners.
Multi-Strategy
Systematic Execution
Quantitative Approach
Strategy
Westrock pursues a multi-strategy portfolio through applying a 100% systematic, quantitative investment approach utilizing three primary strategies: (1) Global Macro & Fixed Income, (2) Arbitrage & Equity-Related Strategies, and (3) Structure-Related Strategies.
Global Macro & Fixed Income
Arbitrage & Equity-Related Strategies
Structure-Related Strategies
Information theory is at the heart of what we do, empowering us to quantify breadth and construct portfolios comprised of orthogonal signals. Investment sub-strategies are evaluated and classified based on their intra-portfolio correlation and exposure diversification, using positive expectancy to execute portfolio-level statistical arbitrage.
Team
Joe T. Ford
Co-Founder
Joe T. Ford – Co-founder
Joe is co-founder and Chairman of Westrock Group, LLC and its subsidiaries Westrock Asset Management and Westrock Coffee Company. Joe began his career in telecommunications at Allied Telephone Company in Little Rock, becoming Allied’s President in 1977 and subsequently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alltel Corporation (a provider of wireless voice and data communications services).
Joe served on the Board of Directors of The Dial Corporation, Duke Energy Company, Eltek, ASA, Beverly Enterprises Company, En Pro Industries, Textron Inc. and the United States Chamber of Commerce. He has also been active in government and civic affairs, serving in the Arkansas Senate from 1967 through 1982. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas.
Co-Founder
Chairman
Scott T. Ford
Scott T. Ford – Co-Founder & Chairman
Scott is co-founder and Chairman of Westrock Asset Management, serving as Chairman of the Investment Committee and a Member of the Risk Committee among other committees. Prior to Scott’s current role at the firm, he served as CEO and CIO for a number of years, providing decades of financial and business operating experience. He previously served in a number of leadership roles, including President and Chief Executive Officer of Alltel Corporation from 2002 to 2009. From 1998 to 2002, Scott served as its President and Chief Operating Officer.
Before joining Alltel, he worked closely with Jackson T. Stephens, the Chairman of Stephens Group, Inc., and prior to this he worked in the Investment Banking Division at Merrill Lynch. He is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Westrock Coffee Company, serves on the Board of Directors of AT&T, Inc., and acts as Chairman of the Agaciro Development Fund, the sovereign wealth fund for the Republic of Rwanda.
He served on the Board of Directors for Alltel, Tyson Foods, and Bear State Financial, Inc., and served as the Chairman of the Little Rock Branch of the St. Louis Federal Reserve. He also served as Chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. Scott holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance from the University of Arkansas.
Samuel T. Ford
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Investment Officer
Sam T. Ford – Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer
Sam serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Westrock Asset Management. In these roles, he guides the overall investment and risk allocation processes of the firm. He is a member of the Investment Committee and the Risk Committee. Previously, Sam served as Chief Operating Officer and as Vice President where he focused on managing the trading operations across multiple asset classes and quantitative systems. Prior to this he focused on quantitative systems design and strategy development. Samuel previously worked as a financial analyst for the Circumference Group, a privately-held technology-focused hedge fund and private equity firm. He has a B.S. in Finance from Pepperdine University and studied Mandarin Chinese in Shanghai, China.
Partner
Chief Quantitative Officer
Brady C. Preston
Brady C. Preston – Partner & Chief Quantitative Officer
Brady serves as Partner and Chief Quantitative Officer of Westrock Asset Management. In this role, he leads the quantitative trading team focusing primarily on quantitative strategy development, portfolio theory, and investment capital allocation. Brady is a member of the Investment Committee and the Risk Committee. He brings over 20 years of investment strategy design and development, derivatives structuring, and mathematics and statistics experience. As a disciplined mathematician with a passion for quantitative and statistical research, he adds valuable input across research development, portfolio allocation optimization, and risk mitigation.
Brady placed second in the World Cup of Futures Trading in 2010 and placed third in 2009. He holds a B.A. in Commerce from Nipissing University in Canada.
Jeff B. Pascoe – Chief Risk Officer
Jeff is the Chief Risk Officer of Westrock Asset Management, bringing over 26 years of experience in corporate finance, big data analytics and risk management. Jeff has over 20 years of experience in risk management, quantitative data analytics, and data-process optimization. Prior to joining the firm, Jeff spent 21 years at Acxiom, a global leader in big data analytics, quantitative processing, and data refinement. During his time at Acxiom, Jeff was responsible for collecting and analyzing data for various large-scale quantitative operations, leading data scientist investment and development, and managing risk and capital allocation across Acxiom's complex infrastructure. He holds a B.S.B.A. in Financial Management and an M.B.A. from the University of Arkansas.
Jeff B. Pascoe
Chief Risk Officer
Mary Smith – Chief compliance Officer
Mary serves as Chief Compliance Officer of Westrock Asset Management. In this role she oversees the firm's financial reporting processes and all legal and compliance policies to ensure that all are carried out with integrity and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining the firm, she was an associate corporate attorney with Baker Botts, LLP where she focused on corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Prior to joining Baker Botts, she was an assurance associate with BDO where she was a member of the audit teams of middle-market clients in various industries. Mary has a B.B.A. in Accounting and Finance from Hardin Simmons University and a J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
Mary A. Smith
Chief Compliance Officer
Payton C. Martin – Quantitative Researcher
Payton serves as a Quantitative Researcher at Westrock Asset Management. In this role, he works with the quantitative trading team to research, design, and structure mathematical and statistical trading models across a variety of asset classes. Payton holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Bushnell University, as well as a Master of Engineering in Financial Engineering (MFE) from Cornell University. Payton’s team developed hybrid market regime-switching models and was named 2022 IAQF Competition Winners, an international competition between top Quantitative Finance programs.
Payton C. Martin
Quantitative Researcher
Eric C. Searls – Portfolio Manager
Eric is a portfolio manager at Westrock Asset Management, where he focuses on strategy implementation, quantitative research, and risk management. Eric is actively engaged in our trading and risk management processes, where he brings over 10 years of portfolio management and big data experience to bare. Prior to joining the firm, Eric worked as an investment management analyst at The Circumference Group, a technology and B2B-focused hedge fund and private equity firm. Before that, he was employed at Schallhorn Brown Capital Management and Tyson Foods, Inc. Eric holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance and Economics from the University of Arkansas, as well as an M.B.A. from the Manderson Graduate School of Business at the University of Alabama.
Eric C. Searls
Portfolio Manager
Contact
Email: phillip.pascoe@westrockam.com
Phone: 1 (501) 320-4867
Address: 4009 N. Rodney Parham Rd. Fourth Floor. Little Rock, 72212
"Information is the resolution of uncertainty"
- Claude Shannon
