Bio
Habib is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of V-Square Quantitative Management where he oversees research and portfolio management. V-Square Quantitative Management was founded in 2020 and is a Valor Management L.P.'s subsidiary. Habib joined as a quantitative investment management twenty-year veteran having worked for global financial services companies in Europe and the U.S.
A champion of innovation, Habib combines a science academic background with an extensive experience in investment management. He specializes in quantitative strategies, in both active management and strategic beta indexation. Having gained major recognition as an expert in portfolio management of developed and emerging markets, he also possesses a wealth of knowledge of the capital markets, their regulatory and operational frameworks. He received a 4-star and 5-star overall Morningstar rating in 2014 and 2015 for EGShares Emerging Markets Consumer ETF (ECON, renamed Columbia Emerging Markets Consumer ETF). Habib successfully led numerous strategic initiatives resulting in investment solutions and products for investors across the globe. Many of those focused on environmental, social, and good governance matters.
Prior to V-Square, Habib was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Vident Investment Advisory where he was responsible for Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and other quantitative strategies across equity, fixed-income, and commodities. Prior to Vident, he served as an Executive Director and Portfolio Manager at J.P. Morgan where he managed factor investing and alternative risk premia strategies. Before that, he was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Emerging Global Advisors, where he was responsible for strategic beta index-based funds investing in emerging market countries. Prior to that, Habib spent over a decade at HSBC Global Asset Management, successively in Paris, France and in New York, where he served in various investment roles across trading, portfolio management, structuring, and product development.
Habib was an Adjunct Professor at New York University SPS in the Finance and Law program from 2012 to 2018, as he ardently believes in the value of building and maintaining a two-way bridge between academia and industry. Habib is involved in several initiatives to guide young entrepreneurs and students in the US and in Africa. He is an early member of the Indigo Foundation, a worldwide community organization with the mission of funding, incubating, and mentoring mindful doers, with an emphasis on collaboration in order to do well by doing good. Furthermore, he was until recently a member of the Board of Directors of the Capoeira Center of New York, a non-profit that promotes the practice of the art of capoeira in New York's underserved communities.
Habib received a BS in Physics (with honors) from Pierre and Marie Curie University (Faculty of Sciences and Medical Studies of the Sorbonne University Group) in Paris, France, and earned an MS in Engineering and Statistics, Applied Mathematics and Economics (Magna Cum Laude) from the French National School of Statistics and Information Analysis, ENSAI and, an MS in Quantitative Finance (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Rennes, France. Habib also holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation, certified by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
Habib is a member of the Advisory Board of The Journal of Impact & ESG Investing, part of the Portfolio Management Research family that contains titles including The Journal of Portfolio Management, The Journal of Investing, and The Journal of Fixed Income.