Hedge Funds

Eric Dansky, MBA, Senior Investment Officer

Eric Dansky joined the Cooper Family Office as an analyst for alternative investments. He began his professional career as a Marketing Coordinator for Watsco, where he managed the corporation’s dealer cooperative advertising and consumer rebate programs for over 1,000 clients throughout the United States. Following his tenure at Watsco, he became the Assistant Director for AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in Palm Beach, FL. As the Assistant Director, he helped manage their annual fundraising budget and was responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing fundraising programs to achieve the team's annual campaign goals. After his time with AIPAC, Eric joined Israel Bonds as a Registered Representative, where he was responsible for raising capital from retail investors who were located in Palm Beach County. After working at Israel Bonds, Eric joined ArcanX Partners, L.P. as a senior investment analyst and head of operations.  Eric most recently worked as an equity investment analyst at Choice Equities Capital Management, a long-bias small-cap equity manager based in Raleigh, NC. Eric is a member of the New York University Stern School of Business Family Office Council and the Stanford University Global Projects Center Family Office Forum. In addition, Eric also serves as treasurer for the Family Office University Network. Eric holds an MBA and a BA in Finance with honors from Florida Atlantic University and holds Series 63, 65, and 7 licenses. While attending Florida Atlantic University, Eric was a Division 1 NCAA Scholarship Athlete as a Cross Country team member.

Courtney Birnbaum, MBA, Senior Advisor

Courtney joined the Cooper Family Office with over 15 years of investment experience. Most recently, she was at Turtle Creek, a single-family office, where she managed a portfolio of fund investments across asset classes, including Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Venture Capital, Private Credit, and Long-only Fixed Income and Equities. Previously, Courtney was the Director of Marketable Investments for Bowdoin College’s $1.4bn endowment. Prior to Bowdoin, Courtney was a Vice President in the Alternative Investments and Manager Selection group (AIMS) at Goldman Sachs, a $26bn hedge fund of funds, where she was responsible for portfolio construction, manager selection and seeding within hedge funds from 2009 - 2016. Prior to Goldman, she worked at Sterling Stamos, a multi-family office, focused on asset allocation and hedge fund investments. Courtney started her career in Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch and Rothschild. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Howard Cohen, MBA

Howard Cohen joined the Cooper Family Office after 13 years at Lionstone Capital Management LLC, a multi-family office located in New York City. Most recently, he was Head of Research for Lionstone’s external hedge fund program. In this role, he was responsible for both investment and operational due diligence as well as being involved in portfolio allocation, construction and investment implementation across multiple investment portfolios. In addition to his front-office experience, over his time at Lionstone, Howard was involved in all aspects of its middle- and back-office and client related interactions and reporting. Prior to this, he spent five years as a partner at Crown World Services, LLC, a high net worth advisory firm specializing in the construction and placement of private placement life insurance and annuities solutions. Before joining Crown, he spent seven years as a Registered Investment Advisor in New York City. Howard completed an Executive MBA at Columbia University where he graduated Beta Gamma Sigma. He obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Cape Town in South Africa with a double major in Accounting and Economics.

Ed Hannon, CFA

Ed Hannon joined the Cooper Family Office with a wealth of experience as an investment practitioner and alternative investments professional. He applied these skills as Head of Hedge Fund Investment Due Diligence, Manager Selection, and Operational Due Diligence at Stamos Capital Partners, where he was a Partner and a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to his experience at Stamos Capital Partners, Ed led risk management for the Royal Bank of Canada’s Alternative Assets Group, and headed investment due diligence at Merrill Lynch’s $20 billion hedge fund platform.
 

Ed began his career as a fixed income portfolio manager at Nomura Securities, Tokyo, where he specialized in esoteric instruments, and oversaw a $3.7 billion asset-backed fund of funds portfolio. Ed has evaluated the investment strategy, operational, and compliance programs of myriad hedge funds. He has an in-depth understanding of manager and operational strengths and weaknesses. Ed received his B.S. degree from Pennsylvania State University, and is a CFA Charterholder.