Over the past 25 years, Sohail Khalid has built and counseled successful businesses in various areas of financial services and advised leading financial firms, institutional investors, and family offices. Most recently, Sohail has been a senior advisor to Nomura's global executive leadership in the areas of financial innovation, FinTech investing, blockchain technology, venture investing, and asset management. He was an early supporter of the firm's foray into the digital asset ecosystem including investments in blockchain companies, esports, and the establishment of a digital asset custody business.
In 2009, Sohail founded a full-service, technology-powered prime brokerage business, Saxis Group, which was among the first of its kind to have its own proprietary real-time risk management system and real-time allocation technology. Through a partnership with Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing, the firm provided full-service brokerage services including securities lending, financing, capital introductions, and direct market access. This business was acquired by Weeden & Co. in 2013 and Sohail remained the CEO of the firm until he left to pursue his own investments in 2015.
From 2006 to 2012, Sohail founded and ran a successful investment management platform. With capital backing from Steven A. Cohen, Sohail developed a multi-manager platform to identify, diligence, and invest in emerging hedge fund managers. Over the course of this business, Sohail and his team evaluated several hundred fund managers and successfully managed capital allocations to select managers.
From 1996 to 2006, Sohail was at the forefront of the direct market access and exchange trading industry. He co-founded and helped build a software firm, LightSpeed Trading, which developed direct market access trading systems on NASDAQ. That business was eventually acquired by E*TRADE Financial where Sohail worked for four years to help develop the E*TRADE Professional Trading platform.
Sohail studied finance and accounting at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Areas of Expertise: FinTech, financial markets, blockchain technology, digital assets, alternative asset management, capital raising, trading, and brokerage.