Tell us about your career prior to joining P/E Investments.

I have always been a big patterns person.  I began to learn about the magic of advanced physics and electrical engineering through a summer program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) called MITES.  I then attended MIT, majoring in electrical engineering and physics.  After graduation, I spent five years in the defense industry doing signal analysis, machine learning, and side-channel analysis.  I was living in a cross functional space, working with hardware, programming the devices and sensors and leading projects as a principal investigator. At that time, I also got involved with a few open-source projects and began to love building accessible tools.

What type of projects are you involved in at P/E?

Since starting at P/E in January of 2022, I have been part of a push to optimize and improve our interactions with data.  We ask questions like, “How do we think about data?”, “How do we handle data?”, “How do we ingest data?”, “Should we reorganize any of the data to optimize its availability?”  This helps us evaluate the quality and usefulness of data.  I really enjoy this – making sure that different systems work together efficiently.  I have also had the opportunity to lead an initiative to improve some of our version control systems by introducing new tools and then training users.  Finally, I have helped to expand the use of python within the team as we work to enhance our understanding of best execution, to add natural language processing factors, and to conduct other analyses. This is really something I personally enjoy because I love to talk about code and about tech.  I talk shop all the time, almost endlessly.

How would you describe the culture at P/E Investments?

P/E fosters a culture where people can thrive, where they can take initiative, where they can take ownership.  A person is not necessarily going to be siloed into a single box or area.  We are encouraged to branch out, to test to new ideas, to work with others, and to solve problems.  I like to look at the big picture, and that is something that P/E does very well.  P/E gives employees the ability to have impact, to benefit the firm, and its investors. 

In the first few months that I was working at P/E, I remember thinking that employees show the same level of passion, the same level of investment in projects that I had seen in my open-source work where the only reward was the fact that you had done something that matters.  So, to find a job that has the same level of investment, with people across the company, is truly special.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I have been a very serious, competitive ballroom dancer.  MIT has a competitive ballroom dance team and I just picked it up during my freshman year.  Soon, I was competing in Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Quickstep, Samba, Cha Cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive. From 2013 to 2022, I worked up from newcomer to the open level where dancers come up with their own choreography and interpretations.  I was able to compete across the country and had a lot of fun.  Recently, I’ve scaled back on the competitive aspect, but still love to go out dancing.