The hottest commodities at hedge fund firms today are the people. The industry has grown to nearly $3 trillion in assets, up from $1 trillion a decade ago, and truly exceptional individuals are at a premium, as evidenced by Institutional Investor’s annual Hedge Fund Rising Stars ranking. To see where hedge funds are sourcing their talent, we took a look back over the educational records of our Rising Stars. The most popular avenue into hedge funds is the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Of the 180 Hedge Fund Rising Stars named between 2011 and 2016, ten had undergraduate degrees from the prestigious business school and another ten had received a Wharton MBA. Other Ivy League schools also are popular among hedge funds, as are Stanford and the University of California.

Yet Institutional Investor’s list consistently includes stars with less typical backgrounds, like Katina Stefanova, who came to the U.S. from Bulgaria in 1994 to earn a BA in international relations from Brigham Young University. She also has an MBA from Harvard. Now Stefanova, who worked for almost ten years at Bridgewater Associates, is launching her own firm, intent on disrupting the asset management industry. (Read Stefanova's recent feature, “Asset Managers, Prepare to Have Your Business Disrupted.”) •

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Hedge Fund Rising Stars of 2016 Click below to view profiles

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Jessye Ball
Millennium Mgmt

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Sarah Berner
Aristeia Capital

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Jenna Bussman-Wise
AIG Investments

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Maureen Chang
Point72 Asset Mgmt

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Dennis Chenfu
Pershing

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Charles Dufresne Jr.
Sciens Capital Mgmt

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William Freda
Graticule Asset Mgmt Asia

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Samantha Greenberg
Margate Capital

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Mark Gurevich
Ropes & Gray

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Tal Gurion
Mariner Glen Oaks

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Craig Huie
University of California

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Yusef Kassim
Blue Harbour Group

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Florian Kronawitter
White Square Capital

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Vikram Kumar
TT International

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Brandon Levin
Jana Partners

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Jonathan Levin
George Weiss Associates

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Brett Minarik
Aksia

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Ian Monroe
Etho Capital

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Jason Morrow
Utah Retirement Systems

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Pierre-Adrien Nicolas
Squarepoint Capital

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Jamie Pabst
Green Owl Capital Mgmt

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Parag Pande
Blackstone Group

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Agata Praczuk
MetLife

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Max Saffian
Fortress Investment Group

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Matt Satnick
MSD Partners

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Eric Singer
Viex Capital Advisors

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Katina Stefanova
Marto Capital

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Reginald Tucker
New York State Common Retirement Fund

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Michael Wang
Cypress Funds

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Sean Wygovsky
Polar Asset Mgmt Partners