The ABC of D.E. Shaw

At the $39 billion New York hedge fund D.E. Shaw Group, the search for a new CFO took close to a year. It was not for lack of resources. The firm, which has 1,500 employees, has been on a growth tear in recent years, with more than 100 staff working in recruitment alone. But when then-CFO Stuart Steckler met with Christopher Zaback, 40, co-founder of New York hedge fund Sandelman Partners and a former Ernst & Young partner in the financial services practice, the search ended. “His natural leadership abilities and fluency with complex financial reporting make him a great fit for us,” says Steckler, who will shift his focus to the big picture and assume the role of chief administrative officer.

D.E. Shaw has been quietly building up its back-office infrastructure in recent years. Zaback, who started last month, is just the latest in a series of hires, which include new chief risk officer Peter Bernard, formerly president of New York technology vendor RiskMetrics Group. D.E. Shaw has also created an independent auditing group.