$22bn RIA Tiedemann Advisors’ new managing director on Covid-19 | Citywire

By Jake Martin | April 9, 2020

Just before the spread of Covid-19 across the US upended the markets, Tiedemann Advisors, perhaps fortuitously, hired international investment and foreign policy expert Bob Hormats (pictured) as managing director.

Hormats, an industry veteran and advisor to five US presidential administrations, started in his new role with the New York City RIA on March 2.

Tiedemann, founded in 1999, oversees about $22bn in assets under advisement and serves high-net-worth individuals, families, trusts, foundations and endowments.

Originally brought in to help Tiedemann's domestic and international clients navigate the evolving investment and geopolitical landscape across the globe, Hormats had his work cut out for him just as he was settling in.

After about a week of getting to know the team, the firm began to enact a work-from-home policy across its nine US offices that will remain in effect through the end of May.

Chief executive Mike Tiedemann touted Hormats' background and experience, which includes deep knowledge of China and service on the boards of two biotech firms.

‘Having his really remarkable contact base of individuals globally is really hugely additive to a firm like ours as we're trying to assess and make decisions around, and be prepared for, opportunities as well as risks,' he said. ‘Bob's general understanding of a variety of very important issues, alone, without his contact base, is also extremely unique and robust.'

Tiedemann said the firm came into the current crisis more conservatively positioned than others.

‘We've not invested in any of the leveraged or structured products that have been the most problematic in the marketplace, he said. ‘We have long avoided all of those, not necessarily planning for a virus, but just in general, we've found those to become highly problematic in times like this.'

Both Tiedemann and Hormats, who have seen several financial crises play out over the course of their decades-long careers, said there's no true comparison for the current crisis.

‘This is entirely different from anything we've seen in the past, in part because it relates to this virus, which is very difficult to predict, even for the people who really know how to make these predictions,' Hormats said. ‘They can give general notions of curves, but they're all problematic at this point and unpredictable.'

Hormats said the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have actually moved very quickly in rolling out ‘ambitious' programs, compared with the response to the 2008 global financial crisis, which he said is an encouraging sign.

Hormats' most recent government position was with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment from 2009 through 2013. He also spent 25 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to the level of vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

Most recently, Hormats was vice chairman of Kissinger Associates, a New York-based strategic international consulting firm.

For about five years prior to coming on as managing director, Hormats had been a member of the external investment advisory committee for Tiedemann and its Zurich, Switzerland-based partner, Tiedemann Constantia.

As managing director, Hormats will also play a role in supporting Tiedemann's corporate and business development strategy.

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