2025 Delivering Alpha Conference: Feature Engineering Before Alpha – Inside Leda Braga’s New Research Vertical at Systematica

Leda Braga, founder and CEO of Systematica Investments, and Afsaneh Beschloss, founder and CEO of RockCreek, joined the “Delivering Global Alpha” panel at the 2025 Delivering Alpha Conference. Moderated by Scott Wapner, the discussion focused on how data, AI and macro regime shifts are reshaping the way institutional investors source and sustain alpha. A recurring theme was that the ability to manage and interpret complex data sets is no longer a niche quantitative skill but a baseline requirement for any firm that wants a durable edge.

Also see:

• 2024 CNBC Delivering Alpha Conference
• 2025 Sohn San Francisco Conference
• 2025 Capitalize For Kids Investors Conference
• 2025 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit

2025 Delivering Alpha Conference: Delivering Global Alpha

Quant Structure and the Evolution of Feature Engineering

Systematica Investments, an institutional hedge fund manager with approximately $12 billion in assets under management, runs systematic trading strategies that have been built around data science from the start. Braga, who holds a PhD in Engineering from Imperial College London, reminded the audience that Systematica hired its first PhD focused on AI in 2008 to help build out its models. What has changed since then, she argued, is less the idea of using data and more what “data” now means in practice.

According to AIMA, "Systematica was formed in January 2015 as a spin-off of BlueCrest Capital, where Leda was President and Head of Systematic Trading for 14 years since 2001."

Afsaneh Mashayekhi Beschloss is Founder and CEO of RockCreek. Previously, she was Managing Director and partner at the Carlyle Group and was formerly the World Bank’s Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer. RockCreek RockCreek is a global investment firm founded in 2003, focused on long-term value, multi-asset class investments, and an innovative, sustainable approach, which has over $17B in AUM.