Our Team
Cem Karsan
CIO, Managing Principal
Cem is the Founder and Senior Managing Partner of KAI Volatility Advisors. He is responsible for firm-wide management, as well as its Head of Research and Risk Management. Cem triple majored in Economics, Policy Studies and English at Rice University and holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Thomas Bird
Senior Quantitative Research Analyst
Tom studied Nuclear Engineering and Physics at the University of Wisconsin and was a Ph.D Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. Before coming to Kai, Tom was a lead Quantitative Researcher at Centurion Investment Management.
Matt Marneris
Trader
Matt studied Economics and Finance at the University of Illinois and holds an MBA from DePaul University's Kellstadt School of Business. Before KAI Matt was Head Risk Manager at Geneva Capital Investments, an equity index market making group primarily focused on SPX options.
Richard Mordini
Head of Operations
Richard majored in both Mathematics and Accounting at the University of Notre Dame and holds an MBA from the University of California - Berkeley where he focused on Strategy, Finance, and the Venture Ecosystem. He worked in Chicago in Big 4 accounting as a CPA in its Audit and Valuation practices, as an early stage investor at a $300M VC fund in San Francisco, and ran finance for a venture-backed foodtech startup during revenue growth from $50M to $150M.
Patrick Duffy
Head of Marketing
Patrick studied Economics and Finance at Georgia State University. After college, he spent 9 years building a visual content marketing agency in Atlanta before moving to Chicago in the summer of 2021. Patrick loves sports and photography, serving as the team photographer and content creator for the Atlanta Braves for 7 seasons.
Chris Lambrou
Head of Investor Relations
Cosmo
Office Pup