Emil van Essen
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer
Emil has over 30 years of investment experience in Canada and the United States. He attended Waterloo University and was recruited away by Prudential-Bache in 1986 to develop trading strategies to attract institutional clients.
In less than two years Emil was inducted into the prestigious President’s club at Prudential-Bache. Emil left Pru-Bache to join Scotia McLeod in 1990 where he continued to grow his institutional following. In 1992 Bank of Montreal (BMO) hired Emil to start a quantitative proprietary desk. BMO then asked Emil to move to Chicago in 1993 to become the first Director of Managed Futures.
Emil decided to leave BMO in 1995 to pursue his trading model development at local brokerages. In 2001 Emil and a partner formed the brokerage firm, Vankar Trading, where their value proposition was model and technology development.
In 2006 Emil began the development of the Spread Trading Program that was launched in December 2006. In 2010 he sold his interest in Vankar Trading to his partner in order to focus his efforts on the CTA. Emil, as CEO and CIO, focuses his time on the strategic direction of the firm, research and trading.