25-year prediction: Diversity and inclusion in the hedge fund industry

Today's trends will become tomorrow's norms

The hedge fund industry has historically been a people business. While those people have been innovative and idiosyncratic, they have also generally been men, often drawn from the socioeconomic elite and ethnic majority.

The industry, and its investors, has been prioritising change and in 25 years these efforts - along with developments in the wider society and the broader evolution of the industry - will have resulted in a far more diverse workforce and inclusive culture.  A recent paper from the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) reveals how that trend is already under way - a woman from a New York housing project who became co-CEO of the world's largest hedge fund firm in the world; a young man who learned investing from scratch to provide for his family; a woman who leaves the forme...