Alta Vera Global Capital Advisors appoints Michael Vaknin as chief investment officer. Vaknin spent eight years as chief economist at JP Morgan Private Bank, where he also served as chairman of the investment committee.
“Big news for Alta Vera Global Capital Advisors,” wrote Jerry García, co-founder and CEO of the independent wealth management firm, on his LinkedIn profile.
“We’re pleased to welcome Michael Vaknin, former chief economist of JPMorgan Private Bank and Goldman Sachs veteran, as our chief investment officer,” he added.
García noted that Vaknin brings “a rare combination of deep macro insight, private markets experience, and direct work with some of the world’s most sophisticated families. His perspective on long-term capital allocation, fiscal dynamics, and alternative strategies is exactly what ultra-high-net-worth investors need today.”
As the independent wealth space continues to evolve, building an institutional-quality platform has never been more important, and this represents a major step forward for us, he said.
Before joining JP Morgan Private Bank, Vaknin spent seven years at Goldman Sachs as a senior economist. Based in New York, he holds a Ph.D. in economics and statistics from Columbia University.
Michael Vaknin also shared a post on LinkedIn, saying he was “thrilled” to join Jerry García and Alta Vera’s other co-founder, Chris Gatsch, to “deepen collaboration with the team at Merchant Investment Management.”
“I’ve spent my career inside large global institutions, and I’ve always believed there was a more objective way to serve complex families,” he wrote in his LinkedIn post.
“While the largest family offices have had the scale to go independent for years, the ‘core’ UHNW segment still struggles with fragmented wealth, inefficiently managed across multiple isolated silos,” he explained.
According to Vaknin, the timing is ideal, as “the independent architecture has finally matured, allowing us to manage a client’s entire balance sheet, regardless of where assets are held, with world-class reporting and aggregation.”
The hire is a key move for Alta Vera as it strengthens its offering of investment solutions for ultra-high-net-worth families and independent strategic advisors. The firm, which launched with nearly $400 million in assets under management, is focused on building a platform that combines wealth management services, capital solutions, and sophisticated risk-return strategies for demanding clients.
