Paul Marshall

Paul Marshall studied economics at Oxford and worked at Mercury Asset Management before co-founding Marshall Wace with Ian Wace in 1997. Marshall Wace pioneered the TOPS (Trade Optimised Portfolio System) — a systematic approach to aggregating trading ideas from hundreds of brokers and using quantitative models to assess which ideas generate alpha and then construct a portfolio accordingly. This innovation allowed Marshall Wace to process and systematically evaluate a far larger universe of investment ideas than traditional discretionary funds. Marshall Wace has grown to manage over $65 billion, making it one of Europe's largest hedge funds and among the top long-short equity managers globally. The firm manages both systematic (TOPS-driven) and discretionary strategies across global equities. Paul Marshall has also been a significant media investor and philanthropist in the UK, co-founding the news website UnHerd and investing in media organisations. He is known for his outspoken views on UK politics and education policy. Marshall Wace received a major investment from KKR in 2015, which provided the firm with capital and helped it expand institutionally.