Firm Overview
Since 1989, our sole focus has been to create and manage alternative investment funds.
Dearborn Capital Management, LLC created the Grant Park Fund family to provide investors access to a variety of alternative investment strategies that are not typically available to individual investors. The firm continues to offer publicly available and private funds structured to comply with the 1940 Investment Act, as well as, public and private limited partnerships structured to comply with the 1933 Securities Act and 1934 Securities Exchange Act.
The Grant Park Funds are headquartered in Chicago, IL and maintain a national distribution team across the United States.
Key Characteristics
Commitment
We are the lead investor in our own funds and create products for ourselves, as well as investors.
Focus
Our sole ambition is to create and manage fund-based alternative investment strategies.
Risk Management
We provide on-going due diligence across all activities within our funds to ensure the execution of each investment strategy, to safeguard the control of the fund’s assets and valuations, and to abide by the multiple regulatory requirements established by the industry’s regulatory agencies.
Preservation of Capital
The Firm has its roots on the Chicago Board of Trade beginning in the early 1980’s, where the concept of controlling downside losses in order to trade another day became the bellwether of our approach to investing.
Investment Philosophy
The company seeks to create innovative funds that offer investors:
- Access to world-class alternative investment programs
- Exposure to global financial and commodities markets
- Proven non-correlation to equities and fixed income markets
- Strict risk-management disciplines designed with the potential to preserve fund capital
- Targeted risk/reward profiles seeking to achieve equity-like returns on reduced volatility
Our Leadership
David M. Kavanagh
President + Founder
Principal since 1989
MBA, University of Notre Dame
Member, Chicago Board of Trade (1983 – 2005)
David M. Kavanagh, president of the general partner has been responsible for overseeing all operations and activities of the general partner since its formation and has been registered as an AP with the CFTC and listed as a principal of the general partner since December 1995.
Commencing in October 1998, Mr. Kavanagh also became president, a principal and an associated person of Dearborn Capital Brokers Ltd., an independent introducing broker. It became registered as an independent introducing broker in October 1998 and was formerly also registered as a commodity pool operator from September 1999 until October 2009. Between October 1998 and October 2011, Dearborn Capital Brokers Ltd. performed introducing brokerage services for MF Global Inc., a former futures commission merchant. From November 2005 through March 2006, Mr. Kavanagh was registered with the CFTC as an AP of MF Global Inc. Neither Dearborn Capital Brokers nor Mr. Kavanagh provides brokerage services to Grant Park’s trading account.
Mr. Kavanagh has served as the president of DCM Brokers, LLC a registered broker dealer, since October 2007, which serves as Grant Park’s lead selling agent. Between December 2010 and December 2012, Mr. Kavanagh served as the president of Knollwood Investment Advisors, LLC, which was formerly a registered investment adviser from January 2011 to December 2012. Effective October 2013, Mr. Kavanagh is a listed principal of EMC Capital Advisors, LLC where he serves on the Board of Managers but does not manage day to day affairs. He was also an owner from May 2012 to April 2014 of a greater than 10% interest in an unregistered proprietary trading firm, XHedge LLC, and provided occasional consulting services to this firm from May 2012 to April 2014. In 1980, Mr. Kavanagh received an M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and in 1978 graduated with a B.S. in business administration from John Carroll University.
Patrick J. Meehan
Chief Operating Officer
Principal since 2008
MBA, Webster University
Prior experience: U.S. Marine Corps, Houghton Mifflin
Patrick J. Meehan, chief operating officer of the general partner is primarily responsible for the day to day operations of the general partner.
Mr. Meehan became listed as a principal of the general partner effective January 2009 and is registered as an associated person effective January 2014. Mr. Meehan joined the general partner in April 2008. Between December 2010 and December 2012, Mr. Meehan served as chief operating officer of Knollwood Investment Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Mr. Meehan was listed as a principal and registered as an associated person from January 2014 through March 2014 of XHedge Management, LLC, a registered commodity pool, where he served on the Board of Managers. He received a B.A. degree from John Carroll University, an M.B.A. from Webster University and holds Series 3, 22, 31, and 63 licenses.
Maureen O'Rourke
Chief Financial Officer
Principal since 2003
BBA, Accounting, University of Notre Dame
Prior experience: MetLife Investors, KPMG LLP
Maureen O’Rourke, chief financial officer of the general partner is responsible for financial reporting and compliance issues. Ms. O’Rourke became listed as a principal and registered as an associated person of Dearborn effective September 2003. Since October 2007, Ms. O’Rourke has served as the chief financial officer and financial and operations principal of DCM Brokers, LLC, which serves as Grant Park’s lead selling agent.
Between December 2010 and December 2012, Ms. O’Rourke served as the chief compliance officer of Knollwood Investment Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Ms. O’Rourke is a certified public accountant. She received a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Notre Dame in 1987 and received a M.S. in taxation from DePaul University in 1996.
Business Continuity Plan
Dearborn Capital Management (“DCM”) has implemented a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to protect the continuity of its operations in the event of a significant business disruption (“SBD”). The cause, nature and impact of SBDs are inherently unpredictable and the underlying BCP anticipates the need to respond to each disruption in a unique manner.
Our BCP is designed to allow DCM to quickly react, recover, and resume normal business operations based on the criticality of the disruption. Employee safety is the primary focus during the initial stages of a disruption that involves evacuating or reoccupying our primary business locations. Thereafter, the protection, restoration, and secure access to mission-critical operating functions becomes the immediate priority for recovery. The protection of the Firm’s books and records, organizational documentation and financial reporting, and restoration of regulatorily-mandated policies, practices and procedures, and on-going ability to communicate with and service our clients (broker dealers and registered investment advisers), customers (investors in Grant Park funds), regulators, and key third-party service providers is fundamental to ensuring the rapid restoration of the impaired services.
Our BCP addresses the following areas: responsible parties; communications with employees, clients, customers, regulators, and third parties; systems, data, and services recovery and restoration; restoration of cyber security and all mission critical systems and business processes, alternate operating locations; critical vendor, contractor, and counterparty BCPs and business interruption impacts; and regulatory reporting.
We maintain backup records electronically and conduct frequent, off-site transfers daily. We also maintain certain documentation off-site at secured facilities. Based on the analysis of the Firm’s legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations, the information and technical architectures that are installed allow the restoration of mission critical information that is complete to within five minutes of the disruption, with the objective of restoring all services within one business day. In the event of the complete destruction of the Firm’s offices, mission critical service can be restored within one business day and the complete restoration of services can be completed within five business days.
The nature, scope and severity of a specific disruption may cause the Firm to operate from a remote site(s) for an extended period. Should the Firm need to transfer operations to an alternative location(s) beyond the affected area, we plan to continue to conduct business and notify you using the most practical and expedient means of communication available. The Firm’s website (http://grantparkfunds.com) will serve as the primary point for general notifications to external parties.
The BCP is subject to changes and modifications. DCM reviews the plan annually, tests the plan throughout each quarter, and updates the plan as business conditions and technology change.
For more information or questions about our business continuity plan, please contact Patrick Meehan, Chief Operating Officer at 312.506.3887 or pat@dearborncapital.com