Robert Christian

Robert Christian is a senior vice president and head of the Absolute Return Portfolio Management team at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions (FTIS). Mr. Christian serves as chairperson of the FTIS Alternatives Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, Mr. Christian was a senior managing director and chief investment officer at K2 Advisors, an alternative investment firm that merged with FTIS. He joined K2 Advisors in May 2010, served as a member of the K2 Executive Committee, and acted as a portfolio manager.

From 1990 to 1995, Mr. Christian worked as a global strategist and proprietary trader at Chase Manhattan Futures Corporation. In 1995, he founded Modoc Capital, focusing on short-term futures trading. In 1997, Modoc entered into a joint venture with Stonebrook Capital Management LLC, where he served as a portfolio manager and researcher. From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Christian worked at Graham Capital Management LP as a portfolio manager and researcher of quantitative-based trading strategies. From 2003 to 2005, he was head of macro strategies at Julius Baer Investment Management. From September 2005 to March 2010, he worked at FRM Americas LLC as global head of directional trading strategies and portfolio advisor to numerous funds, including the award-winning FRM Sigma.

Mr. Christian holds a bachelor of arts and sciences degree in biology and economics from Stanford University and a master of business administration in finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. In the summer of 2020, he completed a professional certificate in foundations for data science at Stanford University.