Based in Cyprus, Alkis Hajittofis, CFA, FCA, Head of Portfolio Management, started his career as a chartered accountant. But his career took on a different trajectory after a spur of the minute decision to study for the CFA® Program. Watch the story of Alkis’s career.
CFA® (Program) help me broaden my horizons, it gave me a knowledge over a diverse range of assets and financial concepts. It's helped me land a job that I really like and I also feel that I excel in.
I am Alkis Hajittofis, CFA. I've been a charterholder since 2019. I currently work at Resolute Investment Management as an executive director and head of portfolio management. Resolute Asset Management is a leading advisor and manager of real estate across Europe and the Middle East.
Providing structured solutions to clients such as institutional investors, financial institutions, financial sponsors who have real estate or investment exposures.
I started my career at a Big Four audit firm where I qualified as a chartered accountant. Following that, I was hired by a family office of a high net worth investor, where I acted as a financial controller for a number of years.
In 2014, I decided on the spur of the moment to sign up to the CFA Program. In hindsight,
it was a bit of a hasty decision given the fact that my wife had just given birth with our son and I was in the process of changing jobs. However, it helped me immensely.
Since starting the CFA Program and qualifying, I have rarely been in a meeting where I have felt lost or out of place. So it definitely helps you really understand the full scope of the investment industry.
It has also helped me in my communication with investors. I've had a lot more understanding
as to how the risk-return rationale of specific investments works, both from the perspective of an advisor or a manager and also from the perspective of the clients.
Furthermore, the CFA (Program) has really helped me, in my understanding of a broader, more diverse group of asset classes.
Prior to joining Resolute, I was at an advisory firm for a number of years where I advised on a number of alternative investments and some financial structured solutions.
The CFA (Program) really gave me the ability to really completely do a 90 degree turn and enter a different field without being lost at any point.
The CFA® charter has definitely given me a great opportunity, especially in terms of networking. It is pretty much a small and yet elite club of investment professionals.
It's helped me locally as part of my local society where I served as president. I had the opportunity to meet almost all of the CFA® Charterholders in the country, all the way from C-suite executives down to individuals just starting their financial careers and who in essence will be the leaders of the future.
And if there’s one thing, and one thing alone that I could change, it would be starting my CFA (Program) journey earlier.
If you're a young professional looking to learn a new skill, I would say go for it because it will give you the opportunity get a head start over individuals who are the same age as
you, in the same position as you.
If you're a mid-career professional like I was when I started the CFA (Program), go for it. You can always learn new things. On the one hand it helps you upskill and may help you get a promotion or just provide better services to your clients.
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