In many ways, "Fashions in Forecasting" might be where it all began. An article with that headline, written by Alfred Winslow Jones and published by Fortune Magazine in March of 1949, helped to create the alternative investment management industry. His research for the article, which focused on various stock market technical factors and the market analysts who used those factors, led Jones to create an investment partnership with four other partners. The partnership offered what is considered the first hedge fund, although he used the term “hedged.”For me, the path to the alternative investment industry and a focus on absolute return investing began in Chicago and included several years in Seattle before moving to New York. During that time, I have raised money for long-only, single manager and multi-manger funds. I have built and managed very successful sales teams and have led product development and marketing for an extensive array of investment products. However, none of that matters, unless you also understand how investors really think about risk and losses. That understanding has allowed me to develop a very successful approach for sales, marketing and education for intuitional and wholesale distribution of private and public funds, with an emphasis on liquid alternative funds. In addition. I have created a comprehensive suite of tools to help asset management firms analyze and enter the US and Canadian onshore markets.