Notes
Alan Howard (born 1964 or 1965) is a British billionaire hedge fund manager and the co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, one of the world’s largest hedge funds. He was born in England to a Jewish family and was educated at Hasmonean High School (then called Hasmonean Grammar School) in Hendon, where he was a contemporary of Mark Shooter and his brothers. He graduated from Imperial College London with a master’s degree in engineering.
Career
Howard began his financial career at Salomon Brothers in 1986, working in the ECU eurobond market. He remained at Salomon Brothers until 1995. He then moved to the London securities division of Tokai Bank (1995-1997), leading interest rate trading across Europe. In 1997 he joined Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) as a fixed income trader, advancing to head of proprietary trading for European fixed income. His team generated $500 million in profits for CSFB over three years. In 2002, Howard and colleagues left CSFB to found Brevan Howard Asset Management. He stepped down as CEO in 2019, succeeded by Aron Landy, but continues as an investment manager at the firm. In late 2025, Howard became a resident of Switzerland, leaving the UK in response to tax changes.
His net worth was estimated at £2.5 billion by the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List.
Sources: Wikipedia; Institutional Investor; Bloomberg
Brevan Howard and Israel
Brevan Howard had a significant office in Ramat Gan, Israel (7 Menachem Begin Street), with 15 traders at one point and 38 traders added to the global team in 2012. Traders received commissions of 11-17% of gains. The Israel office was shut in 2018 as part of cost-cutting measures following poor fund performance.
Sources: Haaretz; SWIFT Code registry
Philanthropy and Jewish Causes
Howard founded the Alan Howard Charitable Foundation, which until closing in 2010 contributed to charities focused on Israel, Holocaust education, and the homeless. The foundation aimed to support Israel and other Jewish causes, focusing on Holocaust education, support for the underprivileged, and Israeli cinema.
In 2014, Howard started The Alan Howard Foundation/JW3 Speaker Series, held at JW3 (Jewish Community Centre London, 341-351 Finchley Road), raising money for the centre through conversations and entertainment with experts.
Howard also gave £5 million to help state school students through the United Learning Partnership Fund.
Sources: Wikipedia; Jewish Chronicle; AHF-JW3 Speaker Series
Political Activities
Howard served as a director of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). Since 2019, he has donated £1.6 million to the Conservative Party, including a one-off £1 million donation in the spring of 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia; Thaiger; openDemocracy
Israel Property
In 2007, Howard purchased two adjacent lots in Herzliya Pituah, Israel, for $21 million. He is also in advanced talks to buy approximately 15% of the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball club for approximately NIS 40 million.
Connection to the Shooter Family
The Shooter brothers have documented professional connections to Alan Howard’s Brevan Howard:
- Simon Shooter started his career as a trader’s assistant at Brevan Howard, according to a 2012 Euromoney article. He later worked at Manro Haydan Trading, Mansard Capital, Mint Partners, and Societe Generale.
- Ben Shooter had Brevan Howard as “one of [his] most active clients” when he was global head of FX sales at Credit Suisse, generating sales credits approaching $100 million annually. After leaving Credit Suisse in 2012, he joined JB Drax Honore, with hopes of securing Brevan Howard’s large trading volumes.
- Mark Shooter attended Hasmonean with Howard and ran his own volatility arbitrage fund (Shooter Fund Management, 2004-2007). No direct business relationship between Mark Shooter and Brevan Howard has been identified.
All three Shooter brothers attended Hasmonean High School, like Howard.
Sources: Euromoney - SG hires Shooter for hedge fund sales; Euromoney - JB Drax hires Ben Shooter from Credit Suisse
Edges
Mark Shooter
School contemporary at Hasmonean High School. Both went into finance — Howard became a billionaire hedge fund manager, Shooter ran a smaller volatility arbitrage fund before moving into property. Mark’s brother Simon started his career at Brevan Howard, and his brother Ben had Brevan Howard as a major client at Credit Suisse.
Hasmonean High School
Former pupil. Hasmonean is an Orthodox Jewish school in Hendon. Fellow notable alumni include Noam Gottesman (co-founder of GLG Partners), who may have been in the same class as Howard.
Noam Gottesman
Fellow Hasmonean alumnus. Gottesman co-founded GLG Partners in 1995 and later co-founded Nomad Foods. Both Howard and Gottesman became billionaire hedge fund managers after attending the same Orthodox Jewish school in Hendon.