Former Bessemer CIO joins Bridgewater

Rebecca Patterson will be joining Bridgewater Associates as a senior member of the hedge fund firm’s investment research team.

Patterson will help identify and explore areas of investment research across geographies and asset classes at the $160 billion firm. She officially joins on January 1 and will report to Bridgewater’s investment leadership that is co-chief investment officers Ray Dalio, Bob Prince and Greg Jensen.

Patterson previously served as chief investment officer of Bessemer Trust and has since been replaced there by Holly MacDonald, who had been a chief investment strategist at the firm. During her time at Bessemer, Patterson was a member of the firm’s management committee in addition to serving as CIO and leading firm’s investment efforts on behalf of high-net-worth individuals. Prior to joining Bessemer in 2012, she spent 15 years at J.P. Morgan.

According to Bridgewater, Patterson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will help the investment team in its core focus on having the “deepest possible understanding of how the economic machine and the markets operate, and to use that knowledge to structure portfolios designed to do well in both good and bad times.”

Patterson posted on social media her excitement about the new career opportunity at Bridgewater. “The firm is committed to solving complex macro-economic questions and I am very much looking forward to working alongside their many talented investment professionals and helping them in that pursuit,” she wrote.

Other changes are happening at Bridgewater in early 2020, with Co-CEO Eileen Murray set to depart at the end of March.