Fairhills Group, the New York-based alternative asset manager that was founded as a family office for Edward Bronson, has appointed Steven DiNunzio as principal and chief financial officer.

The appointment comes as Fairhills launches a strategy to expand its investment operations via acting as an “incubator” for experienced portfolio managers setting up new hedge fund strategies. Principals David Benway and Heather Malloy are leading these efforts.

“Fairhills' efforts to expand into new strategies comes at a time when many talented individuals are rushing to leave shuttering proprietary trading desks and establish themselves ahead of their peers,” the firm said in a statement.

According to a report which came out in March, Fairhills is planning to seed vehicles with between $5 million and $50 million in capital and offer support services and market offerings under its brand. For doing so, it will take a 2 per cent management fee as well as a portion of the funds’ performance fees, according to the Hedge Fund Alert report.

The firm’s first seeding project involves “a niche quantitative long-short strategy led by two former senior portfolio managers at Madison Square Investors, a subsidiary of New York Life Investment Management,” Fairhills Group said yesterday.

DiNunzio’s appointment will see him look after all aspects of financial management, operations, accounting, auditing, compliance and reporting throughout the middle- and back-office across all funds managed by Fairhills. He joins the firm from Diamond Notch Asset Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund backed by BNP Paribas, where he had worked before Diamond overseeing some $25 billion in hedge fund assets.