Russell Jeffrey is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Risk Officer of Global Strategic Risk Management (GSRM). He has focused his career on mortgage-backed securities and interest rate markets, with deep experience across trading, portfolio management, and risk oversight. 

Before GSRM, Russell was CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Providence Investment Management, a firm he founded in 2003. Providence specialized in relative value strategies in agency mortgage-backed securities and related sectors. During the Great Financial crisis of ’08 Providence was +43% and then +83% in ’09.  His performance was recognized by Baron’s, Bloomberg, Fortune among other publications. 

Under his leadership, the firm grew to about $1.6 billion in assets by 2012. Earlier, Russell co-founded the Watch Hill group of agency MBS hedge funds, managing domestic and offshore portfolios and building a client base of institutional and high-net-worth investors. Between 1994 and 2001, he helped grow Watch Hill from $5 million in partner capital to one of the largest agency-focused hedge funds of its time. 

Prior to that, Russell was Managing Director and Head of MBS Sales and Trading at Prudential Securities, where he developed structured mortgage products and served on the Operating Council and Risk Management Committee. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1983 and later worked as a Principal at L.F. Rothschild, building their mortgage derivative business and helping position the firm as a leader in MBS underwriting. Russell holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Rhode Island.