Manuel E. Mejίa-Aoun is the founding partner and Chief Investment Officer of Alpha4x Asset Management, an investment manager for discretionary global macro hedge fund strategies. Previously, Manuel was the CIO for Bladex Asset Management where he launched two hedge funds from 2005 to 2013. Manuel subsequently formed a management buyout effective April 2013 with full retention of the track records. Manuel began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1982 as part of the Investment Banking Division. By 1987, he launched and served as Head of the Emerging Markets Trading Group and later became Chief Emerging Markets Strategist in 1995. Manuel then joined Deutsche Bank in 1996 where he ran the Latin American FX and Local Money Markets Sales and Trading Desk. In 2000, also during his tenure at Deutsche Bank, Manuel created and served as CEO of Maxblue, the bank’s first wealth management business in Latin America. Manuel is a Founding Member and former Vice Chairman of the Emerging Markets Traders Association. Manuel holds an MBA in Finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (formerly known as the American Graduate School of International Management) and a B.S. from Southeast Missouri State University (Summa Cum Laude).