Sethu Bijumalla is the CEO of Smonik Systems LLC. Sethu founded Smonik with the vision of helping organizations gain significant cost and operational efficiencies.

With nearly 25 years of experience in financial services industry from Bisys to Citi Hedge Fund services to Smonik, Sethu has deep knowledge of investment and fund services industries which helped him guide Smonik’s product roadmap.

Sethu Bijumalla is principal and founder of Smonik Systems and is responsible for the company’s overall strategy and structure. He founded the company after identifying a pressing need within the operations of fund companies for greater automation, with the goal to increase efficiency, reduce cost, and minimize operational risk. Sethu has over 25 years of experience in building software tools to help financial services clients become more efficient.

Prior to founding Smonik, Sethu spent nine years at Citi Hedge Fund Services, holding various engineering posts, including as a senior member of Citigroup’s Windows Architecture Group which established Windows strategy across the entire Citi organization.

Stephen Hixon formally joined Smonik as a principal and co-owner in September 2016. He brings over 35 years of investment operations and back-office expertise including significant experience in software design, program management, and implementation.

Prior to joining Smonik, Stephen was a Senior Vice President leading the Product and Program Management efforts within the Alternative Investment Solutions group at State Street Bank. His team of 20 managed numerous large-scale, strategic efforts related to improving back-office efficiencies and client onboarding activities. Stephen led the effort to acquire a managed account platform company in 2011 and developed and implemented a regulatory reporting service solution which generates significant revenue.

Before joining State Street in 2010, Stephen spent two years at Highfields Capital Management LP, a $13 billion alternative asset manager in Boston, MA, managing a major system conversion and the selection and implementation of a third-party administrator. In 2007 and 2008, he worked as a consultant managing a system implementation for a hedge fund in Boston and assisting a private equity manager launch its first hedge fund. Previous to that, he was Chief Operations Officer at Sowood Capital Management LP, an investment firm located in Boston which managed hedge and private equity funds with assets over $5 billion. In this role, he was responsible for all accounting, trade operations, tax, and technology functions.

In 1998, Stephen co-founded the US operations of Hemisphere Financial Services, LLC – an administrator to alternative investment funds. Hemisphere was subsequently sold to BISYS, then Citi, and is now the Alternative Investment Services division of SS&C. During his eight years there, he served as Managing Director with involvement in all strategic and operational decisions for the business. From 1988 to 1998, Stephen was a Director at Investors Bank & Trust Company where he established and managed offshore operations in Toronto and Dublin and was involved in numerous strategic initiatives. Stephen spent 5 years in the Mutual Fund division at State Street Bank after graduating from Bentley College in 1983. His responsibilities have focused on all aspects of running large operations with specific emphasis on accounting, operations, and project management activities.