Michael Z.

Michael Z. has a strong background in network engineering and management. Michael started their career at the College of Staten Island as a UNIX Administrator, responsible for all UNIX and Linux related issues on campus. Michael then moved on to The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), where they served as a Senior Systems Administrator and Network Specialist, designing and maintaining Cisco networking technologies.

In 2006, Michael joined Avenue Capital Group as a Senior Systems Engineer, where they built and managed an international network for a multi-strategy hedge fund. Michael also took on project management responsibilities, including a datacenter relocation in the company's New York headquarters.

From 2011 to 2013, Michael worked at The Blackstone Group as a Director of Network Operations, overseeing the global network engineering and operations for a publicly traded investment and advisory firm. Michael played a key role in the build-out of two new datacenters and developed standardized and automation-friendly technology solutions.

Michael then joined Pine River Capital Management as the Director and Head of Network Engineering, where they managed network, telecom, datacenter, and management functions for a global hedge fund. Michael was also selected to participate in a management training program.

In 2017, Michael joined Balyasny Asset Management L.P. as Senior Network Engineer, responsible for the network operations and security of a global hedge fund. Michael developed automation scripts for network and security automation.

Most recently, Michael is employed at Cohen & Steers as the Vice President and Head of Network Engineering.

Michael Z. earned their MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, specializing in Management of Technology & Operations and Finance from 2007 to 2010. Prior to that, they obtained their MS in Computer Science from City University of New York-College of Staten Island from 2003 to 2005. Michael also holds a BS in Computer Science from the same institution, which they completed from 1998 to 2002. Additionally, they have obtained several certifications, including Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE), Certified Meraki Network Operator, Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), Citrix Certified Administrator for MetaFrame XP Presentation Server (CCA), Sun Microsystems Certified Security Administrator, Sun Microsystems Certified Systems Administrator for Solaris 9 (SCSA), Amazon Web Services Solutions Architect Associate, and Amazon Web Services Cloud Practitioner.