Jeff Lignelli is the founder, portfolio manager, and CEO of Incline Global Management, a long short equity fund based in New York. Central to Incline Global's philosophy is a rigorous adherence to data and analytics.

"When you start a hedge fund, it's not like you've won a prize; you've only won the right to work very, very, very hard," points out Jeff, "Starting a hedge fund is only a license for continuous improvement. And the people that will really do well over the long term are funds who evolve over time."

Jeff Lignelli's great grandfather left Naples, Italy, at age 17 and worked in the Pittsburg steel industry. His grandfather's courage inspired Jeff to aim higher, which led to him to graduate from the Wharton School of Business as a Joseph Wharton Honors Scholar.

"It's so important to work very hard to put everything you can into growing your business and your fund. I actually like to think that I have ice in my veins during the very difficult times in the market. And I think that comes from the mindset that you get being so close to someone from that generation—like my grandfather."

Prior to forming Incline Global in 2012, Mr. Lignelli served as a partner on the investment staff at Appaloosa Management. At Appaloosa, Mr. Lignelli was responsible for developing specific sector themes and related equity investments. Prior to his tenure at Appaloosa Management, Mr. Lignelli founded Stonebrook Fund Management in 2001, where he was a portfolio manager for the firm’s long/short equity hedge funds. In 2008, Stonebrook returned outside capital to investors and Mr. Lignelli primarily managed his personal capital until he joined Appaloosa Management. From 1998 until 2001, Mr. Lignelli was a partner on the investment staff at Omega Advisors where he invested in companies across a myriad of sectors, geographies and market capitalization. Before joining Omega, Mr. Lignelli served as equity analyst at Atticus Capital where he performed research and analysis across equities and special situation investments. Mr. Lignelli began his career in finance as analyst and associate at Gleacher & Co. where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and gained a detailed knowledge of valuation and construction of financial models.