Meet the Team
City Different is an investment firm led by investment managers. We’re passionate about what we do, and started our own firm so we could pursue our best ideas wherever they may lead. Meet two of our co-founders—Chris Ryon and Sweta Singh, Thornburg muni debt vets, portfolio managers of our fixed income and municipal bond strategies, and authors of the muni-focused content on our blog. Follow their posts to get a frank, unvarnished view of the market that’s free from hype and sales pitches. You can meet the two of them, along with City Different co-founder and CEO Connor Browne, on October 27th for a live webinar to hear about our firm, our philosophy, and our strategies.
Chris Ryon, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Formerly of Thornburg Investment Management, Vanguard
Favorite music: Rock and Southern Rock—especially the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and Bruce Springsteen.
Favorite sports: Now, biking and skiing. Back then, rugby, karate and skiing. I’ve competed in 10 triathlons.
Inspiration: My late father, like so many others of the “Greatest Generation” served in WWII. The man turned 18 while piloting a Higgins boat at Omaha Beach on D-day, came home, became an architect, and is still the measure of a human being that I judge myself against. My other inspirations include Teddy Roosevelt and John Adams. Neither chose the easy way to do anything, but they usually chose the right one.
Mentors: Biggest one was Ian MacKinnon, who ran the fixed income group at Vanguard. He gave me my first big break and trusted me to run with new investment ideas, after, of course, they passed his rigorous review. Also, you can’t talk about Vanguard without mentioning Jack Bogle, who taught me a great deal about staying the course and doing the right thing by your clients and colleagues. Finally, there was Brian McMahon at Thornburg. I was very lucky to have my career intersect with these three men.
Favorite place ever visited: Zion National Park in Utah.
Top place to visit someday: The Swiss Alps, for skiing.
Favorite movie: Errol Flynn in Captain Blood.
Favorite food: My grandmother’s chicken and rice. Nothing more comforting.
Passionate about: My extended family.
Most proud of: My wife and children.
Sweta Singh
Portfolio Manager
Formerly of Wilkins Investment Counsel, Thornburg Investment Management, Breckinridge Capital Advisors
Inspiration: I often find that no one person can inspire you for everything in life. Most people have a list of good, bad, and ugly, and you can choose which attributes you need for your moment. I am easily inspired by everyday goodness.
Mentors: Chris Ryon, for his trust and belief in me, which led me to level up to meet his trust. I deeply admire Jim Simons, and his application of quantitative methods to asset selection.
Favorite quote: “Just do it!”
Favorite place ever visited: So many! Kauai, Hawaii. Really, any place near the ocean.
Top place to visit someday: Again, so many. But I would love to go to Annapurna Base Camp, where trekking for the Himalayas starts.
Last book read: A book by Lopez de Prado on machine learning for asset managers. For fiction, I have just started reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. The writing is so delicious that you slow down to read it.
Best book recommended: Brothers Karamazov.
Favorite movie series: The Godfather series (a fondness inherited from my dad), Marvel movies (introduced to me by my husband), Harry Potter (thanks to my daughter), and Jurassic World series (from my son). I seem to learn something new from everyone.
Favorite food: Nachos!
Passionate about: In no order, oceans, dance, community, and family
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