The team of Active Niche Funds is dedicated to the management of thematic or quantitative funds
All funds have been managed by the same manager since inception.
Pascal Rochat
CEO – Fund Manager
Pascal founded Active Niche Funds in 2007.
Pascal co-manages the Active Solar and Active Recycling funds, together with Arnaud Chambaud.
Prior to founding ANF, Pascal was Chief Risk Officer at Energie Ouest Suisse (EOS, now Alpiq) in Lausanne. Pascal first worked at Arthur Andersen (then Ernst & Young) in Geneva as auditor and financial and economic consultant.
Pascal holds a Ph.D. in Law of the University of Lausanne and a Postgraduate Management Certificate of HEC Lausanne.
Urs Gmür
Fund Manager
Urs co-founded Dolefin SA in 2000, which merged with Active Niche Funds in 2023.
Urs co-manages the Rare Earth Elements and the Metals Exploration funds with Stefan Steinemann.
Prior to co-founding Dolefin SA, Urs headed the Advisory Desk at Lloyds TSB Bank in Geneva. He started his career at the Raiffeisen Bank with a Federal Certificate of Competence (Banking).
Urs holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification.
Isabelle Delvaux
Operations
Isabelle is responsible for the company organisation, manages the relationships with external partners and coordinates investors relations.
Formerly, Isabelle held leading roles in client relationship management and project management for major banks such as UBS, JP Morgan and GE Capital. She began her career in London and Paris and then relocated to Luxembourg to work in the investment funds industry.
Isabelle holds an MBA from HEC Liège, Belgium.
Carole Richard
Business Development
Carole is in charge of the business development strategies. She coordinates sales and marketing efforts to expand the investors network.
Formerly, Carole held various senior leadership roles at Rhone Trust and Fiduciary Services in Monaco and for a private bank in the Bahamas. Her career started in the life insurance sector followed by 10 years as International Wealth Management Advisor at UBS in Switzerland.
Carole holds a Master in Mathematics of the University of Zurich.
Arnaud Chambaud
Analyst – Fund Manager
Arnaud is in charge of analysis for the companies of the solar and recycling sectors.
Arnaud co-manages the Active Solar and Active Recycling funds, together with Pascal Rochat.
Formerly, Arnaud worked as a financial analyst with several companies in Paris: IT Asset Management, Groupe BPCE, banque Volkswagen.
Arnaud holds a Master in Finance of ESLSCA in Paris.
Stefan Steinemann
Technical Analyst – Fund Manager
Stefan co-founded Dolefin SA in 2000, which merged with Active Niche Funds in 2023.
Stefan is in charge of technical analysis and co-manages the Rare Earth Elements and Metals Exploration funds with Urs Gmür.
Prior to co-founding Dolefin SA, Stefan was a technical analyst and a member of the asset/liability management committee at Lloyds Bank in Geneva.
Stefan graduated in pedagogy from the University of St Gallen and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification and the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) certification.
Christian Polloni
Fund Manager
Christian manages the quantitative funds Quantis Low Volatility, Quantis Dynamic Equity and Master Volatility.
Christian is into quantitative asset management since 2003 and he founded Quantis Asset Management in 2010. Formerly, Christian worked in France for Natexis – Groupe Banques Populaires and for Sovac – Groupe Lazard.
Christian holds a Master in Finance of ESLSCA in Paris.
Philippe Rochat
Risk & Compliance
Philippe is co-founder of Active Niche Funds in 2007. He is in charge of compliance and risk management.
Since 2004, Philippe is an independent wealth manager, now a partner with VCT Vector Gestion SA.
Formerly, Philippe was portfolio manager at Cosba Private Banking and Trading Specialist at Firstquote. Philippe first worked at BCV providing services to independent wealth managers.
Philippe holds a Federal diploma for Expert in Finance and Investments CFPI.
Kai Curry-Lindahl
ESG – Fund Manager
Kai co-manages the Active Recycling fund with Pascal Rochat and Arnaud Chambaud. He is also responsible for the ESG and sustainability analysis for companies in the portfolios.
Formerly, Kai was a financial advisor at Credit Suisse in Zurich, after being an investment analyst and portfolio manager at Fidelity Capital Management in Brussels.
Kai holds an MBA from Cornell University, New York and a Master of Science in Biology from University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Nicolas Barile
Fund Manager
Nicolas manages the Behaviour European Equities fund with the advisory of Quanteviour SA, a company he founded in 2004.
Nicolas is active in private banking and institutional asset management since 1995. Previously, he was in charge of the derivatives business for UBS Lausanne following a post-graduate degree in London.
Nicolas holds a Master’s degree in Finance from HEC in Lausanne.
Martina Jensik
Operations
Martina assists with the management and administration of the Rare Earth Elements and the Metals Exploration funds.
Formerly, Martina worked as an executive assistant in a financial software company. She started her career as a training manager in the international department at UBS Geneva.
Martina holds a Federal Certificate of maturity in languages.
Nicolas Scheibler
Trading & IT
Nicolas is in charge of trading and IT.
Nicolas started his career as a network engineer at Firstquote before working as an IT project manager at Nestle and SICPA where he was in charge of M&A integration projects.
Nicolas holds a Bachelor of Science (BSC) in Telecommunications of the School of Business and Engineering Vaud (HES-SO).
We are available for presentations of our investment solutions.
Our funds focus on sectors such as solar energy, recycling, monetary and industrial metals, and critical raw materials; or rely on unique and innovative investment strategies for the quantitative funds.
On request, we provide detailed information on each of our funds. The investors who trust us and value our expertise know that often “small is beautiful” in the finance industry.