Senior Leadership
William Heard is the founder of Heard Capital LLC and serves as the Firm's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, leading the Firm's investment process and strategic direction.
Prior to founding and leading Heard Capital LLC, Mr. Heard was a special situations analyst for Stark Investments, a global alternative investment firm. While at Stark Investments, he covered the telecommunication, media, technology, financial, industrial and energy sectors. Mr. Heard’s investment experience spans asset classes and includes leveraged loans, high yield bonds and equity securities.
Mr. Heard is active in the philanthropic community, focusing his efforts on education and disadvantaged youth. He currently serves on the City Year Chicago Board of Directors and actively participates in OneGoal, a diverse collective of local organizations creating opportunities for today’s youth and low-income population. Mr. Heard is a board member of the President’s Circle and Young Professional Network for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. He is also a member of the Dean’s Circle at the University of Chicago Law School, as well as a member of the Founders’ Committee for the University of Chicago Law School’s Center on Law and Finance.
Mr. Heard is a graduate of Marquette University’s College of Business Administration where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Real Estate. While at Marquette, he founded and established the University’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) Program. AIM was the first undergraduate business program in the nation to be selected as a Program Partner by the CFA Institute.
Joseph Lee is a Partner at Heard Capital LLC and is responsible for overseeing risk management, trading and execution. In addition, Mr. Lee supports the Firm’s portfolio attribution analysis and quantitative research processes.
Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2014, Mr. Lee was a discretionary futures trader, specializing in Treasury yield curve spreads and TED spreads. In that role, Mr. Lee was responsible for researching, developing and executing both momentum and mean reversion driven strategies.
Mr. Lee is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago.
Mr. Lee earned an MBA with honors distinction from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Name
Title
COO & CFO
General Counsel, CCO & CAO
Head of Investor Relations and Product Strategy
Stephen Granstrand
COO and CFO
Stephen Granstrand serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Heard Capital LLC and is responsible for the Firm’s key corporate functions.
His responsibilities include overseeing the Firm's middle and back-office functionality; managing firm policies, positions and cash reconciliations and counterparty relationships; and maintaining the Firm’s books and records. Mr. Granstrand also has an active role in the Firm’s budgeting, liquidity and cash management.
Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2019, Mr. Granstrand was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in Prime Services and Clearing where he was responsible for client services, sales and relationships management. Mr. Granstrand also served as a Vice President in Prime Brokerage Sales and previously held other roles within Prime Brokerage. In those roles, Mr. Granstrand helped build and develop processes and procedures for some of the largest hedge funds and broker dealers in the financial services industry.
Mr. Granstrand earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lehigh University.
Priya Kaftan
Head of Investor Relations and Product Strategy
Priya Kaftan is the Head of Investor Relations and Product Strategy at Heard Capital LLC where she oversees client relations, client communications, business development and product strategy.
Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2019, Ms. Kaftan was a Senior Associate at Silver Point Capital, L.P., a credit and distressed focused hedge fund. Her responsibilities included managing relationships with Silver Point Capital’s existing and prospective investors, product strategy, reporting, credit market research and communications.
Prior to Silver Point Capital, L.P., Ms. Kaftan was a Vice President in JPMorgan’s Syndicated and Leveraged Finance group. In that role, she structured leveraged loan and high yield transactions for clients in the energy, metal, mining, packaging and chemical sectors. Ms. Kaftan also served as an Associate and Analyst in the group.
Ms. Kaftan holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University where she was a magna cum laude graduate. She is a Board Member of Ten Thousand Villages Oak Park, an organization focused on fair trade and economic empowerment and on the Sponsorship Committee of Women Investment Professionals, a professional community that enhances women’s opportunities and growth in the investment industry.
Erin Casey
General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary
Erin Casey is the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary at Heard Capital LLC where she is responsible for overseeing the Firm’s legal, compliance and regulatory matters.
Prior to joining Heard Capital LLC in 2022, Ms. Casey was a Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, where she taught courses and seminars in secured transactions, lender rights and remedies, and artificial intelligence.
Prior to the University of Chicago Law School, Ms. Casey was a Principal at Goldberg Kohn Ltd. in Chicago and an Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York. In these roles, she represented lenders in all aspects of corporate bankruptcy cases and commercial workouts throughout the country, as well as in the documentation of asset-based and cash-flow commercial finance transactions.
Ms. Casey received her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and her Bachelor of Arts in Economics, with honors, from the University of Chicago. She is admitted to the bar in Illinois and in New York.