Mr. Heller co-founded Peritus Asset Management, Inc.1 in 1995. As Senior Portfolio Manager, he is responsible for the portfolio management and trading activities for Peritus, ensuring that the firm’s strategy is properly implemented and that the clients receive the best execution on all trades. Over the past 15 years, Mr. Heller has developed long standing relationships across Wall Street for new issue and secondary trading in both the Investment Grade and High Yield assets classes. As high yield bonds are not an “exchange-traded” asset class, the ability to find, negotiate and acquire bonds is a critical component of portfolio performance. Additionally, Mr. Heller has been responsible for the maintenance of all custody and investment dealer relationships and is a member of the investment committee.
Beginning in 1993, Mr. Heller spent two years at Smith Barney as a financial consultant. Prior to Mr. Heller’s investment career, he had a seven year career in professional football with the San Francisco 49ers, winning Super Bowl XXIII, then later with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks, retiring in 1993.
Mr. Heller attended Oregon State University where he played football while majoring in Kinesiology and secondary education. He received his California State Coaching Certification through UCSB and also attended the University of San Francisco in his off-season with the San Francisco 49ers, taking business accounting and tax law courses.
