Fred Alger Management chief in the US tells how the company recovered after 9/11
Dan Chung, the CEO and chief investment officer of Fred Alger Management, who happened not to be in the company’s office during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, United States, led the firm’s recovery after 35 of its employees were killed. Those killed included the company’s then-head, David Alger, CNBC Top News reports.
That morning, Chung, who worked as a technology analyst, was at a meeting at the Intercontinental hotel in central Manhattan. Alger’s office was located on the 93rd floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which the first plane struck at 8:46 a.m. After the attack, Chung and his colleagues searched city hospitals for the company’s employees, carrying their photographs.
Resuming operations
Shortly after the tragedy, company founder Fred Alger, Chung’s father-in-law, came out of retirement and tasked him with rebuilding the business. Chung was the most senior surviving employee and became chief investment officer.
The company resumed operations on September 13 thanks to a backup center in Morristown, New Jersey. Its readiness had been ensured by chief technology officer Michael Howell, who was killed on September 11. The center housed a trading unit that replicated the workstations of portfolio managers, while client data and internal trading models were preserved.
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Chung chose not to hire portfolio managers from other firms, as consultants had advised, and instead turned to former Alger employees. Those who responded included healthcare specialist Teresa McRoberts, David Hyun, who left Oppenheimer Funds, and small-cap fund manager Jill Greenwald.
Investments in AI
According to the company, Fred Alger Management manages more than $47 billion in assets, while its flagship Alger Spectra Fund has $4.5 billion in assets. According to Morningstar, the fund ranked in the top 4% of its category last year and in the top 2% in 2024.
Chung considers artificial intelligence a long-term growth driver for the technology sector. As of June, Nvidia was the largest position in the Alger Spectra Fund, accounting for 14% of assets. Among other companies he is betting on, Chung named CrowdStrike, Western Digital, Micron, and Nebius Group.
The company also launched the Alger 35 exchange-traded fund, made up of 35 highest-conviction investment ideas, in honor of the 35 employees killed on September 11. Alger directs part of the fund’s management fees to charities in memory of David Alger and his colleagues.
