Merrimac Corporation invests across public markets, private equity, venture capital, and direct real estate with an opportunistic mandate and a long-term view.
We look for exceptional investment talent, durable relationships, and ideas with the capacity to compound — financially, technologically, and philanthropically.
Merrimac was founded as a single family office in 1989. Our goal is simple: find compelling opportunities across asset classes and build long-term relationships with proven investment talent.
Our allocations are opportunistic by design. We invest across hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and direct real estate, with current interest in technology and biotechnology related opportunities.
Liquid investments and unconstrained managers across equity strategies. Credit is interesting only as an opportunistic investment — we limit negative skew, negative liquidity, and negative volatility.
Top-decile private equity and venture capital managers, selective direct deals, and differentiated real estate partnerships.
A particular passion for the technology and biotechnology that shape the future.
Build relationships with managers and founders before consensus catches up.
Move across asset classes when the opportunity set changes.
Prefer durable partnerships over one-off transactions.
Diversify across geography, sector, liquidity, and manager edge.
Lean toward technology and biotechnology where capability curves are steep.
Deploy philanthropic capital with the same discipline as investment capital.
We seek the best investment talent within their area of expertise, including unconstrained hedge funds and long-only equity strategies. Credit is interesting only opportunistically — we avoid negative skew, negative liquidity, and negative volatility.
We partner with proven private equity and venture capital managers, build diversified exposure, and pursue direct deals alongside trusted partners.
In real estate, we look for regional and sector specialists as partners for direct co-investment opportunities.
We are especially drawn to innovation that can bend cost curves, unlock capability, and create durable positive impact.
We are not asset gatherers, and we are not tourists. When we commit, we intend to be a durable, low-maintenance partner — the kind of capital a manager wants on the register through good years and hard ones.
Our diligence is deep and our decisions are our own. We do the work ourselves, we move at the pace the opportunity deserves, and we treat every conversation with discretion.
We know what we are looking for. Diligence is thorough but efficient, and we give clear answers — including a prompt, honest no.
Family capital with no outside investors, no committees to appease, and no redemption pressure from above.
Decades of manager selection across strategies. We ask informed questions, respect capacity limits, and understand what we own.
Conversations, materials, and terms stay private. We build relationships quietly.
Many of our best partnerships began years before the first dollar. We are happy to start early.
Where useful, we make introductions, share perspective across our network, and act as a reference for managers we back.
Introducing your fund? A short note to [email protected] with your strategy, track record, and terms is the best way to begin.
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer. Clark Cheng joined Merrimac in 2014. He previously led HSBC's alternative investment team in the Americas, overseeing $60B in assets, and earlier conducted hedge fund research at Guggenheim Partners and Morgan Stanley. He founded West Coast Economics, and holds an MBA from Duke University and a BA in Business/Economics and Psychology from UCLA, with coursework toward an MA in Psychology at Cal State LA.
Deputy Chief Investment Officer. Ilkka Anhava joined Merrimac in May 2020 as Managing Director, Director of Investments. He served as Head of Hedge Fund Research at HSBC Global Asset Management from 2014, with earlier hedge fund analysis, due diligence, and investment advisory roles in New York, London, and Geneva. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MSc in Economics from Aalto University, and served as a second lieutenant in the Finnish Defense Forces.
Director of Investments. Nancy Sun joined Merrimac in May 2020 as Managing Director, Director of Investments. She was an Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank for five years on capital introduction, and spent 2005–2015 in HSBC's Alternative Investment Group as a Senior Hedge Fund Analyst. She graduated magna cum laude from Binghamton University with a BA in Psychology.
Director of Investments. Nicholas Thomason joined Merrimac in April 2025. Before joining Merrimac, he worked for HSBC Global Asset Management in their London and New York offices for over ten years as a hedge fund research analyst and most recently as a quantitative analyst, and previously served as Senior Operations and Risk Analyst at FQS Capital Partners. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol, an MSc (Distinction) in Political Science and Political Economy from the London School of Economics, and an MSc in Financial Engineering from WorldQuant University. Nicholas is a CAIA charterholder.
Chief Financial Officer. Jesse Franks joined Merrimac in 2014 as Accounting Manager and was promoted to Controller in 2018. He previously worked as an analyst at an accounting and financial services firm, and holds a BA in Economics from Siena College.
Chief Operating Officer. Marie DiMichele leads Merrimac's day-to-day operations, overseeing administration, service-provider relationships, and the operating infrastructure that supports the firm's investment and philanthropic activities.
Global Business Development & Director of Operations. Anthony Tornambe joined Merrimac in 2013. His prior roles include seven years as Financial Reporting Manager at a New York family office, hedge fund reconciliations, and team management at SS&C Advent. He holds a BA in Economics from Ohio State University.
General Counsel & Head of Tax. Ben Wright joined Merrimac as General Counsel and Tax Director in July 2021, after nearly eleven years in EY's Private Client Services practice advising individuals, family offices, and fiduciaries on cross-border tax matters, with earlier roles at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and KPMG LLP. He holds a BA from Cornell University, a JD from Ohio State University, and an LLM from Northwestern University.
Merrimac's mission is to positively impact the world through investments and philanthropy. We are competitors in how we live and work: learning, investing, and giving back.
We contribute the majority of our earnings each year toward philanthropic efforts, primarily through our foundation. As with investing, the goal is not activity. The goal is impact per dollar — concentrated in problems where philanthropic capital produces positively skewed results.
We focus on rare cancers and other difficult problems where the gap between need and available resources is largest, and where a well-placed dollar can move outcomes in ways that larger, more diffuse efforts cannot.
The missions of the Milken Institute, XPRIZE, and TED resonate deeply with ours — finding and funding the ideas, people, and breakthroughs that the rest of the world hasn't caught up to yet.
We concentrate philanthropic capital where funding gaps are greatest and positive impact is most asymmetric — rare cancers, neglected diseases, and the difficult problems that larger institutions underserve.
The missions of the Milken Institute, XPRIZE, and TED resonate with ours: finding the people, ideas, and technologies that solve hard problems before consensus recognizes they can.
Grant inquiries and philanthropic partnerships: [email protected].
Merrimac Corporation is a single family office investing proprietary capital. We do not manage outside money, and we are not raising capital.
General inquiries: [email protected] · (203) 274-9540
One Dock Street, Suite 300, Stamford, CT 06902
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer · [email protected]
Deputy Chief Investment Officer · [email protected]
Director of Investments · [email protected]
Director of Investments · [email protected]
Chief Financial Officer · [email protected]
Chief Operating Officer · [email protected]
Global Business Development & Director of Operations · [email protected]
General Counsel & Head of Tax · [email protected]