A Big Apple fundster just made a pair of key hires at his liquid alts startup, and a distribution expansion is next. Watch for them to build out their product suite, too.

"We have more starting in the second quarter, and we're going to continue to build out our sales team," Taylor Lukof, founder and CEO of New York City-based ABR Dynamic Funds [profile], tells MFWire. "ABR's growth is going to be on its distribution side."

Earlier this month Lukof confirmed the hiring of Chicago-based John Mulroy as managing director of ETF capital markets and of New York-based Steve Sivillo as chief compliance officer. ABR now has seven employees and more than $50 million in AUM. Lukof hired ABR's first wholesaler two years ago.

Mulroy most recently served as managing director of ETF capital markets at Guggenheim Investments, which sold its ETF business last month, and like Lukof he is an alumnus of the American Stock Exchange. Sivillo most recently served as vice president and mutual funds compliance manager at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management.

Meanwhile, more mutual funds or other products may be coming soon for ABR. Of its six indexes, powered by Wilshire, only two "are in an investable format" so far, Lukof says.

"You may see different wrappers from ABR, maybe more mutual funds," Lukof says. "You are definitely going to see more UCITs funds from ABR."

ABR is majority-owned by its employees, and Lukof aims to keep it that way.

"We've been very persistent. We've stuck with a plan to remain independent," Lukof says. "We anticipate remaining independent for a very long time."

"Overall, having the IP that we've been able to develop has been extremely attractive," Lukof adds. "There's been interest in the business from other asset managers. So far ABR hasn't entertained any of those discussions." 

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