Jim Caron

Jim Caron is the CIO of the Portfolio Solutions Group

Previously he held the position of Co-Lead Global Portfolio Manager and Co-Chief Investment Officer of the Global Balanced Risk Control Team. Prior to joining the Eternal Victory Team in 2023, he was a portfolio manager and head of global macro strategies on the Fixed Income Team. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2006 and began his career in the investment industry in 1992. Prior to this role, Jim held the position of Global Head of Interest Rates, Foreign Exchange, and Emerging Markets Strategy with Morgan Stanley Research. Previously, he was a director at Merrill Lynch where he headed the U.S. Interest Rate Strategy Group. Prior to that, Jim held various trading positions in rates and option products. He earned a B.A. in physics from Bowdoin College, a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from New York University.

During the decade that Caron has been at Morgan Stanley, he has made his mark on analytics. Caron had a hand in creating Matrix, a unique web-based analytics program that relies on data to make informed, tailored investment decisions.

Caron, who earned an MBA from NYU, uses his own analytics and formulas to create portfolios. When he crafts them, the goal is to make them durable over time. That means revisiting them often to retool; what's working well today might not work three months from now.

"It's a challenge that will never go away because the markets are a bigger opponent than we are," Caron says.

Tackling the markets inspires camaraderie, debate and idea-sharing among Caron's circles at the Firm. For example, as part of the Asset Allocation Committee, Caron and the other members of the committee come together to debate investing strategies and portfolio ideas.

“We challenge each other because we want to make sure ideas that go into a portfolio are well vetted," says Caron, who focuses on macro strategies. “We'll all play devil's advocate. I think it makes us better as a team. I want to be challenged—I don't want people to agree with me."