Team

Julian Allen

Managing Member

Julian has over 30 years’ professional investment experience. Before starting Spitfire in 2007, Julian was a Member of Cannell Capital LLC, a San-Francisco long/short fund. Previously, Julian was a Managing Director of JH Whitney & Co. LLC, a middle market private equity investor. Julian started investing at Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc., and was a founding Principal of Capital Z Partners. Julian started his career as a financial analyst in mergers and acquisitions at Wasserstein Perella & Co.

Prior to its sale to Francisco Partners, Julian was a director of QuadraMed Corporation, where he served on the audit and compensation committees, and was previously a director of several private companies.
Julian holds an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a George F. Baker Scholar, and a B.A. from Cambridge University, England.

Julian was previously a Trustee of the Mark Day School in San Rafael, California, when he was Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee.  He was also a member of the Investment Sub-Committee, helping oversee the school’s endowment.

Patrick Ryan

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer

Patrick joined Spitfire in 2013 and acts as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, responsible for all non-investment related functions.

Previously, he spent twenty years in Prime Brokerage. Most recently he was a Director in Prime Finance at Citigroup where he was responsible for managing Citi’s west coast hedge fund relationships. Previously, Patrick was a Director in Prime Services at Credit Suisse in New York and San Francisco and an Executive Director in Prime Brokerage at Lehman Brothers in New York and London. Patrick started his career as an analyst in the European Finance Group at Lehman Brothers where he worked in Corporate Accounting, Corporate Credit and Corporate Treasury.

Patrick holds an M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University, England and a Certificate in Corporate Treasury Management from the Association of UK Corporate Treasurers.

Ibrahim Ihsan

Research Analyst

Ibrahim graduated from The University of California at Berkeley with a dual degree in Applied Mathematics and Business Administration. He graduated as a recipient of the HAAS Business School merit scholarship. At Berkeley, Ibrahim was a Senior Equity Research Analyst with the Berkeley Investment Group, a student-run hedge fund.

Before joining Spitfire, Ibrahim interned at the family office of Joe Moglia, the ex-chairman of TD Ameritrade.