Hedge Fund Industry Leaders Join Forces To Launch Texas Hedge Fund Association

Market Wire, 20050229

A team of financial and hedge fund industry icons who have contributed to Texas becoming a leading center of hedge fund assets under management, today unveiled an organization positioned to be the driving voice for the industry in the southwest region of the United States, namely the Texas Hedge Fund Association (THFA) (www.texashfa.org).

The board of directors of the THFA is led by its chairman, Christopher Alan Zook, who is the chief investment officer of CAZ Investments, a leading Houston wealth management firm. Joining Zook is Thomas Augenthaler, managing principal of Hedge Fund Center and Hedge Fund Launch (Houston); Bill Blythe, executive director of the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems -TEXPERS (Houston); Clive Bode, a director of BBT Fund and counselor to certain members of the Bass family (Fort Worth); John Peavy, chief investment officer of the Teachers Retirement System of Texas (Austin); Ed Easterling, president of Crestmont Holdings (Dallas), Eliot Raffkind, senior partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld (Dallas) and Erik Forssman, partner at Ernst & Young (Dallas).

"The THFA's mission is crystal clear: Our objective is to be the leading authority for the hedge fund community in the southwestern United States," said Christopher Alan Zook, chairman of the board for the THFA. "With a solid board of directors in place along with a strong executive management team, we have created a powerful vehicle to drive the understanding of the hedge fund industry among the financial community and investors in Texas. It will also raise the profile of the Texas Hedge Fund industry within the broader peer community."

"There is clearly a need for the Texas Hedge Fund Association," said THFA executive director and co-founder, Sam Vogel. "Texas and the Southwest United States represent one of the largest concentrations of hedge fund assets under management in the USA, with Dallas-Fort Worth the 3rd largest center after New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, yet to date, there has been no platform or voice to address the educational, maintenance of industry standards, communication and networking needs of the community. Now we have a powerful forum in the form of the Texas Hedge Fund Association."

Understanding that the hedge fund community in Texas and throughout the Southwest will have many questions concerning this new organization, all interested parties who would like to learn more about the THFA are encouraged to visit the company Web site at www.TexasHFA.org. There, visitors will find biographies of the THFA's board of directors and its officers, details about membership and will have the ability to join online - quickly and easily. Inaugural Reception To Be Held

To celebrate the launch of the THFA, a cocktail reception is planned for May 15th and will be held at the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas. All those wishing to attend are encouraged to contact THFA executive director Sam Vogel at 713/403-8259 or email sam.vogel@texashfa.org for more details. About the Texas Hedge Fund Association

The Texas Hedge Fund Association (THFA) is a well-supported, motivated, and active not-for-profit trade association for the Texas and Southwest hedge fund community whose members include hedge fund managers, high net worth individuals, academics, pension fund investors, family offices, foundations, other institutional investors and vendors (including industry legal, accounting and prime broker representatives). For further information about the THFA, please visit the Web site at www.texashfa.org.