Soraya Chabarek
The Navigator
Judgement in the fog, money, risk and the call others cannot make.
Soraya Chabarek emerges in this interview as a Navigator, someone who has consistently charted deliberate courses through complex, high-turbulence environments with skill and composure. She describes a career built on reading landscapes before moving through them, from her patient two-year relationship-building in the Middle East before seeing a single dollar of business, to orchestrating CQS's transformation from a founder-led hedge fund into an institutionally robust credit platform, and then guiding its integration into Manulife. Her leadership philosophy centers on knowing the terrain, focusing relentlessly on what she does best, and building trust-based partnerships that sustain her through volatility. The 2020 crisis response, calling every client personally to walk through portfolio stress, exemplifies her instinct to navigate by proximity and communication rather than retreat. She leads through orientation, not disruption.
“If you're always in pursuit of the possible, you are evolving, you're getting better and you are creating new revenue streams, new opportunities.”
“I find it quite difficult to say or know how a portfolio manager will look into a crystal ball and work out what company will survive the next 10 years. I think liquidity is paramount right now.”
“Having a skill and homing that in and being the best at that, focusing on that, I think is a formula to success.”
Money Maze Podcast: “From Hedge Fund Roots to Alternative Credit Leadership: Soraya Chabarek, President & CEO, MCQS”
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