Executive Leadership

Founder & Managing Partner

Rudy
Sahay

Rudy Sahay is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aquarian Holdings, a diversified global holding company with a portfolio of insurance and asset management solutions. He sets the organization’s strategic vision and oversees its portfolio, driving the evolution and growth of high-quality businesses.

Mr. Sahay serves as Chairman of the Boards of Directors for Investors Heritage Life Insurance Company and Somerset Reinsurance, providing leadership on strategic and operational initiatives across Aquarian’s insurance and reinsurance platforms. He also serves on the Investment Committees for Aquarian Strategic Opportunities, Aquarian Credit Partners, and Aquarian Private Credit. 

Prior to founding Aquarian, Mr. Sahay co-founded 54 Madison Partners, a real estate private equity investment firm. He was also a founding member of Guggenheim Partners’ principal investments, real estate private equity, and venture capital and growth equity groups.  Mr. Sahay previously worked as an investment professional at H.I.G. Capital, Albright Capital Management, and Jupiter Partners.  He began his career as a consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. 

Mr. Sahay is a supporter of several philanthropic organizations in New York City including Ronald McDonald House, The Children’s Brain Tumor Project Foundation, and the New York City Ballet. 

He received an M.B.A., with honors, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University. 

Chief Accounting Officer

Brian
Cook

Brian Cook is the Chief Accounting Officer at Aquarian Holdings. Prior to joining Aquarian, Mr. Cook was Controller at Investcorp. He served as Manager of Global Fund Accounting at GSO Capital Partners (Now Blackstone Credit and Insurance), Fund Accountant at Och-Ziff Capital Management, and Senior Associate in Financial Services and Business Advisory Services at Rothstein Kass (Now KPMG). He began his career as an analyst at Huron Consulting Group.  

He is a Certified Public Accountant and earned his M.A. in Taxation and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Albany.

Chief Human Resources Officer

Hope
Cooper

Hope Cooper serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer at Aquarian Holdings, where she is responsible for managing the company’s talent and its development. Prior to joining Aquarian, Ms. Cooper served as Chief Human Resources Officer at safeXai. She had previously served as Vice President of Human Resources at Genpact, Head of Human Resources at Bridgewater Associates, and a Managing Director at UBS. She has also spent several years in public service, serving as Chief Executive Officer for the State of New Jersey Civil Service Commission.  She began her career as a lawyer, serving as a Litigation Associate at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.

Ms. Cooper earned her B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her M.A. from New York University, and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Operating Partner

John Frye

John Frye is an Operating Partner at Aquarian Holdings. Mr. Frye previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at Advisors Excel, a leading insurance marketing firm. He served as Chief Financial Officer at Security Benefit and its life insurance subsidiaries. Mr. Frye began his career with General Electric, where he spent 20 years in numerous senior positions at GE Capital, the company’s financial services business. He served as Chief Financial Officer for both the GE Employers Reassurance Business – a $25 billion life and health insurance business – and GE’s commercial insurance business, responsible for covering medical, municipal, special lines and catastrophic risk, as well as GE’s European fleet leasing business. 

He earned a B.A. in Finance from Michigan State University.

Head of Client Services

Kristen
Dickey

Kristen Dickey is the Head of Client Services at Aquarian Holdings. Prior to joining Aquarian, Ms. Dickey was Non-Executive Director at Somerset Reinsurance. Prior to that, she served as a Managing Director at BlackRock in various senior roles including Global Head of Financial Institutions Group, Global Head of Investor Relations, and Global Head of Equity Index Product Strategy. She is on the boards of several companies, including Aperture Investors and Marstone, and is a member of the board of trustees at BNY Mellon.

Ms. Dickey earned her MBA from the Anderson School of Business at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her BA from Pitzer College.

Chief Operations Officer

Sasha
Sanyal

Sasha Sanyal is the Chief Operations Officer at Aquarian Holdings. Prior to joining Aquarian, Ms. Sanyal acted as Business Leader of Financial Services in the Americas at Microsoft. Prior to that, she spent 19 years at Genpact in various senior roles including Global Business Leader of Insurance, Global Leader of DEI & CSR, and Chief Strategy and Operations Officer. She started her career as a consultant at E&Y.

Ms. Sanyal earned her BS from Southern Methodist University.

Interim Chief Financial Officer

Steve Robb

Steve Robb serves as the Interim Chief Financial Officer for Aquarian Holdings and the Chief Financial Officer for Somerset Re. He is responsible for the company’s financial, risk, and capital management, as well as for its financial reporting functions.  Mr. Robb formerly served as EVP and CFO at AXA XL, overseeing financial, actuarial, and investment matters, as well as tax activities and global treasury functions, including capital, cash, FX, collateral, and liquidity management. Mr. Robb joined XL as VP of SEC Reporting in 2004 and held various positions including SVP of Accounting Policy, Chief Accounting Officer, and Group Controller before being named CFO in March 2017. Prior to XL, he was with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Bermuda as Senior Manager and Insurance Industry Group Leader, where he specialized in financial services, particularly insurance and reinsurance companies. He started his career at Pricewaterhouse in Montreal where he served in multiple leadership roles in their Insurance Group. 

Mr. Robb graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from McGill University.