(Bloomberg) -- D.E. Shaw & Co. appointed investor relations head Alexis Halaby, a managing director, as the sixth member of the hedge fund’s executive committee.

Halaby, 39, is the second woman to join the group, which is responsible for making strategic decisions, according to a spokesman for New York-based D.E. Shaw.

Founder David Shaw, who’s mostly focused on computational biochemistry research, tasked the committee with steering the firm. Its other members include Anne Dinning, Eddie Fishman, Julius Gaudio, Max Stone and Eric Wepsic.

D.E. Shaw managed $55 billion as of March, making it among the industry’s largest quantitative hedge funds. Founded in 1988, it’s also one of the oldest and among the first to use complex mathematical models for trading.

Halaby, who started at the firm in 2003, has been a fixed-income trader and worked in the finance and operations group before joining investor relations in 2008, becoming its head seven years later.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.