Bethesda, Md.-based Monsoon Capital has hired Alkesh Gianchandani as a managing director in charge of marketing. He will report to founder Gautam Prakash and will be based in firm’s new New York office, which will be opened next month. He officially joins the firm today.

“The key purpose for his hiring is our planned expansion with two new India-dedicated funds that we expect to announce later this year,” said Prakash. “We’ve also re-opened our flagship fund to accept up to $200 million in additional capital and Alkesh will assist with that fund-raising process as well.  In essence, he will head up marketing globally for the firm.”

For the past two years, Gianchandani has been at Robeco Investment Management where he marketed the firm’s products to endowments, foundations and fund-of-funds. Prior to joining Robeco, he spent close to five years with RiskMetrics Group where he directed the firm's sales and marketing efforts for hedge funds and fund-of-funds.