Private investment firm BlueMountain Capital Management has added Bob Thomas (pictured above) and Jeff Picron (pictured below) to the firm’s mortgage group. Both men join BlueMountain from Induction Capital, a hedge fund startup that they co-founded.

“We are very excited about these hires for BlueMountain,” said Derek Smith, BlueMountain co-chief investment officer. “We view mortgages as an asset class with incredible growth potential.”

Earlier in his career, Thomas led the mortgage trading strategy effort at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on desk analytics and risk. He also spent eight years at Citadel Investment Group, where he led the quantitative research effort for the agency and non-agency mortgage business.

Picron has previously worked as an independent quantitative consultant, leading mortgage-related projects for Magnetar Capital and Citadel. Both he and Thomas were also managing partners at Induction Capital before joining BlueMountain.

“We are thrilled to welcome aboard Jeff and Bob, as they each bring a wealth of experience and invaluable expertise to the firm,” said Steven Boyd, portfolio manager at BlueMountain. “They are instrumental in the expansion of the firm’s mortgage business.”