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Genre | Investments |
---|---|
Founded | 1983 |
Founder | John W. Rogers, Jr. [1] [2] |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | John W. Rogers, Jr. (Founder, Chairman, Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer) [3] Mellody Hobson (Co-CEO and President) |
AUM | $15 billion |
Website | www![]() |
Ariel Investments is an investment company located in Chicago, Illinois. It specializes in small and mid-capitalized stocks based in the United States. [4]
Ariel was founded in 1983 by John W. Rogers, Jr., who is chairman and Co-CEO of the company. [5] Mellody Hobson has been president of the company since May 2000. In July 2019, Hobson was appointed Co-CEO of the company. [6] The company employs 107 people, with the employees and the board owning 95% of the company. The firm has $15 billion in assets under management as of January 31, 2021. [6]
Ariel is a minority-owned investment company. [7] It claims to be the largest minority-owned investment firm. [5] The company also supports the African-American Community of Bronzeville by giving its support to nonprofits such as The Renaissance Collaborative. [8]
Through former Mayor Daley’s New School Initiative Program, Ariel Investments was awarded a corporate sponsorship of a Chicago public school in 1996. Hence, the birth of Ariel Community Academy – a public school located on the Southside of Chicago. [9]
George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Nominated for four Academy Awards, he is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement, and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster. Despite this, he has remained an independent filmmaker away from Hollywood for most of his career.
Christopher George Kennedy is an American businessman who is the chair of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc. A member of the prominent Kennedy family, he is a son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. From 2000 until 2012, he was also president of Merchandise Mart Properties, a commercial property management firm based in Chicago.
Saint Ignatius College Prep is a private, coeducational Jesuit college-preparatory school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The school was founded in Chicago in 1869 by Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J., a Dutch missionary to the United States. Saint Ignatius College Prep is Chicago’s flagship Jesuit high school and one of the preeminent Catholic college preparatory schools in the United States.
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Mellody Hobson is an American businesswoman who is president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and current chair of Starbucks. She is the former chairman of DreamWorks Animation, having stepped down after negotiating the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., by NBCUniversal in August 2016. In 2017, she became the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago. On December 26, 2020 it was announced she would become chair of Starbucks in 2021, thus becoming the first black woman to chair an S&P 500 company, making her one of the highest profile corporate directors in the United States. She would serve in the role of chair until August 2024.
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Cascade Investment, L.L.C. is an American holding company and private investment firm headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, United States. It is controlled by Bill Gates, and managed by Michael Larson. More than half of Gates's fortune is held in assets outside his holding of Microsoft shares. Cascade is the successor company to Dominion Income Management, the former investment vehicle for Gates's holdings, which was managed by convicted felon Andrew Evans.
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Desirée Glapion Rogers is an American corporate executive, former White House Social Secretary for President Barack Obama's office and former chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing Company (JPC). As of 2019, Rogers is the CEO of Black Opal, a cosmetics company.
John Washington Rogers Jr. is an American investor and founder of Ariel Capital Management, founded in 1983. He is chairman and co-CEO of the company, which is the United States' largest minority-run mutual fund firm. He has been a regular contributor to Forbes magazine for most of the last decade. Active in the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, Rogers was a leader of the 2009 inauguration committee.
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John W. Rogers Sr. was an American attorney and military aviator. He served as a Cook County, Illinois Juvenile Court judge, attorney, U.S. Army Air Force/U.S. Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Pursuit Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen or "Red Tails". He was one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.
John L. Keeley Jr. was an American investment manager and philanthropist. For almost 40 years, he ran Chicago-based Keeley Asset Management, which today is part of Keeley Teton Advisors, which is an affiliate of GAMCO Investors. Keeley and his family donated funds to help create the John L. Keeley Center for Financial Services at the DePaul University in Chicago and the Barbara G. & John L. Keeley, Jr. Center for Emergency Medicine Education at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago.