Donald Sussman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Selwyn Donald Sussman June 8, 1946 |
| Education | Columbia University New York University (BS, MBA) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Selwyn Donald Sussman [1] [2] (born June 8, 1946) is an American asset manager and philanthropist who is the founder and chief investment officer of the Paloma Funds. Sussman has served on the boards of a number of civic, cultural, educational, and research institutions and is a major contributor to Democratic candidates and causes. [3]
Sussman was born to a Jewish family [4] in June [5] 1946, the son of Beatrice (née Zimmerman) and William Sussman. [6] His father was a real estate developer. [6] He was raised in Miami, Florida [7] and attended high school at Windsor Mountain School, a boarding school in Lenox, Massachusetts. [6] He then attended Columbia College before continuing on to New York University, from which he earned B.S. and M.B.A. degrees. [8]
Sussman's career in finance began in 1958, when, at the age of 12, he made a sixfold return on a $300 investment in the stock of Michigan Sugar, by correctly predicting that the Cuban Revolution would disrupt sugar supplies and drive up the price of sugar commodities. [9] [10] After school, he served as vice president and chief financial officer of the Titan Industrial Corporation, [6] a privately held trading firm, [11] and then managed money for the partners of a New York law firm, [11] Gelberg & Abrams. [6]
In 1981, Sussman founded Paloma Partners, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund with mostly institutional clients. [11] [12] A number of affiliated funds were established for both for U.S. investors (Paloma Partners Institutional Investors, Capital Preservation Partners, and European Merger Fund) and non-U.S. investors (Paloma International Fund, Capital Preservation Partners Limited, and European Merger Fund Limited for non-U.S. persons). [11] As a money manager, Sussman sought to keep fund strategies and management targeted rather than sprawling. [11] [12] Paloma's culture was risk-averse, and Sussman sought to insulate the funds from market volatility. [12] Sussman pioneered the approach of minimizing risk by "dividing assets among independent investment professionals and demanding absolute transparency of their holdings." [12] Paloma achieved a profit in 15 out of its first 18 years. [12] Among Paloma's traders was Nicholas Maounis, who later formed Amaranth Advisors, to which Sussman provided seed money. [13]
Paloma's middle and back-office operations were acquired by JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services in February 2006 for an undisclosed sum. [14] [15]
Following the sale to JPMorgan, Sussman has acted as a serial investor and backer of new hedge funds such as Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Empirica Capital and David Shaw's D.E. Shaw & Co. [16] [17] In 2009, Paloma Partners backed LMR Partners. [18] In 2013, Paloma Partners agreed to back Rhodium Capital Advisors, LLC. Rhodium Capital, based in London, is a long-short European credit fund founded by Ifftikhar Ali and Jeffrey Tirman. [19]
In addition to the Paloma funds, Sussman is the founder of Trust Asset Management and New China Capital Management LLC. [20]
In 2012, Sussman invested approximately $3.3 million in MaineToday Media through Maine Values LLC to provide the Maine newspaper company with much-needed working capital. MaineToday Media is the owner of the Kennebec Journal , the Morning Sentinel , the Coastal Journal, the Portland Press Herald and several digital media properties.[ citation needed ] The investment, originally made as a loan, was restructured as a purchase of equity and resulted in Maine Values owning 75% of MaineToday Media. [21] [22] In 2015, Sussman sold MaineToday to Reade Brower, a Maine printer and newspaper owner. [23] [24]
Sussman has made substantial donations to educational, charitable, community, and political organizations.
In 1997, Sussman donated $1 million to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital to construct an outpatient building. [25] The building was later named “Sussman Medical Office Center".
In 2010, after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Sussman donated the use of his private jet to transport medical supplies to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. [26] Also in 2010, the same aircraft was used to transport a dying man back to Maine. [27] In 2010, Sussman donated funds to the Penobscot East Resource Center (PERC), an organization promoting sustainable fisheries in Maine, to build the group a new facility in Stonington, Maine. [28] [29] Sussman gave $12 million to Skidmore College, a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York, as part of a larger $200 million effort to build co-ed student housing; the newly redeveloped student housing (renamed "Sussman Village") opened in 2013. [30] [31]
In 2012, Sussman's friends and colleagues established the S. Donald Sussman Award at the MIT Sloan School of Management in honor of his lifelong contribution to quantitative finance. This award is presented to individuals or groups who exhibit innovation and excellence in quantitative investment strategies and models. [32]
In 2013, Sussman donated $1 million to Pen Bay Healthcare to help complete its new Hospice House, construction of which had already begun on the northern edge of the 64-acre Pen Bay Medical Center campus in Rockport. The Hospice House was named in honor of Sussman's grandmother, Ida Sussman. Construction was completed in July 2014. [33] [34]
Sussman has been a benefactor of the Weizmann Institute, an Israeli research center; he funded the Weizmann Institute's Sussman Family Building for Environmental Services (built in 1996). [11] In 2010, Sussman contributed $1 million to the University of the Virgin Islands, for a new science center. [35] In May 2021 Donald Sussman donated an additional $6 million towards the establishment of the medical school. [36]
A liberal Democrat, [11] Sussman is a longtime donor to Democratic candidates. [37] Sussman helped raise funds in support of the political candidacies of Bill and Hillary Clinton beginning in the 1990s. [38] Sussman also raised funds for the Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign and Connecticut U.S. Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman. [11] In 2016, Sussman donated $40 million to Democratic super PACs and aligned groups, including $21 million to the Priorities USA Action super PAC supporting the presidential candidacy of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. [38] The contributions made Sussman and his Paloma Partners the single largest supporter of Democrats and Clinton in the 2016 election cycle; [38] [39] in the 2018 midterm elections, Sussman was the fifth-most generous individual donor, contributing $27 million to Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups. [37] He was previously a major contributor to the Maine Democratic Party and to its arms raising money for state House and state Senate campaigns. [40] In a 2011 interview, Sussman said that he regarded his political donations as a part of his broader philanthropy. [41]
Sussman has served as a member of the board of trustees of Carnegie Hall, [42] Skidmore College (until 2012), [43] [44] the University of the Virgin Islands, [35] and the Portland Museum of Art. [42] He serves as co-chair of Carnegie Hall's Investment Committee, [43] and chair of Skidmore College's investment committee. [44] He has also served as a board member for the Center for American Progress, the Democracy Alliance, and the Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges. [42] Sussman has served as a member of the MIT Sloan School's Finance Group Advisory Board; [42] deputy chairman of the board of governors of the Weizmann Institute; [11] and honorary trustee of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. [45]
In 1981, Sussman married Laurie M. Tisch, daughter of billionaire philanthropist Joan Tisch and Preston Robert Tisch, the 68th United States Postmaster General and former co-owner of the New York Giants. They have two children and divorced in 1992. [46]
In 1994, Sussman purchased a home in Deer Isle, Maine. [47] In 2008, Sussman purchased Turner Farm, a historic farm located on the island of North Haven, Maine, 12 miles off shore in Penobscot Bay. [48] The history of Turner Farm dates back to the 1780s and under Sussman's ownership, the property has been returned to a working farm producing organic products. [49] In addition to Turner Farm, Sussman also formerly owned an organic farm, David's Folly Farm, in Brooksville, Maine; [42] he sold the farm to his former tenants in 2013. [50]
In 2011, Sussman was remarried to Chellie Pingree, a Democratic U.S. representative from Maine, in a private ceremony on Turner Farm. [51] [52] In 2015, Pingree announced an "amicable and truly mutual decision" to end their marriage; [53] the divorce was finalized in the summer of 2016. [40]
In 2019, Sussman designed the first Eagle Class 53, a rigid-wing, sail-powered and hydro-foiled catamaran; he worked with Fast Forward Composites to build the cruiser. [54] He was inspired to create this new cruiser while watching the America's Cup. [55] [56] In December 2019, the Eagle Class 53 was recognized as the Best Multihull Boat of the Year 2020 by Sailing World. [57]
He has received honorary degrees from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and the Maine College of Art. [8] He has also received the following:
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that holds liquid assets and that makes use of complex trading and risk management techniques to improve investment performance and insulate returns from market risk. Among these portfolio techniques are short selling and the use of leverage and derivative instruments. In the United States, financial regulations require that hedge funds be marketed only to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. is a multinational investment management firm founded in 1988 by David E. Shaw and based in New York City. The company is known for developing complicated mathematical models and computer programs to exploit anomalies in financial markets. As of December 1, 2023, D. E. Shaw has $60 billion in AUM, including alternative investments and long strategies.
Julian Hart Robertson Jr. was an American hedge fund manager, and philanthropist.
Stanley Freeman Druckenmiller is an American billionaire investor, philanthropist and former hedge fund manager. He is the former chairman and president of Duquesne Capital, which he founded in 1981. He closed the fund in August 2010, at which time it had over $12 billion in assets. From 1988 to 2000, he managed money for George Soros as the lead portfolio manager for Quantum Fund. He is reported to have made $260 million in 2008.
Soros Fund Management, LLC is a privately held American investment management firm. It is currently structured as a family office, but formerly as a hedge fund. The firm was founded in 1970 by George Soros and, in 2010, was reported to be one of the most profitable firms in the hedge fund industry, averaging a 20% annual rate of return over four decades. It is headquartered at 250 West 55th Street in New York. As of 2023, Soros Fund Management, LLC had $25 billion in AUM.
Leon Levy was an American investor, mutual fund manager, and philanthropist. At his death, Forbes magazine called him “a Wall Street investment genius,” who helped create both mutual funds and hedge funds.
Event-driven investing or Event-driven trading is a hedge fund investment strategy that seeks to exploit pricing inefficiencies that may occur before or after a corporate event, such as an earnings call, bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, or spinoff. In more recent times market practitioners have expanded this definition to include additional events such as natural disasters and actions initiated by shareholder activists. However, merger arbitrage remains the best-known investment strategy within this group.
Chellie MariePingree is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Maine's 1st congressional district since 2009. Her district includes most of the southern part of the state, including Portland and Augusta.
Anne Dias-Griffin is a French-American investor. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Aragon, an investment firm active in global equities, with a focus on the internet, technology, and consumer sectors, as well as alternative assets.
In finance, the private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private-equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive.
Private equity funds and hedge funds are private investment vehicles used to pool investment capital, usually for a small group of large institutional or wealthy individual investors. They are subject to favorable regulatory treatment in most jurisdictions from which they are managed, which allows them to engage in financial activities that are off-limits for more regulated companies. Both types of fund also take advantage of generally applicable rules in their jurisdictions to minimize the tax burden on their investors, as well as on the fund managers. As media coverage increases regarding the growing influence of hedge funds and private equity, these tax rules are increasingly under scrutiny by legislative bodies. Private equity and hedge funds choose their structure depending on the individual circumstances of the investors the fund is designed to attract.
Timothy Sykes is a penny stock trader who claims to have earned $1.65 million from a $12,415 Bar mitzvah gift through day trading while in college.
A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital.
Raymond Thomas Dalio is an American investor and hedge fund manager, who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in 1975 in New York.
Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an American multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by Tom Steyer in 1986, the firm employs approximately 230 professionals in eight countries around the world.
Avenue Capital Group is an American multinational investment firm focusing on distressed securities and private equity with regional teams focusing on opportunities in the United States, Europe and Asia. The firm operates as both a private equity firm and as a hedge fund. Avenue's core strategy is focused on distressed debt and equity securities although the firm also manages investment funds that focus on long-short opportunities, real estate, and collateralized debt obligations. The firm manages assets valued at approximately $9.5 billion. The firm was founded by former professionals of Amroc Investments, an affiliate of the Robert M. Bass Group.
Michael Edward Novogratz is an American investor, formerly of the investment firm Fortress Investment Group. He is currently CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners which focuses on investments in cryptocurrency.
Cantab Capital Partners is a hedge fund based in Cambridge, England, co-founded by Dr. Ewan Kirk and Erich Schlaikjer. Cantab operates quantitative funds using computer models to drive investment decisions. As of Feb 2015 Cantab had $4.5 billion in assets under management, after launching with $30 million in 2006. The firm takes its name from Cantabrigia, the medieval Latin name for Cambridge. It is regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. Cantab Capital Partners was acquired by GAM in 2016 and is since part of GAM Systematic.
Jeffrey Glynn Tarrant was an American investor. He was the founder and chairman of MOV37 and Protégé Partners, firms specializing in identifying, seeding and early stage investing in investment funds. He was also a founding partner of film production company Candescent Films. He died from brain cancer in 2019.
LMR Partners (LMR) is a British multi-strategy investment firm. It has a focus on global macro and event-driven investment strategies and makes use of both systematic and discretionary trading strategies.