J-P Conte

Last updated
Jean Pierre Conte
Jp conte.png
Conte in 2017
Born09/1963 and 60
New York City, US

Jean-Pierre Conte is an American businessman and philanthropist involved in educational equity, immigration reform and conservation. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Conte is chairman and managing partner of the private equity firm Genstar Capital LLC, having overseen the company's growth to approximately $49 billion of assets under management as of April 2023. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Contents

He is the founder of the Conte Initiative on Immigration Reform at the Hoover Institute, Stanford University, formerly chaired by the author and Republican economist Tim Kane. [12]

Early life

Jean-Pierre Conte was born in Brooklyn and raised in the New York area to French and Cuban immigrant parents. [13] [14] His father, Pierre A. Conte, who grew up during the Nazi occupation of France, worked as a tailor and clothing salesman on Wall Street. [15] [16] His father had witnessed atrocities perpetrated against the French at the hands of the German SS, whose headquarters were located opposite his school, and later moved to the US at the age of 18. [17] His mother, Isabel Conte, left Cuba after experiencing both the communist and dictatorial Batista regimes, later settling in Brooklyn. [17] [18]

After graduating from high school, Conte went on to gain a bachelor's degree from Colgate University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He was voted 22nd of Harvard Business School's top 100 most successful finance and investing graduates in 2021 by Alumni Spotlight. [19]

Career

Conte started his career at Chase Manhattan Bank, NYC, in 1985, before entering the private equity sector after graduating from Harvard Business School in 1989. [20]

In 1995, Conte joined Genstar Capital and is Chairman and Managing Partner. In these roles he is in charge of acquisitions, divestitures and the supervision of portfolio companies. During his tenure, Genstar had grown to have approximately $49 billion of assets under management and targets investments in financial services, healthcare, industrials, and software industries. [13] [21] [22]

Since late 2022, Conte is on the board of Eagle Football Holdings LLC, investing in various soccer clubs including Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon (Ligue 1), Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro (Series A), and Crystal Palace, London (Premier League). [23] [24]

Conte is a director of ConnectiveRx and Signant Health and Advarra. [21]

Philanthropy

Conte's financial support for philanthropic causes has a focus on educational equity, neuroscience, sustainability and conservation and civic freedom. [17] [25] [26] Conte has founded the J-P Conte Family Foundation in 2017 with the 'aims of improving educational equity for young people, protecting the environment, and upholding freedom'. [3] [27] [28] [29]

After his father, Pierre Conte, died from Parkinson's disease in 2017, Conte refocused his philanthropic financial portfolio to fund and promote research into neuro-degenerative disorders. [30] [17] In 2018, the J-P Conte Family Foundation made a funding pledge to the neuroscience department of UCSF Foundation (University of California, San Francisco), where he is on the board of directors. [31] [32] Conte also sits on the board of the California Pacific Medical Center. [33]

Conte is on the board of Pepperwood Preserve, having provided funding to the organization to support their work on preserving and conserving the environment in Sonoma. [34] [26] Conte is on the board of the Pan American Development Fund, with the aim of providing education and opportunity for disadvantaged communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. [35]

In 2015, Conte was one of the lead donors on the Bay Lights; an $8m project to illuminate the San Francisco Bay Bridge via the permanent installation of lights on the bridge's wires. [36] In 2017 Conte was part of a group of private equity investors that raised $25 million to help Puerto Rico recover from the hurricane that devastated the island in September of that year. [32] [37]

Political views and advocacy

While Conte does not hold membership or singular support for any US political party, he supports protecting what he perceives as ‘American values and exceptionalism’. [16] [6]

Conte serves on the Hoover Institution Board of Overseers and established the Conte Task Force on Immigration Reform. Co-chaired by Edward Lazear and Tim Kane, the Task Force "aimed to improve immigration policies by providing innovative ideas and economic data proving that immigration has been and will continue to be a piston of economic growth for the USA." [12]

Conte also provides funding to the wider Hoover Institution in general, stating that he ‘believes that further education is the strongest ladder to success in any capitalist society’. [38] [39]

Personal life

Conte lives in San Francisco, California with his four children, William, Peter, Louisa and Sophie, and travels frequently, stating in 2018 interview that "I believe that as a parent, part of the mission is to teach your children about the world and different cultures." He enjoys biking, sailing, skiing and hiking with his family and friends in his free time. [40] [41]

Related Research Articles

Vivek Paul is an Indian-American business executive and entrepreneur. He served as the vice-chairman of Wipro and CEO of its flagship business, Wipro Technologies. He also worked as a senior executive at General Electric, private equity investor at TPG, and a strategy consultant at Bain. He is also the founder of KineticGlue, a tech startup that was successfully sold to BMC. He has served on several boards, including the California Chamber of Commerce, Electronic Arts, and on the advisory council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuberger Berman</span> American financial services firm

Neuberger Berman Group LLC is an American private, independent, employee-owned investment management firm. The firm manages equities, fixed income, private equity and hedge fund portfolios for global institutional investors, advisors and high-net-worth individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lazard</span> American investment bank

Lazard Inc. is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's largest independent investment bank, with principal executive offices in New York City, Paris and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TPG Inc.</span> American investment company

TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm invests in a range of industries including consumer/retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel, leisure, and health care. TPG became a public company in January 2022, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “TPG”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellington Management Company</span> American investment management firm

Wellington Management Company is a private, independent investment management firm with client assets under management totaling over US$1 trillion based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GTCR</span> American private equity firm

GTCR LLC is a Chicago, Illinois-based private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout, leveraged recapitalization, growth capital and rollup transactions. The firm principally invests in high-growth industries, including financial services & technology, healthcare, information services & technology, and growth business services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susquehanna International Group</span> Trading firm

Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG) is a privately held, global trading and technology firm. SIG comprises a number of affiliated entities specializing in trading and proprietary investments in equities, fixed income, energy, commodity, index and derivative products, private equity and venture capital, research, customer trading and institutional sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutual of America</span> Fortune 1000 mutual company

Mutual of America Life Insurance Company is an American provider of retirement services and investments to employers, employees and individuals. Founded in 1945, the company provides products and services to help its customers build and preserve assets.

AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of committed capital since inception as of December 31, 2022. The firm invests on behalf of more than 450 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellman & Friedman</span> American private equity firm

Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is an American private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts as well as growth capital investments. H&F has focused its efforts on several core target industries including media, financial services, professional services and information services. The firm tends to avoid asset intensive or other industrial businesses. H&F is based in San Francisco, with offices in New York and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thoma Bravo</span> American private equity firm

Thoma Bravo, LP, is an American private equity and growth capital firm based in Chicago. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring enterprise software companies and has over $130 billion in assets under management as of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farallon Capital</span> American investment management firm

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.

TSG Consumer Partners is an American private equity company based in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded in 1986, and was among the first private equity firms to invest exclusively in consumer companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genstar Capital</span> Private equity firm

Genstar Capital is a private equity firm that executes leveraged buyout transactions in middle-market companies based in North America. Founded in 1988, Genstar currently has approximately $33 billion in assets under management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Housser</span> Businessman

Andrew Housser is an entrepreneur who co-founded Freedom Financial Network, and who co-founded Bills.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Kane</span> American economist (born 1968)

Timothy Joseph Kane is an American economist and president and founder of The American Lyceum, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote solution-focused, civic debate. Kane was the J-P Conte research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he specialized in immigration reform. He is a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with two overseas tours of duty. After leaving the service, Kane explored a career in start-up technology firms while pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. After working as a teaching professor of economics, Kane served on the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and was director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation. Kane was also an editor of the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom, co-published by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, and is the author of the book Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution. Kane co-authored the book, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America with Glenn Hubbard. Kane's latest book is The Immigrant Superpower: How Brains, Brawn, and Bravery Make America Stronger.

Hillhouse Investment is a global private equity firm with an East Asian heritage. Hillhouse was founded by Lei Zhang in 2005 with initial seed capital from the Yale University endowment and invests across East Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. Hillhouse has Asian offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai with additional international offices in New York City and London.

Unison Home Ownership Investors is an American home ownership investment company based in San Francisco, California. The company uses a shared ownership model to allow customers to buy a home when they don't have enough capital to get a normal mortgage taking a percentage of the gain when the house is sold. The company also provides reverse mortgages for people to release funds out of an existing real estate asset taking a share of capital gain. The funding is provided by institutional investors such as pension funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orlando Bravo</span> Puerto Rican billionaire businessman

Orlando Bravo is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm that specializes in enterprise software and technology-enabled services sectors. The 2019 Forbes 400 listed Bravo as the first Puerto Rican-born billionaire, debuting at No. 287. As of February 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$8.7 billion.

Cetera Financial Group is an independent wealth hub and financial services provider comprising, among other companies, one of the largest families of independent registered investment advisers and broker-dealers in the United States. As such, Cetera provides financial advisors, tax professionals, and financial institutions with market and investment research, client-service platforms and technologies, trade execution and portfolio management services, and back-office support.

References

  1. "JP Conte". www.gencap.com. August 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  2. "JP Conte Foundation". www.jpcontefoundation.com. August 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 "J-P Conte Family Foundation - Donate on ALMA".[ permanent dead link ]
  4. "Jean-Pierre L. Conte". Inside Philanthropy.
  5. "J P Conte — Wall Street Donors Guide".
  6. 1 2 Claridge, Dale (March 30, 2019). "J-P Conte: A Very American Philanthropist | Dale Claridge".
  7. "J-P Conte Family Foundation - Freedom, education and environment". J-P Conte Family Foundation.
  8. "Genstar Capital Closes Fund X and Affiliated Opportunities Fund at USD11.7bn". 6 April 2021.
  9. "Private Equity for Middle Market Companies".
  10. Capital, Genstar. "Genstar Capital Closes Fund XI With $12.6 Billion of Committed Capital". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  11. "Genstar Capital's Conte to Back Takeover of Lyon Football Team". Bloomberg.com. 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  12. 1 2 "Immigration Reform". Hoover Institution.
  13. 1 2 "A free market brings freedom. Just look at what could be without a strong market ǀ View". euronews. November 6, 2019.
  14. "2017 Commencement Address by Jean-Pierre Conte P '17". 29 May 2017.
  15. "Conte Family History".[ permanent dead link ]
  16. 1 2 "Business Leaders - Jean-Pierre Conte - Business Leaders (podcast)". Listen Notes.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "History of The Conte Family Foundation".
  18. "Genstar Capital's Conte to Back Takeover of Lyon Football Team". Bloomberg.com. 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  19. https://alumnispotlight.com/2021/01/14/the-top-100-harvard-business-school-alumni-in-finance/ | Alumni Spotlight HBS 100 2021, Alumni Spotlight. March 29, 2021.
  20. "Jean-Pierre L Conte, Genstar Capital LLC: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.
  21. 1 2 "Jean-Pierre Conte".
  22. Capital, Genstar. "Genstar Capital Closes Fund XI With $12.6 Billion of Committed Capital". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  23. "Genstar Capital's Conte to Back Takeover of Lyon Football Team". Bloomberg.com. 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  24. "U.S. Investor Textor Moves Closer to Lyon Football Club Deal". www.themiddlemarket.com. 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  25. "Changemakers Award in Education Presented to San Francisco Business Leader".
  26. 1 2 "J P Conte — Wall Street Donors Guide". Inside Philanthropy.
  27. "J-P Conte Family Foundation - Freedom, education and environment".
  28. "10,000 Degrees | Corporations & Foundations". Archived from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  29. Francisco, SEO Scholars San. "SEO Scholars San Francisco Raised Over $4M In Support of Bay Area High School Students". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  30. "Pierre Conte Obituary - San Francisco, CA | San Francisco Chronicle". Legacy.com .
  31. "Coming together to fight degenerative brain disorders". April 2, 2019.
  32. 1 2 "The Son of Immigrants: The Personal Forces Behind a Private Equity Guy's Giving".
  33. "Board of Trustees | CPMC Foundation | Sutter Health". www.sutterhealth.org.
  34. "Jean-Pierre Conte | Pepperwood Preserve".
  35. "Board of Trustees". Pan American Development Foundation | PADF. Archived from the original on 2020-08-29. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  36. "About". June 30, 2017.
  37. Carey, David. "Investor Bravo Raises $25 Million for Puerto Rico Relief". Bloomberg.
  38. Hoover Institution. "2016 Annual Report" (PDF). Hoover Institution.
  39. "Overseers". Hoover Institution.
  40. "Wealthy parents want meaningful travel". The Globe and Mail. 14 February 2011.
  41. "About".