An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars. Many ETFs provide some level of diversification compared to owning an individual stock.
James Richard Perry is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015 and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections.
The Vanguard Group, Inc. is an American registered investment advisor founded on May 1, 1975 and based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with about $9.3 trillion in global assets under management as of May 2024. It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the world after BlackRock's iShares. In addition to mutual funds and ETFs, Vanguard offers brokerage services, educational account services, financial planning, asset management, and trust services. Several mutual funds managed by Vanguard are ranked at the top of the list of US mutual funds by assets under management. Along with BlackRock and State Street, Vanguard is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers that play a dominant role in corporate America.
The Permanent University Fund (PUF) is a sovereign wealth fund created by the State of Texas to fund public higher education within the state. A portion of the returns from the PUF are annually directed towards the Available University Fund (AUF), which distributes the funds according to provisions set forth by the 1876 Texas Constitution, subsequent constitutional amendments, and the board of regents of the Texas A&M University System and University of Texas System. The PUF provides extra funds, above monies from tax revenues, to the UT System and the Texas A&M System which collectively have approximately 50 percent of state public university students. The PUF does not provide any funding to other public Universities in the State of Texas.
Rodney Glenn Ellis is an American politician who has served on the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1 since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Harold Clark Simmons was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist whose banking expertise helped him develop the acquisition concept known as the leveraged buyout (LBO) to acquire various corporations. He was the owner of Contran Corporation and of Valhi, Inc.,. As of 2006, he controlled five public companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange: NL Industries; Titanium Metals Corporation, the world's largest producer of titanium; Valhi, Inc., a multinational company with operations in the chemicals, component products, Waste Control Specialists, titanium metals industries; CompX International, manufacturer of ergonomic products, and Kronos Worldwide, leading producer and marketer of titanium dioxide.
Randal W. Hill is a Texas entrepreneur and business leader. Hill gained his reputation as entrepreneur after spearheading the use of semi trailers that had been converted to transport, as well as dry, agricultural products. Hill has been honored as Republican Business Leader of the Year by the National Republican Congressional Committee, named Distinguished Alumni of the Year by Dallas Christian School and by appointment of Governor Rick Perry serves on the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF).
Highland Capital Management is an alternative investment management firm that manages hedge funds, structured investment vehicles and mutual funds. The firm invests in global public equities, as well as fixed income markets with a focus on leveraged loans, high yield bonds, and structured products.
Corporate venture capital (CVC) is the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies. CVC is defined by the Business Dictionary as the "practice where a large firm takes an equity stake in a small but innovative or specialist firm, to which it may also provide management and marketing expertise; the objective is to gain a specific competitive advantage." Examples of CVCs include GV and Intel Capital.
The Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) is a technology-based economic development agency funded by the state of Utah. The organization works to develop ideas and research into marketable products and successful companies through its competitive grant and entrepreneur support programs. USTAR facilitates the diversification of the state’s tech economy, increases private follow-on investment, and supports the creation of technology-based start-up firms, higher-paying jobs and additional business activity leading to a statewide expansion of Utah’s tax base.
Amundi is a French asset management company. With €2 trillion of assets under management (AUM) at the end of 2021, it is the largest asset manager in Europe and one of the 10 biggest investment managers in the world.
Some authors advocating patent reform have proposed the use of prizes as an alternative to patents. Critics of the current patent system, such as Joseph E. Stiglitz, say that patents fail to provide incentives for innovations which are not commercially marketable. Stiglitz provides the idea of prizes instead of patents to be awarded in order to further advance solutions to global problems such as AIDS.
Rick Perry, having served as the Lieutenant Governor of Texas for one year, succeeded to the office of Governor of Texas on December 21, 2000, when Governor George W. Bush resigned to prepare for his presidential inauguration. Perry became the first Texas A&M graduate to serve as governor. Perry was a member of the Republican Governors Association, the National Governors Association, the Western Governors Association, and the Southern Governors Association. Perry served as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008 and 2011.
Steve Guengerich is an entrepreneur, educator, and author of several books and numerous articles on information technology.
Manufacturing USA, previously known as the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, is a network of research institutes in the United States that focuses on developing manufacturing technologies through public-private partnerships among U.S. industry, universities, and federal government agencies. Modeled similar to Germany's Fraunhofer Institutes, the network currently consists of 16 institutes. The institutes work independently and together on a number of advanced technologies.
George Brinton "Brint" Ryan, or G. Brint Ryan, is an American tax consultant and entrepreneur. His firm, Ryan LLC, is based in Dallas. Ryan is the chairman and chief executive officer of Ryan LLC, which advises companies on tax matters. As of 2022, the company was the largest indirect tax and property tax practice in North America and the seventh largest corporate tax company in the United States, with annual revenues of over $700 million.
Science and technology in Uzbekistan examines government efforts to develop a national innovation system and the impact of these policies.
The North Dakota Legacy Fund is a sovereign wealth fund of the U.S. state of North Dakota. Contributions to the fund must include "[t]hirty percent of total revenue derived from taxes on oil and gas production or extraction." The fund was established by ballot initiative in 2010. The fund is modeled after the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. As of May 31, 2024, the fund is valued at $10.704 billion. Projections made at the time the Legacy Fund was established estimate that it will be worth between $75 and $105 billion by 2039; between $149 and $240 billion by 2050; and between $240 and $450 billion by 2060. The fund intends to diversify wealth obtained from oil extraction into other sectors. Money in the fund could not be spent by the state legislature until 2017.
The CHIPS and Science Act is a U.S. federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 9, 2022. The act authorizes roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States, for which it appropriates $52.7 billion. The act includes $39 billion in subsidies for chip manufacturing on U.S. soil along with 25% investment tax credits for costs of manufacturing equipment, and $13 billion for semiconductor research and workforce training, with the dual aim of strengthening American supply chain resilience and countering China. It also invests $174 billion in the overall ecosystem of public sector research in science and technology, advancing human spaceflight, quantum computing, materials science, biotechnology, experimental physics, research security, social and ethical considerations, workforce development and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at NASA, NSF, DOE, EDA, and NIST.
John Pike Powers IV was a Texas attorney, state legislator and civic leader.
