The goal of the GIBI Investment Symposium is to enlighten, inspire, and inform attendees while raising funds for two exceptional charities. This premier investment event is fully underwritten by its co-founders, so that all donations go directly to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation.
The GIBI Investment Symposium is fortunate to have some of the world's most respected investors generously donate their time to share their best investment ideas and insights.
Before founding Maverick in 1993, Mr. Ainslie was a Managing Director of Tiger Management. Mr. Ainslie serves on the boards of the Robin Hood Foundation, the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and on the Executive Committee of the Partnership for New York City. Mr. Ainslie received a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia (Westmoreland Davis Scholar and Thomas Pinckney Bryan Jr. Scholar) and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina (Beta Gamma Sigma). Mr. Ainslie and his wife, Elizabeth, have two sons.
Marc Cohodes is a former General Partner of Rocker Partners/ Copper River from 1985-2009. He began his career at the Northern Trust Company in 1982 after graduating Babson College with a BS in Finance. He has been profiled in the books; Reckless Endangerment, Selling America Short, The Most Dangerous Trade. He was the subject of a Harvard Business School Case study on his efforts to expose Mortgage Fraud at Novastar. He resides in Cotati, California, where he runs Alder Lane Farm.
James Grant, financial journalist and historian, is the founder and editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of the investment markets. His new book, The Forgotten Depression, 1921: the Crash that Cured Itself, a history of America’s last governmentally unmedicated business-cycle downturn, won the 2015 Hayek Prize of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
Among his other books on finance and financial history are Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (Simon & Schuster, 1983), Money of the Mind (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992), Minding Mr. Market (Farrar, Straus, 1993), The Trouble with Prosperity (Times Books, 1996), and Mr. Market Miscalculates (Axios Press, 2008).
He is, in addition, the author of a pair of political biographies: John Adams: Party of One, a life of the second president of the United States (Farrar, Straus, 2005) and Mr. Speaker! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man Who Broke the Filibuster (Simon & Schuster, 2011). His new biography of Walter Bagehot, the Victorian man of letters and financial journalist, will be published in 2018.
Mr. Grant’s television appearances include “60 Minutes,” “The Charlie Rose Show,” “CBS Evening News,” and a 10-year stint on “Wall Street Week”. His journalism has appeared in a variety of periodicals, including the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs. He contributed an essay to the Sixth Edition of Graham and Dodd’s Security Analysis (McGraw-Hill, 2009).
Mr. Grant, a former Navy gunner’s mate, is a Phi Beta Kappa alumnus of Indiana University. He earned a master’s degree in international relations from Columbia University and began his career in journalism in 1972, at the Baltimore Sun. He joined the staff of Barron’s in 1975 where he originated the “Current Yield” column. He is a trustee of the New York Historical Society. He and his wife, Patricia Kavanagh M.D., live in Brooklyn. They are the parents of four grown children.
Kenneth A. Hersh, 55, is President and Chief Executive Officer of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a Dallas-based non-partisan institution which houses the George W. Bush Library and Museum and the George W. Bush Institute. The Bush Center’s mission is to engage communities in the U.S. and around the world by developing leaders, advancing policy, and taking action to solve today’s most pressing challenges. Under his leadership the Bush Center focuses its efforts on domestic excellence and global leadership initiatives.
He also serves as Co-Founder and Advisory Partner of NGP Energy Capital Management where he assists with the strategic direction of the firm. NGP is a premier private equity investment franchise in the natural resources industry managing over $20.0 billion of cumulative committed capital since inception in 1988. Through 2015, Mr. Hersh served as NGP’s Chief Executive Officer. From 1988 through 2015, under his leadership, NGP invested over $10 billion and achieved a 27-year gross IRR of 30% (net IRR of 19%), making it one of the nation’s leading investment firms during that period.
Mr. Hersh currently serves as Senior Advisor to The Carlyle Group’s natural resources division and sits on the Board of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. In addition, Mr. Hersh serves on the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Council of the American Enterprise Institute, the Dallas Citizens Council, and the World Economic Forum. He also sits on the Dean’s Council of the Harvard Kennedy School. Mr. Hersh served on the Advisory Council of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business from 2009 through 2015. In 2014, he was recognized as Master Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region by Ernst & Young during its Entrepreneur of the Year program, and in 2017 received the Oil & Gas Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mr. Hersh has also been very involved in the nonprofit arena both nationally and locally on a personal basis and through the efforts of The Hersh Foundation, his family’s private foundation. He serves on the boards of the Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation, the Communities Foundation of Texas, Baylor Health Care System Foundation, and the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues. From 1998 through 2015, Mr. Hersh served on the board of St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he held numerous positions including President from 2010 through 2012. In 2015, Mr. Hersh received the St. Mark’s School of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Prior to co-founding NGP, Mr. Hersh was employed by Morgan Stanley & Co. where he was a member of the firm’s energy group specializing in oil and gas financing and merger and acquisition transactions.
Mr. Hersh was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. After graduating from St. Mark’s, he attended Princeton University where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Politics in 1985. In 1989, Mr. Hersh earned his M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Mr. Hersh and his wife, Julie, reside in Dallas, Texas.
Lisa Hess is President and Managing Partner of SkyTop Capital Management, an opportunistic hedge fund focused on industries and companies undergoing a transformation. She has 40 years of experience on Wall Street.
From 2002 to 2008, Lisa was the Chief Investment Officer of Loews Corporation, responsible for managing $50 billion in assets, including fixed income, equities, and alternatives. Prior to her career at Loews, Ms. Hess was a Founding Partner of Zesiger Capital Group, a diversified money manager dedicated to investing across all asset classes. She is a Trustee of TIAA and serves on the Board of Directors of Radian Group, Inc. Professional honors include serving on the United States Debt Advisory Committee from 1996 to 2002 and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Investors Advisory Committee.
From 2002 to 2010, Ms. Hess wrote a regular column for Forbes entitled “Absolute Return.” She received her MBA from The University of Chicago and her A.B. from Harvard University.
Richard Mashaal is the Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Senvest Management, LLC. Before founding Senvest in 1997, Mr. Mashaal joined Senvest Capital Inc., a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange from 1989-1997. Richard holds a BS in Economics from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and an MBA and MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago. He serves on the board of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice.
Ray Nixon is the Executive Director and a Portfolio Manager at Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, LLC. Barrow Hanley, founded in 1979, is one of the largest value-oriented investment managers of institutional assets in the U.S. The firm provides value-oriented investment strategies to institutional investors including mutual funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, and pension plans on five continents.
Mr. Nixon joined BHMS in 1994 from Smith Barney, Inc., where he was a member of the firm's Investment Policy Committee and served as their lead institutional stockbroker for the Southwest. During his thirty-eight year investment career, he also served as a research analyst for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Mr. Nixon holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Texas and is a member of the McCombs Business School Hall of Fame.
Mr. Nixon chairs the Texas Health Resources Investment Committee which oversees a four-and-a-half billion-dollar fund. He is a Trustee of the UT Southwestern Foundation and is a member of the investment committee. Also, Mr. Nixon is a member of the UTIMCO board of directors, a forty five billion-dollar endowment for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University. Ray was formerly on the Board of Directors and the Strategic Advisory Board of the CFA Society of Dallas-Fort Worth as well as a member of the Susan G. Komen Investment Committee. He has served on numerous community boards including: Salvation Army, East West Ministries, Presbyterian Foundation, and Dallas Theological Seminary President’s Council.
Ray and his wife Denise have been married over forty years. They have four married children and eleven grandchildren. Ray and Denise have been recognized in the Dallas Community with the Flora and Other’s Award. The Flora Award is bestowed to a couple who is extensively involved in community service and philanthropy in Dallas. The Other’s Award is the highest civilian honor of the Salvation army
Michael F. Price earned his bachelor’s degree in 1973 from the University of Oklahoma. In 1999 the University of Oklahoma honored him with a Doctor of Humane Letters.
Michael F. Price was chairman of the board of Franklin Mutual Advisers and Franklin Mutual Series Fund. He had been associated with both entities and their predecessor organizations since 1975. At that time the adviser was known as Heine Securities Corp and the fund was Mutual Shares Fund. Michael was Vice President of the fund from 1975 until 1986. From 1986 until November 1, 1998 he was CEO, President and Chairman of the Board of the adviser and the fund, which came to be known as Mutual Series Fund.
Presently, Michael is the President of The Price Family Foundation, Inc.; Managing Member of MFP Investors LLC; and Managing Partner of MFP Partners, L.P. He also serves as a Director of Liquidnet Holdings, an Investment Advisory Council Member to the Florida State Board of Administration and on Boards for Jazz at Lincoln Center and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.
Mr. Smith has 50 years’ experience in the investment banking, brokerage, and asset management business.
He began his career with Smith, Barney & Co, spent 18 years as Managing Director with First Boston as manager of their Dallas office, followed by tenures at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and its successor, JP Morgan Securities. Mr. Smith has extensive experience with both institutional and high net worth investors. Prior to recently forming his own firms, Mr. Smith was a Managing Director with JP Morgan Securities, where he managed or advised on over $12 billion of private client assets, with a particular emphasis in the management of leveraged fixed income portfolios.
He holds an A.B. degree in Economics from Davidson College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. Mr. Smith and wife Joan reside in Dallas and have 5 adult children and 12 grandchildren.
Prior to his retirement in July of 2018, Roger T. Staubach was Executive Chairman of JLL Americas, a professional services firm specializing in real estate. Roger’s role focused on client relationships and new business development. With 2017 global revenue of $7.9 billion, JLL serves clients in 80 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide, including 300 corporate offices and a global workforce of 82,000.
Before joining forces with JLL, Roger was Executive Chairman of The Staubach Company, a leading global real estate advisory firm. Known for its unparalleled standard of business and personal ethics, the company, expanded services to meet clients' ever-changing requirements. The Staubach Company’s 1,600 people served 3,000+ clients from 70 North American offices.
A 1965 graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a bachelor of science in engineering, Roger served four years as a Navy officer. After the Navy he joined the Dallas Cowboys professional football team and launched his real estate career while playing football.
Roger served as the Chairman of the Host Committee for Super Bowl XLV which was held in North Texas in 2011. He continues to be involved with The Children’s Cancer Fund, the United States Naval Academy Foundation and numerous other civic, charitable, and professional organizations.
Steve Van Amburgh is the Chief Executive Officer of Dallas-based KDC. He serves as Chairman of the company’s Executive Committee, overseeing strategic planning and coordinating all new business development efforts. Van Amburgh also oversees all acquisitions and development activities of the regional offices in Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; and Houston.
Van Amburgh assumed leadership of the company in 2001 after leading the KDC-Texas operation for 12 years. During his tenure, KDC has completed more than 140 corporate build-to-suit office and industrial projects valued at more than $7 billion and totaling more than 33 million square feet. Clients include Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Citigroup, FedEx, Fluor Corp., Intuit, Invesco, JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, Nokia, Prudential, Rent-A-Center, Omnicom, Sally Beauty, State Farm Insurance, Toyota and other leading corporations.
KDC’s largest project in development is CityLine, a 204-acre, mixed-use project in Richardson, Texas. The transit-oriented development includes nearly 50 dining and retail service options with Whole Foods as the retail anchor; 1,000 apartments with another 1,000 under construction; a 148-room select service Aloft Hotel; a wellness office building anchored by Texas Health Resources, Children’s Health; a fitness center; an urban plaza; a 3.5-acre park with trails and five large outdoor sculptures. CityLine is also home to State Farm and Raytheon. At full build-out, CityLine will contain five million square feet of office space, 3,925 multi-family residential units, two hotels, and two parks with access to regional hike and bike trails. Approximately 30,000 people are expected to live and work at CityLine.
Van Amburgh formed “Team Legacy” with Karahan Cos. and Columbus Realty to develop Legacy West, a 240-acre mixed-use project in Plano, Texas. JPMorgan Chase’s corporate campus is currently under development at the project, which also includes Liberty Mutual’s regional headquarters, Toyota’s new North American Headquarters, and FedEx Office’s corporate headquarters.
In Dallas, KDC is developing a 250,000-square-foot office tower at “The Epic,” a mixed-use, transit-oriented project on eight acres in the vibrant Deep Ellum neighborhood, as well as an office building within the $200 million West Love mixed-use development near Dallas Love Field Airport. In addition, KDC has announced a partnership with Seritage Growth Partners to develop up to one million square feet of premier office space in Dallas Midtown. Plans have also been released in partnership with Hoque Global for the Dallas Smart District, a master-planned urban neighborhood with more than 20 acres in Downtown Dallas. KDC completed construction on 1920 McKinney, a 150,000-square-foot Class A office tower in Uptown Dallas in March 2016.
In Irving, Texas, KDC currently has two projects under construction: a 1.125-million-square-foot headquarters for Pioneer Natural Resources at the Hidden Ridge development, and a 155,000-square-foot Class A medical office complex for Healthcare Associates of Texas. In McKinney, Texas, KDC has started construction on a 165,000-square-foot headquarters for Independent Bank, which will house 400 employees. Construction is also underway on a 460,000-square-foot, Class AA office tower in downtown San Antonio, the city’s first in 30 years, that will serve as Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc.’s corporate headquarters.
Outside of Texas, KDC is currently developing Park Center, a 17-acre transit-oriented development in Dunwoody, Ga., in which State Farm currently occupies 585,000 square feet of office space. KDC is in the second phase of construction, which will include two additional towers totaling 1.2 million square feet. State Farm will lease space in both towers, along with the already leased tower in the first phase. In Alpharetta, Ga., KDC has been selected as the office developer for Windward Park, a $400 million mixed-use development.
Under the leadership of Van Amburgh, KDC is focused on build-to-suit development of corporate office, industrial and data center properties, including corporate-driven mixed-use developments, and providing exciting work environments for companies across the entire United States.
During his tenure, KDC has been named the NAIOP North Texas Developer of the Year five times and has been awarded numerous best real estate deals by the Dallas Business Journal and DCEO. In addition, Van Amburgh was named a Best Boss in the Business by Real Estate Forum in 2016.
Van Amburgh has served on the board of directors for the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, TCU Chancellor Advisory Committee and currently is a director of Benchmark Bankshares. He also is an active member of CoreNet Global and The Urban Land Institute.
A Dallas-native, Van Amburgh is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He and his wife, Lee Ann, are the parents of three children, Sam, Kate and Pete.
Gretchen Morgenson is Senior Special Writer, Investigations, at The Wall Street Journal. She joined in November 2017 after 20 years at The New York Times, where she was Assistant Business and Financial Editor and a Columnist. She covers the world financial markets and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her “trenchant and incisive” coverage of Wall Street. In 2009, Ms. Morgenson won a Gerald Loeb Award in the “Beat Writing” category for her coverage of Wall Street. This followed her Gerald Loeb Award for excellence in financial commentary in 2002 and the American University School of Communication’s Annual Journalism Award for excellence in personal finance reporting in 2000.
Ms. Morgenson began her career at Vogue magazine as an Assistant Editor in 1976. By the time she left the magazine in 1981, she was a writer and financial columnist. She has filled the roles of Assistant Managing Editor and Investigative Business Writer and Editor at Forbes magazine, Press Secretary for the Forbes for President Campaign, Executive Editor for Worth magazine, Staff Writer at Money magazine, and Stockbroker for Dean Witter Reynolds in New York from 1981 to 1984. Ms. Morgenson received a B.A. degree in English and History from Saint Olaf College. She is co-author of The New York Times bestseller Reckless Endangerment, published by Times Books in May 2011.