Bruce Stanley Kovner (born 1945) is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is Chairman of CAM Capital, which he established in January 2012 to manage his investment, trading and business activities. From 1983 through 2011, Kovner was Founder and Chairman of Caxton Associates, LP, a diversified trading company.
Kovner serves as Chairman of the Board of The Juilliard School and Vice Chairman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He also serves on the Boards of the Metropolitan Opera, and American Enterprise Institute.
Early life and education
Bruce Stanley Kovner was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Isidore Kovner, an engineer who briefly played semi-professional football, and his wife, Sophie. Kovner spent his early years in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn with his parents and three siblings before the family relocated to suburban Los Angeles in 1953. Early on, he was a high achiever, becoming a Merit Scholar. He was the student-body president of Van Nuys High School at 16, and an accomplished basketball player and pianist.
Kovner went to Harvard College starting in 1962, a time marred by the hanging suicide of his mother back in his family’s Van Nuys home in 1965. Nonetheless, he was considered a good student and was well liked by his classmates. Kovner stayed at Harvard, studying political economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, notably under prominent conservative scholar Edward C. Banfield.
Kovner did not finish his Ph.D., but continued his studies at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government until 1970. Over the next few years, he engaged in a number of eclectic efforts; he worked on political campaigns, studied the harpsichord, was a writer, and a cab driver. It was during the latter occupation, not long after his marriage to now ex-wife Sarah Peter, that he discovered commodities trading.
Investment career
Kovner’s first trade was in 1977 for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management.
In his eventual role as a trader under Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of Caxton Associates, in 1983, which at its peak managed over $14B in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992. Kovner was a director of Synta Pharmaceuticals from 2002 to 2016.
In September 2011, Kovner announced his retirement from his position as CEO at Caxton, succeeded by Andrew Law.
Kovner established CAM Capital in January 2012 to manage his investment, trading, and business activities.
- Bruce Kovner is chairman of CAM Capital, founded in 2012, which manages his personal investment and business portfolios.
- Kovner is the founder and chairman of Caxton Associates, a global macro hedge fund.
- Kovner retired from the hedge fund in 2011 after running it for three decades.
- Kovner obtained his B.A. degree in Government from Harvard University in 1966. He lived in Quincy House during his time there.
- A longtime backer of conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, Kovner also supports the Met Opera, Lincoln Center, and Juilliard.
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