F. Warren Hellman

F. Warren Hellman is the co-founder of Hellman & Friedman, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm, and of the nation's most sought-after financial advisers and investors. The scion of a socially prominent San Francisco family, he attended the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Business School. After graduation, Hellman joined Lehman Brothers as an investment banker and was "extraordinarily competitive and obsessed with engineering deals." At age 27, he became the youngest partner in the firm's history and then rose to the presidency of Lehman. In 1984, Hellman started his own firm with Tully Friedman and was immediately successful. He orchestrated a series of transactions with spectacular returns. In 2009, he raised $8.8 billion in a buyout fund, and then stepped down as chairman of the firm. Hellman is a 5-string banjo player and is the founder and principal sponsor of the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. He has twice completed the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile ultra-marathon from Squaw Valley to Auburn, and is also a five-time age group national champion in Ride and Tie (a combination of cross-country running and endurance horseback riding). Warren Hellman attended the 1997 Achievement Summit in Baltimore, Maryland and spoke to the student delegates about his personal strategies for success as an investor and a citizen.