James Gerard Dinan (born 1959) is an American investor,
hedge fund manager, philanthropist. He founded
York Capital Management in 1991.
Early life and education
James Gerard Dinan was born to a Roman Catholic family in 1959 in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...
, one of five children of Robert and Jeannette Dinan.
[Bloomberg: "York Capital's Dinan Finds Value in Tel Aviv Funds, Tyco Duplex" By Richard Teitelbaum](_blank)
September 7, 2006 His father was a textile engineer and his mother a homemaker.
In 1969, the family moved to
Paxton, Massachusetts.
In 1977, Dinan graduated from the private
Bancroft School
Bancroft School in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, is an independent, co-educational, PreK–12, college-preparatory day school. Students typically live in Central Massachusetts and MetroWest Boston. The school campus measures . The s ...
. He then went on to earn a B.S. from the
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...
of the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
with a degree in economics
in 1981. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Dinan joined
Alpha Chi Rho
Alpha Chi Rho (), commonly known as Crows, Crow, or AXP, is a men's collegiate fraternity founded on June 4, 1895, at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, by the Reverend Paul Ziegler, his son Carl Ziegler, and Carl's friends William H. Rous ...
, a northeastern fraternity.
In 1981, he took a job with stock research firm,
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) was a U.S. investment bank founded by William H. Donaldson, Richard Jenrette, and Dan Lufkin in 1959. Its businesses included securities underwriting; sales and trading; investment and merchant banking; finan ...
(DLJ).
In 1985, Dinan earned a M.B.A. from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
.
[Forbes The World's billionaires: James Dinan]
2 September 2019
Investment career
In 1985, he took a job at the merger arbitrage firm Kellner DiLeo & Company.
In 1987, the
market crashed and he lost his entire $600,000 in savings.
In 1991, he was able to raise $3.6 million from his former DLJ colleagues and started his own hedge fund named York Capital (named after the street he was then living on, York Avenue).
In 1993, his fund earned credibility with a 33.8 percent return and by 2000, the fund had over $610 million in assets.
In 2010, he sold 33% of York to
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...
for $425 million.
In 2011, he made a $1 million donation to the
Museum of the City of New York
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
. In July 2014, Dinan gained partial ownership of the NBA's
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 196 ...
.
In June 2017, he named two eventual successors to lead York Capital in the future. In 2018, York Capital Management had $20.5 billion assets under management.
Personal life
Dinan is married to Elizabeth R. Miller,
Department of Cultural Affairs - New York City: "MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG AND COMMISSIONERS KATE D. LEVIN AND DAVID J. BURNEY JOIN THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK TO OPEN NEW CURATORIAL CENTER AND JAMES G. DINAN AND ELIZABETH R. MILLER GALLERY
August 13, 2008 and they have three children together.Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and also owns homes in Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
, Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachus ...
, and on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in Englis ...
.
References
Further reading
*
External links
TABB TV Replay: "Charlie Rose Interviews James Dinan"
November 8, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinan, James
American hedge fund managers
American billionaires
Harvard Business School alumni
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni
1959 births
Living people