Michael Larson (born October 1959) is an American businessman and investor. The founder and chief investment officer of

Cascade Investment Cascade Investment, L.L.C. is an American holding company and private investment firm headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, United States. It is controlled by Bill Gates, and managed by Michael Larson. More than half of Gates's fortune is held ...

, he oversees all investment activities of the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

and

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

' personal fortune. He assumed the role in 1994.

Early life and education

Larson was born in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

in October 1959. He was raised in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

and spent his summers in

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. Larson attended Valley High School in Albuquerque. He graduated from high school in two years and was recruited to

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, the Coast Guard Academy, and the Merchant Marine Academy. He was also accepted at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and

Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and internat ...

. Larson was only 16 when he graduated high school and could not attend the Coast Guard Academy until he was 18. He decided to attend Claremont McKenna and graduated in three years with a degree in economics. Larson subsequently earned an MBA from the

University of Chicago Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (branded as Chicago Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest ...

at the age of 21.

Career

After receiving his MBA from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, Larson went to work for

ARCO Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...

doing

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

. After a few years, Larson moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

to work for

Putnam Investments Putnam Investments is an investment management firm founded in 1937 by George Putnam, who established one of the first balanced mutual funds, The George Putnam Fund of Boston. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, it has offices in London, To ...

managing bond funds. After two years, Larson left Putnam to run his own fund.

Cascade Investment

While trying to buy a Chicago-based money management firm, Larson received a call from a head hunter to work for

. The head hunter had heard of Larson from a few investors in Tacoma, Washington. In 1994, Larson and his wife moved to Seattle. Larson called the investment shop Cascade Investment because the generic name would allow him to operate in the market without drawing attention. Larson has and continues to operate under the radar with the exception of a rare interview with Fortune in 1999. When Larson started at Cascade, informally known as BGI (

Investments), he was the only employee. In 1996, he later hired Alan Heuberger, a fellow graduate of

. Larson originally managed $11.5 billion of the Gates fortune and foundation but that has swelled tremendously over the years as Gates sells his

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

stock. Although an actual statement isn't released, it's believed that Larson manages well over $80 billion year to date. This number includes the

and Gates's personal wealth. Cascade is a diversified investment shop, although there is an emphasis on real estate private equity managed by the subsidiary, Los Arboles Management. Larson was a student of Professor Jerry St. Dennis while at

. Larson convinced St. Dennis to come out of retirement in order to act as an advisor to Larson. Before teaching at Claremont McKenna College, St. Dennis was Assistant Secretary to the Treasury under

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

and was Chairman and CEO of California Federal Bank.

Other ventures

Larson regularly attends the

Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference is an annual media finance conference hosted and funded by private investment firm Allen & Company. The conference has taken place in Sun Valley, Idaho for one week each July since 1983. The gathering ...

. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Western Asset and has been a member of the Board of Directors at

Teledesic Teledesic was a company founded in the 1990s to build a commercial broadband satellite internet constellation. Using low-Earth-orbiting satellites small antennas could be used to provide uplinks of as much as 100 Mbit/s and downlinks of up t ...

Pan American Silver Pan American Silver Corporation is a mining company based in Canada with operations in Latin America. The company has mines and other projects in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It is one of the world's biggest silver producers; in 2017 th ...

Ecolab Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applications. F ...

Hamilton Lane Hamilton Lane Incorporated is an American alternative investment management and advisory company headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. The company provides private markets investments to its clients. The company has 22 offices globally ...

, FoodTrader.com,

Republic Services Republic Services, Inc. is a North American waste disposal company whose services include non-hazardous solid waste collection, waste transfer, waste disposal, recycling, and energy services. It is the second largest provider of waste disposal in ...

and

AutoNation AutoNation, Inc. is an American automotive retailer based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which provides new and pre-owned vehicles and associated services in the United States. The company was founded by Wayne Huizenga in 1996, starting with twelv ...

. Larson has served on the Board of Trustees at

, Lakeside School and the

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...

. He has served as the Chair of the Investment Committee at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Michael 1959 births Living people American financiers American money managers Claremont McKenna College alumni Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation people Businesspeople from Albuquerque, New Mexico Businesspeople from Sacramento, California University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni Chief investment officers Valley High School alumni