Executive Advisory Board
The Executive Advisory Board is a dedicated team of experts and advisers who partner with the leadership of the center. The committee and center directors develop a research agenda, industry-outreach initiatives and a general program that fulfills the goals and mission of the center.
William von Mueffling ’95, Chair
Cantillon Capital Management
Tweedy, Browne Company, LLC
Budge Collins
Collins/Bay Island Securities
David Greenspan ’00
Blue Ridge Capital
Thomas Russo
Gardner Russo & Gardner
Edwin Schloss
Walter & Edwin Schloss Associates
Paul Sonkin ’95
Hummingbird Fund
Jennifer Wallace ’94
Summit Street Capital
William von Mueffling is the founder of Cantillon Capital Management, a global money management firm. Formerly, he was managing director for hedge funds at Lazard Asset Management. Prior to Lazard, Mr. von Mueffling was with Gabelli & Company and the Deutsche Bank in Germany and France. Mr. von Mueffling received a BA from Columbia College in 1990 and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1995.
Christopher Browne is a managing director of Tweedy, Browne Company LLC. As of December 31, 2002, the firm manages in excess of $7.8 billion for individuals, institutions, partnerships, off-shore funds and two mutual funds of a registered investment company. Mr. Browne is a member of the management committee and serves on the board of directors of Tweedy, Browne Fund Inc. He has been with the firm since 1969. A trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, he also sits on the executive committee of the university’s investment board. He also is a trustee and a member of the council of the Rockefeller University. For the Kennedy School at Harvard University, he serves on the faculty advisory committee for the program in behavioral finance. Mr. Browne is a frequent speaker on behavioral psychology and financial decision-making as it relates to international investing. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Budge Collins is the founder and president of Collins//Bay Island Securities, an independent sales and marketing firm. CBIS represents a select group of long-only, value investment-oriented hedge funds and funds of funds managers. It markets only to institutional investors. CBIS seeks to educate investors about the merits of value investing. Mr. Collins began consulting to the defined benefit industry in the early 1970s. Since then, he has interviewed more than 3,000 investment managers and advised hundreds of corporate investment committees. In 1985, Mr. Collins began managing funds of funds. He raised $6 billion for his funds of funds prior to exiting the consulting and funds of funds business in 2000. Mr. Collins is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, and is also a licensed broker/dealer. He lives in Newport Beach, California.
Thomas A. Russo joined Gardner Russo & Gardner as a partner in 1989. The partners oversee more than $1.5 billion in discretionary, individually managed client accounts. Each partner manages individual separate accounts and shares similar investment approaches and strategies.
Mr. Russo’s investment philosophy emphasizes return on invested capital principally through equity investments. His approach to stock selection stresses two main points, value and price, and is focused on a small number of industries in which companies have historically proven to be able to generate sustainable amounts of net free cash flow. This fairly narrow approach reflects his training and discipline at the Sequoia Fund in New York, where he worked from 1984 to 1988.
Mr. Russo is the general partner of Semper Vic Partners, LP, which is more than $200 million in size, and oversees substantially more funds through separate accounts for individuals, trusts and endowments. He received a BA from Dartmouth College and a JD/MBA from Stanford University. Memberships include the California Bar Association and the Board of Visitors for Stanford Law School.
Paul Sonkin is the managing member of Hummingbird Management, LLC, and advisor to the Hummingbird Value Fund and the Hummingbird Microcap Value Fund. He was previously a senior analyst and portfolio manager at First Manhattan & Company, which specializes in mid- and large-cap value investing. Before that, he was an analyst and portfolio manager at Royce & Associates, which practices small- and micro-cap value investing and is the investment advisor to Royce Funds. Before receiving his MBA, Mr. Sonkin was employed at Goldman Sachs & Co. and at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At Columbia Business School, he has taught or cotaught security analysis, the advanced seminar in applied value investing, the advanced seminar in value investing and the advanced seminar in fundamental research techniques. Mr. Sonkin received his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1995 and lives in New York with his wife and son.
Jennifer A. Wallace joined Summit Street Capital September 1, 2005 and is co-manager of the Summit Street Value Fund. Before joining Summit Street, Jenny worked with the Robert M. Bass investment groups, including Alpine Capital and Keystone. She was manager of Emerald Value Partners and co-manager of Alpine Capital. Prior to joining the Bass organization, Jenny was a senior strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she worked with companies on strategies for value creation. Jenny received her BA in political science and psychology from Columbia College . She received her MBA in finance from The Columbia University Graduate School of Business where she was a Rosewell C. McRea scholar and was awarded Beta Gamma Sigma honors for academic achievement. Jenny lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
