Founder, Co-Chairman and Co-CIO, Bridgewater Associates

Thursday, September 10, 2020

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Moderator:
Susie Gharib
Anchor, Senior Special Correspondent
Fortune Magazine and CNBC

Ray Dalio is the founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates, a global macroeconomic investment management firm and the largest hedge fund in the world. Ray started Bridgewater out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York in 1975 and under his guidance, has grown the firm into the 5th most important company in the U.S., according to Fortune Magazine, and has led it to make more money for clients than any other hedge fund since its inception, according to LCH Investments.

Ray has been a global macro investor for more than 50 years, which has required him to gain a deep understanding of global economics and investing. Under his guidance, Bridgewater has introduced several industry-changing approaches to investing, including risk parity, the separation of alpha and beta, and currency overlay strategies. For his innovative work as well as being a valued advisor to many global policy makers, Ray has also been called the "Steve Jobs of Investing" by CIO Magazine and Wired Magazine, and has been named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People. Ray is also one of the 50 largest philanthropists in the U.S. according to Forbes Magazine.

Ray is also an acclaimed author, having made his literary debut in 2017 with New York Times #1 Bestseller Principles: Life & Work, which outlines his principles for work and life, the foundation of Bridgewater's distinctive culture that strives to create "meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical truth and radical transparency." Ray attributes Bridgewater's and his own personal success to the firm's culture. In response to the success of Principles, in November 2019 Ray released Principles for Success, which distills the 600-page classic into an engaging and easy-to-read illustrated novel for those of all ages. In addition to the Principles series, last year Ray and Bridgewater published Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises, the first public dissemination of their research on these economic events, which enabled them to anticipate the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Ray is currently working on his fourth book, which will outline his investment principles.

Perhaps most importantly though, Ray is a professional capitalist who believes that capitalism needs to be reformed in an intelligent and bipartisan manner. His reasons for holding this view are laid out in his piece "Why and How Capitalism Needs to be Reformed" which is available on LinkedIn.

Ray graduated with a B.S. in Finance from C.W. Post College in 1971 and holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School circa 1973. He has been married to his wife, Barbara, for more than 40 years and has four grown sons. He is an active philanthropist with a special interest in ocean exploration, microfinance and equal educational opportunities for underprivileged youth.