Ken Griffin

Born in 1968 in Daytona Beach, Florida, Griffin showed early mathematical aptitude and was trading convertible bond arbitrage from his Harvard dorm room in 1987 using a satellite dish to receive market data. He founded Citadel LLC in 1990 with $4.6 million in capital, and built it into one of the world's largest and most sophisticated hedge funds, with approximately $63 billion in assets under management across multiple strategies. Citadel's investment approach spans equities, fixed income, commodities, and quantitative strategies, combining systematic and discretionary portfolio management. The firm's flagship Kensington and Wellington funds have generated exceptional long-term returns, surviving multiple market crises including the 2008 financial crisis when Citadel suffered significant losses but did not fail or halt redemptions. Griffin simultaneously built Citadel Securities into the largest US equity market maker, executing approximately 25-28% of all US equity trades by volume. Citadel Securities handles an estimated 40% of all US retail equity order flow and has expanded into options, fixed income, currencies, and international markets. The unit is one of the most important pieces of market infrastructure in global finance. Griffin is known for his intense focus on talent recruitment, technology investment, and risk management. He has been a major donor to Republican political causes and to educational institutions including Harvard, MIT, and the University of Chicago. In 2022 he relocated Citadel's headquarters from Chicago to Miami.