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Volume 203 | Number 1
March 2020
INSIDE
CONTENTS
8
COVER STORY 84 | Elon’s New Nemesis Check your rearview mirror, Tesla. Rivian Automotive has a $3 billion war chest from Amazon, Ford and the Saudis, and is revving up production on its electric SUVs and trucks. Now all its 37-year-old founder, R.J. Scaringe, has to do is start building cars and avoid the roadblocks that almost caused Tesla to crash. By Chuck Tannert
COVER AND CONTENT PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES
MARCH 2020
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CONTENTS
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98 | Bloom and Bust KR Sridhar’s Bloom Energy promised to turn natural gas into clean electricity “cheaper than the grid.” But after blowing through billions, its fuel cells have turned out to be outrageously costly—and not so green after all. By Christopher Helman
2020 FORBES INVESTMENT GUIDE 60 | In Crypto He Trusts For now, Coinbase looks like a casino, but its billionaire founder, Brian Armstrong, sees it as just the beginning of the financial liberation of the planet. PLUS: THE FINTECH 50 By William Baldwin and Michael del Castillo
53 | Best-in-State Wealth Advisors
92 | Trust Your Gut
Our 2020 Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list spotlights more than 4,000 advisors across the country, nominated by their firms—then researched, interviewed and assigned a ranking by Shook Research.
On the bravest frontier in human health, scientists are using bacteria from the digestive system to create novel medicines for a range of ailments. The result could be blockbuster drugs that transform lives—and deliver massive returns for early investors.
By Shook Research and Jason Bisnoff
By Susan Adams and Will Yakowicz
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MARCH 2020
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FRONTRUNNER 21 | Murder, They Spoke
21
24
These top-earning podcasters prove that crime really does pay.
24 | Quid Pro . . . Whoa!
CONTENTS
12
George Kurtz has gotten rich with CrowdStrike, despite some Trumped-up allegation.
25 | Buy, Hold, Sell Reserve the Barolo; ditch the Miata.
26 | FORBES INSIGHTS With Clifford Chance Unlocking Tech-Driven Growth— Four Strategies for Success
28 | 30 Under 30: Men’s Grooming Splitting hairs in 30 words or less.
30 | World of Forbes
37
Around the globe with our 34 editions.
34 | Conversation Rapper 21 Savage’s immigration advocacy.
CONTRARIAN ENTREPRENEURS 37 | Cleaning Up Laundry man Yaakoub Hijazi is proving that there’s still money in low-tech service. By Amy Feldman
INVESTING 40 | Question Everything Want to make money in the crypto market? Challenge every assumption. By Jeff Kauflin
TECHNOLOGY 44 | Long Live Email The inbox had been left for dead. Now it’s being resurrected by Front and its big-name backers.
48
By Alex Konrad
LIFE 48 | The James Bond of Burgundy Jean-Charles Boisset has built a $450 million oenological empire—and uncorked a lascivious secret-agent persona. By Chloe Sorvino
17 | FACT & COMMENT Steve Forbes
How to save U.S. politics.
114 | THOUGHTS On morale.
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MARCH 2020 | VOLUME 203 NUMBER 1
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CHAIRMAN AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: STEVE FORBES; CEO AND PRESIDENT: MICHAEL FEDERLE EDITORIAL RANDALL LANE, Chief Content Officer Director, Editorial Operations: Caroline Howard; Executive Editors: Luisa Kroll, Kerry Lauerman, Michael Noer Assistant Managing Editors: Jessica Bohrer (Editorial Counsel), Kerry A. Dolan, Brett Knight, Rob LaFranco, Laura Mandaro, Janet Novack, Michael Ozanian, Matt Schifrin, Michael Solomon, Alex Wood Senior Editors: Susan Adams, Maneet Ahuja, Dan Alexander, Kurt Badenhausen, Steven Bertoni, Abram Brown, Dawn Chmielewski, John Dobosz, Amy Feldman, Martin Giles, Christopher Helman, Alan Ohnsman, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Susan Radlauer (Research), Jennifer Rooney, Tina Russo McCarthy, Nathan Vardi, Merrill Vaughn Deputy Editors: Rob Berger, Jeremy Bogaisky, Colleen Curry, Iain Martin, Andrea Murphy, Chase Peterson-Withorn, Helen A.S. Popkin, Chuck Tannert, Halah Touryalai, Jennifer Wang, Taesik Yoon Associate Editors: Thomas Brewster, Amy Danise, Ashlea Ebeling, Daphne Foreman, Antoine Gara, Julius Juenemann, Alex Knapp, Alexander Konrad, Maggie McGrath, Ezequiel Minaya, Michael Nuñez, Vicky Valet Staff Writers: Angel Au-Yeung, Madeline Berg, Jason Bisnoff, Michael del Castillo, Lauren Debter, Jillian D’Onfro, Jeffrey Kauflin, Carly Schaffner, Samantha Sharf, Chris Smith, Kelly Anne Smith, Chloe Sorvino, Michela Tindera, Ruth Umoh, Andrew Wendler, William Yakowicz Reporters: Noah Kirsch (Chief); Deniz Çam, Carter Coudriet, Hayley Cuccinello, Elizabeth Daffin, David Dawkins, Tanya Klich, Matthew Perez, Jonathan Ponciano, Rachel Sandler, Christina Settimi, Kristin Stoller, Marty Swant, Giacomo Tognini, Isabel Togoh, Glenda Toma, Lisette Voytko, Alexandra Wilson Assistant Editors: Justin Conklin, Katherine Love (Associate Managers, Editorial Operations); Kellen Becoats, Elisabeth Brier, Kenrick Cai, Marley Coyne, Brianne Garrett, Sarah Hansen, Christian Kreznar, Monica Melton, Sofia Lotto Persio, Leah Rosenbaum, Ariel Shapiro, Alexandra Sternlicht, Kristin Tablang, Samantha Todd, Hank Tucker Art and Production: Bob Mansfield (Art and Design Director); Merrilee Barton, Charles Brucaliere, Sarkis Delimelkon, Nick DeSantis, Anton Klusener, Suzanne O’Neill, Robin Regensburg, Robyn Selman, Gail Toivanen Social Media: Shauna Gleason (Director); Caroline Dilone, Dario Foroutan, Natasha Lekwa, Baylee Mozjesik, Evan Spadaccini Video: Tim Pierson (Director); Greg Andersson, Leah Bottone, Meghan Christensen, Ivan Clow, Julia Ferrier, Marc Gomes, Nick Graham, Riley Hallaway, Matthew Kang, Kieran Krug-Meadows, Chad McClymonds, Juliet Muir, Bernard Osei, Jonathan Palmer, Brian Petchers, Morgan Sun, Kirsten Taggart; Forbes Entertainment: Travis Collins, Kyle Kramer
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The lovely print magazine you’re holding comes courtesy of Bob Mansfield, who oversaw the design for this issue much in the way he has for the previous 854 or so. He has decided this will also be his last, a capstone for someone who, more than anyone, influenced how Forbes appeared to the world for the past 37-plus years. Bob’s career echoes the modern era of Forbes. His name first appeared in the iconic inaugural issue of The Forbes 400 “rich list” in 1982. The junior art assistant’s job description: “help on whatever needed to be done.” This was before personalcomputer ubiquity, when magazines were laid out on paper using black-and-white photos fresh from the Forbes darkroom. Eventually, Bob began designing Malcolm Forbes’ column, a tough assignment given the powerful, Mansfield behind J.P. Morgan’s perfectionist protagonist. “It desk at the Morgan Library was like riding a bicycle on the edge of a volcano,” he says. “Beautiful and dangerous.” As the Macintosh became designers’ machine of choice, young Mansfield took the lead. “I was invited out to Palo Alto to visit Stanford,” Bob recalls. “I was one of the first art directors to try out this thing called ‘Photoshop.’ ” In 1997, he created the design for what is now Forbes Asia. By 1999, he was design director of the flagship. Bob’s first cover shoot: a Jerry Seinfeld/Sean Combs mashup. “I was scared to death,” he says. “There were no monitors then, so you had no idea how the image came out until you developed the film. And Puff Daddy, as he was known then, was quite demanding.” Bob got that shot, and a few thousand more followed, with presidents and kings and pretty much every major business figure of this century passing through his computer. Bob is unflappable. He chews up deadline pressure like vitamins, setting a collegial tone for the entire staff. In 2017, for our 100th-anniversary issue, he again found himself shooting Sean Combs. “I told him how nervous I had been at that first shoot,” he says. “He confided that he was, too. He said looking good on the cover of Forbes launched his business career, and he thanked me.” On behalf of millions of our readers and hundreds of your colleagues past and present, let me thank you as well, Bob. You made history beautiful.
—RANDALL LANE, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER
MARCH 2020
MICHAEL PRINCE
History’s Imagemaker
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“With all thy getting, get understanding”
FACT & COMMENT By Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief
How to Save U.S. Politics 17
Critics of the much-maligned Electoral College overlook one of its fundamental virtues: tamping down dangerously divisive politics. Advocates of replacing this “18th-century anachronism” with a straight popular vote implicitly assume the current two-party system would remain intact and that the candidate with the most individual votes—instead of electoral votes—would win the White House. That’s the way things work for every other elected office in the U.S.; why wouldn’t it be so for the most important one of all? But the basic two-party arrangement we take for granted exists only because of the Electoral College. To win the presidency, a candidate has to appeal to people across the country. A nationwide coalition is essential to gaining a majority in the Electoral College. A narrow sectional or special-interest base simply won’t cut it. That’s why our parties are collections of many diverse interests and backgrounds, reflecting the character of this continental nation whose citizens, or forebears, have come from all corners of the world and reflect a wide array of cultures and beliefs. It’s why supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties are so often uneasy with one another. GOP voters in the Northeast, for instance, who tend to emphasize economic issues such as low taxes, are put off by social conservatives. The system puts a premium on moderation. Yes, candidates can advocate bold programs, but they have to do so in ways that don’t alienate more tepid members of their party, not to mention independent voters. A radical idea usually goes through what might be called a marinating process, during which time people become accustomed to the notion, and even then it has often become a watered-down version of the original. The Electoral College’s systemic bias for softening the rough, potentially dangerous edges of national politics has enabled us for over two centuries to debate and resolve even bitterly contentious issues without tearing apart the country and leaving wounds that can fester for generations. The exception, of course, was the issue of slavery. Otherwise, the tendency to move toward moderation and inclusion has held. Look at the Democrats. The party has indeed lunged to the left, but behold what’s happened to its presidential wannabes who most faithfully parroted the extreme views of far-left activists on such matters as rigid anti-individual identity politics or an immediate government takeover of health care: They’ve floundered or have tried to soften the sharpness of their views. Elizabeth Warren’s once expanding bubble deflated once she MARCH 2020
had to explain how she was going to pay for all the “free stuff” she was promising. Party members were also put off by her harsh negativity. If one of the parties does veer far from the existing center, it will suffer a shattering defeat, as the Democrats did in 1972 when they nominated a far-left candidate who ended up carrying only one state and the District of Columbia. Along the same lines, because candidates have to wage nationwide campaigns to win, the Electoral College forces these contenders to become familiar with local and regional issues they might otherwise overlook, most particularly in battleground states. The current arrangement does more to give a voice to minorities, people whose support could be crucial in key states. Today’s parties are state and local organizations. Each runs its own show its own way. Sure, there are national committees, but they are essentially fundraising entities for congressional and gubernatorial candidates—and their party’s presidential candidate. Every four years local parties come together to formally nominate a presidential candidate, who then is automatically put on the ballot in every state in the union (and the District of Columbia). In contrast, independent candidates for our ultimate office have to go through an expensive, laborious process to get on all the ballots. Few manage to do so. Each state has its own rules—some easy, others extremely difficult. A direct popular vote for president would shatter this political ecosystem that’s uniquely suited to America. Individuals and special-interest organizations would continuously create their own parties. For example, would Mike Bloomberg—who at various times during his political career has been a Democrat, a Republican and an independent—even bother to try to fetch the Democratic nomination for president? Of course not. With his resources, he would do it on his own. Unlike the two-party system the Electoral College fosters today, there would be numerous candidates competing in a national election. More basic and ominous is that in contrast to the moderating bias of the Electoral College, a direct popular-vote system would put a premium on inflaming passions to gin up support for candidates in a crowded field. Of course, if no aspirant reached a certain threshold—and what level should that be: 40%? 50%?—there would have to be a runoff. Since there would be so many candidates vying to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one could easily envision elections in which the runoff would be between two extremist FORBES.COM
Steve Forbes Cont.
• FACT & COMMENT
18
candidates who each received, say, 10% of the vote in the first round. To win a runoff, contenders would have to bargain with the field’s losers for support in the final round. The horse-trading and outright payoffs this new system would encourage would make today’s political bargaining look tame in comparison. Then, of course, you would have crucial, nitty-gritty details to resolve. Who would police the 175,000 voting districts to avoid chicanery? Who would ensure that absentee ballots were not tampered with? All of this could involve a major expansion in the central government’s power. Each state today has its own rules for voting. Some states, for example, encourage early voting; others do not. Under a direct-voting system, these rules would have to be uniform—again, another extension of Washington’s power. Democrats hate the Electoral College because in both the 2000 and 2016 elections they lost the White House even though their candidates received more popular votes than their GOP opponents. This ignores the fact that if the College hadn’t existed during those contests, the candidates would have waged entirely different kinds of campaigns. Donald Trump, for instance, would not have taken precious time near the end of the campaign to visit Maine in the hope of garnering an electoral vote in a congressional district (which he did). Our Founders knew exactly what they were doing when they created the Electoral College. We ignore their wisdom at our peril.
Don’t Ground These Sneakers Nike has produced a sneaker called the
Vaporfly that is roiling the sports world. Its technology, according to critics and competitors, gives users an “unfair” ad-
Introducing
What’s Ahead, the new podcast hosted by Steve Forbes. Subscribe now on iTunes or GooglePlay Store. FORBES.COM
vantage in elite running races, thereby threatening the integrity of the sport. It appears the shoes won’t be banned in this summer’s Tokyo Olympics; however, the world governing body for track and field is trying to curb further improvements in this technology. Huh? What’s the big deal here? We’re not talking about drugs. Isn’t sports equipment supposed to get better? The way Vaporflys are constructed reduces a runner’s “energy cost.” Runners love them. Winners of recent marathons, at which records were set, wore versions of the sneaker. Naturally, Nike’s competitors are unhappy that prestige (and amateur) athletes are flocking to Vaporflys. They would be delighted to see Vaporflys banned in competitions—for now. They’re scrambling to create their own versions— free-market competition works! Over the years sneakers have made quantum leaps in comfort, style and durability. So have sports fabrics and other kinds of equipment. Isn’t this what progress is supposed to be all about?
Bloomberg Blows It Mike Bloomberg proclaims he can best
beat Donald Trump. But he made a blunder that will hurt him badly if he is the Democrats’ nominee this November: He came out for raising economicgrowth-killing taxes on a scale that would ostensibly raise almost 50% more revenue than Joe Biden’s supposedly more moderate schemes. Bloomberg’s nostrums would crush capital creation and business investment and tank the stock market. Economic growth would stagnate, and wage growth would wither, if not decline. By contrast, the president will be unveiling another round of tax cuts to be enacted if he’s reelected. Bloomberg and the rest of the Democratic field have forgotten what happened the last time their party standard-bearer so loudly trumpeted raising taxes: In 1984, pro-tax Walter Mondale carried only one state and the District of Columbia against the tax-cutting incumbent, Ronald Reagan. F
RESTAURANTS: GO, CONSIDER, STOP Edible enlightenment from our eatery experts and colleagues Richard Nalley, Monie Begley and Randall Lane, as well as brothers Bob, Kip and Tim.
z Caviar Russe 538 Madison Avenue, between 54th & 55th Streets (212-980-5908) This small second-floor restaurant is a civilized oasis where you can enjoy a conversation on comfortable banquettes surrounded by lovely murals and hushed and helpful service. Such pleasure does not come without cost: 50 grams of osetra logs in at $190 but arrives with crème fraîche, chopped chives and your choice of tiny warm blinis, slivers of toast and sliced potatoes upon which to spread it all. While the rich smoked salmon is plentiful, the dry-aged ribeye with celery-root puree and small potatoes leaves one hungry for more. The basket of miniature madeleines is so good you can skip dessert.
z Knickerbocker Bar & Grill 33 University Place, at 9th Street (212-228-8490) Classic, comfortable neighborhood fixture serving hearty American fare. To start, try the crab cakes, which are star-worthy, or the shrimp cocktail, which is straight out of the 1950s. The chicken pot pie, which could feed four, is as tasty as it is plentiful. Ditto the barbecue ribs. Bread pudding or a slice of carrot cake—enough to feed an entire bridal party—will put you over the top. It’s all good and all reasonably priced. And you can still converse when the musicians are playing.
z Land of Plenty 204 East 58th Street (212-308-8788) Great spot (a short walk from Bloomingdale’s) for a delectable Chinese meal for two—with wine—for under $80, including tip. When the word amazing is in front of a chicken or shrimp dish, expect your taste buds to be warmed by a very hot and spicy sweet sauce. The crispy shredded sesame beef crackles, and there are braised fresh mushrooms with bok choy for those looking for “healthier” fare. Plenty to like and plenty to eat in the land thereof.
z TAK Room 20 Hudson Yards (929-450-4050) This is the anchor restaurant in an over-thetop mall, and it’s clear who will be paying for all this “luxe.” Though good, the food lacks the flourish of chef Thomas Keller’s usual creations. The menu is fairly classic Continental cuisine, but the prices are colossal (and the service is never attentive). Many plates are offered for “two”—Dover sole for two for $110; New York strip steak for one or two for $160, with a variety of sauces at an additional $7 to $12. There are less expensive offerings, but not by much; a lone crab cake is $27. Desserts are quite good—try the coconut or chocolate cake. MARCH 2020
Income meets performance. Fidelity Total Bond Fund seeks to deliver dividend income to investors and outperform the benchmark over time.1 If you’re looking for income and a measure of protection from stock market volatility, this fund presents a great opportunity. Growth of $100K investment in Fidelity® Total Bond Fund
$240,000
Since 10/15/2002
$228,100 $220,000
Fidelity® Total Bond Fund Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
$200,000
$205,788
$180,000
$160,000
$140,000
$120,000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Average Annual Total Returns
2016
2017
2018
2019
$100,000
Life of Fund
as of 12/31/2019
1 year
3 year
5 year
10 year
Fidelity® Total Bond Fund
9.87%
4.37%
3.68%
4.52%
4.90%
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
8.72%
4.03%
3.05%
3.75%
4.28%
Since 10/15/2002
Expense Ratio 0.45%2
Performance data shown represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate, so investors may have a gain or loss when shares are sold. Current performance may be higher or lower than what is quoted, and investors should visit Fidelity.com/performance for most recent month-end performance.
Invest today at Fidelity.com/totalbond FIDELITY TOTAL BOND FUND
FIDELITY TOTAL BOND ETF
Fidelity.com/totalbond
FTBFX
FBND
800.FIDELITY or call your advisor.
Total returns are historical and include change in share value and reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, if any. Life-of-fund figures are reported as of the commencement date to the period indicated. In general, the bond market is volatile, and fixed income securities carry interest rate risk. (As interest rates rise, bond prices usually fall, and vice versa. This effect is usually more pronounced for longer-term securities.) Fixed income securities also carry inflation risk, liquidity risk, call risk, and credit and default risks for both issuers and counterparties. Lower-quality fixed income securities involve greater risk of default or price changes due to potential changes in the credit quality of the issuer. Unlike individual bonds, most bond funds do not have a maturity date, so holding them until maturity to avoid losses caused by price volatility is not possible. ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund. 1 The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged broad-based, market value–weighted benchmark that measures the performance of the investment-grade, U.S. dollar–denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. Sectors in the index include Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, MBS (agency fixed-rate and hybrid ARM pass-throughs), ABS, and CMBS. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. 2 Expense ratio is the total annual fund operating expense ratio from the fund’s most recent prospectus. Expense ratio as of 10/30/2019.
Before investing in any mutual fund or exchange-traded fund, you should consider its investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Contact Fidelity for a prospectus, offering circular, or, if available, a summary prospectus containing this information. Read it carefully. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC. © 2020 FMR LLC. All rights reserved. 833628.9.0
W H AT ’ S NEW
WHO’S NEXT 21
By Ariel Shapiro
Photograph by Ethan Pines for Forbes
Murder, They Spoke Podcasts
Who says crime doesn’t pay? Not Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, who have turned their darkly funny podcast about killers into a burgeoning media empire. MARCH 2020
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Podcasts Cont.
M
Don’t Get Murdered, a nod to their show’s catchphrase); signed a development deal with podcast publisher Stitcher worth at least $10 million; and built a 55,000-person fan club—members pay $40 annually for exclusive episodes and access to presale tickets to live shows. In other words, the duo is killing it, and their earnings show it. They made an estimated $15 million in 2019, placing them at No. 2 on our inaugural ranking of the top-earning podcasters. It’s a boom time: Advertisers likely spent close to $700 million on pods last year, according to estimates by PWC and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a nearly sevenfold increase in four years; Spotify spent $250 million to acquire podcast networks Gimlet and Parcast. Apple, reportedly, is hot on Spotify’s heels with plans for its own network after years of doing nothing. “People are realizing that podcasting is special,” says Kilgariff, 49. “I think people are isolated and really lonely.” And in the case of My Favorite Murder, “it’s nice to listen and process terrible [things] together. There’s something really cathartic about that.” Another recent endeavor for Kilgariff and Hardstark: their own podcast network, Exactly Right. They’ve greenlit five shows, including This Podcast Will Kill You, a series about infectious diseases hosted by two epidemiologists. “It’s very fun and cool and old-fashioned show business to discover talent,” Kilgariff says. “We’re lucky because ours is popular that we have this fuse, and we can connect this fuse to people who deserve it.”
DOWNLOADING DOLLARS The hosts on our first-ever ranking of the top-earning podcasters opine on everything from basketball and baseball to movies and murder.
1. JOE ROGAN The Joe Rogan Experience 2019 EARNINGS: $30 MIL* Topics: UFC, politics, standup comedy
2. KAREN KILGARIFF AND GEORGIA HARDSTARK My Favorite Murder $15 MIL True crime, pop culture
3. DAVE RAMSEY The Dave Ramsey Show $10 MIL Personal finance
4. DAX SHEPARD Armchair Expert $9 MIL Hollywood, current events
5. BILL SIMMONS The Bill Simmons Podcast $7 MIL Sports, Hollywood
Forbes Finds
SIGN OF THE TIME As Chinese zodiac signs go, the Year of the Rat may not be as alluring as, say, Horse, Tiger or Dragon, but that hasn’t stopped luxury watch brands from finding considerable beauty in the little rodent. Plus, rats do have some good qualities. Those who fall under the sign—which occurs every 12 years—are said to be cunning, charming and thrifty. And since it comes first in the zodiac, you’re already ahead in the rat race. FORBES.COM
Year of the Rat special edition in white gold by Blancpain (price on request)
Métiers d’Art The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac, Year of the Rat in platinum (price on request)
Chopard L.U.C. XP Urushi Year of the Rat in rose gold ($24,600)
Premier Chinese New Year Automatic 36mm in rose gold by Harry Winston (price on request)
Panerai Luminor Sealand Year of the Rat in stainless steel (price on request)
MARCH 2020
MICHAEL S. SCHWARTZ/GETTY IMAGES *ALL PODCASTER EARNINGS ARE FORBES ESTIMATES
FRONTRUNNER
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y Favorite Murder was born, fittingly, at a Halloween party in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles in 2015. The gathering was thrown by a mutual friend of the podcast’s future cohosts, Karen Kilgariff (page 21, left), a standup comic and comedy writer, and Georgia Hardstark, a host on the Cooking Channel. The women had met before. But “it wasn’t until this party that we realized we were both really into true crime and didn’t have anyone else to talk to about it,” says Hardstark, 39. They stationed themselves in the kitchen, ignoring the other guests and swapping tales of gore. “Which is stuff I like to do at a party.” “It was a perfect moment,” Hardstark adds. “I met someone who . . . didn’t want me to shut up about murder.” Millions of others, it turns out, didn’t want them to shut up either. Listeners can’t get enough of the pair’s darkly humorous tales about murderers like Scott Scurlock, the Hollywood Bandit, and Robert Hansen, the Butcher Baker of Anchorage, Alaska. Today My Favorite Murder gets 35 million downloads a month, and last year it was the seventh-most popular podcast on Apple Podcasts, ahead of repurposed programming like NPR’s Fresh Air and This American Life. The duo’s little true-crime empire is growing. In the past year, they’ve performed 40 live shows; published a New York Times bestseller (Stay Sexy &
New Billionaire
Book Value
QUID PRO . . . WHOA! George Kurtz has struck it rich with CrowdStrike— despite a trumped-up allegation about his cybersecurity company from the 45th president.
Tory Burch Fashion Mogul
A LIFE
by Simone Veil
It’s hard to imagine that I didn’t know about the French politician Simone Veil until she died, at 89, in 2017. But when I read her obituary, I knew I wanted to learn more. She led an extraordinary life. So I bought her memoir, A Life (Editions Stock, 2007), which was translated into English by Tamsin Black. Veil is considered one of the heroines of modern France. Her journey is both surprising and inspiring: She was an Auschwitz survivor, but her brother and parents were killed in the Holocaust. She trained as a lawyer and became a renegade fighter, in a Catholic country, for a woman’s right to choose. She managed to win over a nation and change the course of history. I found her life and the way she wrote about it fascinating, so I’ve been recommending her book often. It seems that everyone is used to men “making” history; I’m very interested in attempting to recalibrate that. Veil stood up for what she believed in—and in turn changed life for women in France. FORBES.COM
A
year ago, the world didn’t really know much about CrowdStrike, and George Kurtz, the cybersecurity firm’s cofounder, was perfectly happy with that. This all changed in September when a redacted transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became public. In it, the two men discussed CrowdStrike, which had been hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate Russian hacking during the 2016 election, and Trump pushed Zelensky to investigate the firm, claiming it had stashed a DNC server in Ukraine. “I didn’t think when we started a company, we’d be mentioned by two heads of state,” sighs Kurtz, 49, who says his company did nothing wrong—and never set up a server in Ukraine. “The best thing for us is to keep our heads down and focus on stopping breaches. The rest of it is kind of noise.” When clients like the DNC hire CrowdStrike, the Sunnyvale, California, company deploys its cloud-based breach-detection software, called Falcon, to scan for hackers. This can be a lucrative endeavor. CrowdStrike can be hired for one-off, bespoke investigations—as with the DNC—but a 4,000-company client roster that includes Amazon and Credit Suisse pay a monthly $6.99 per computer to keep Falcon monitoring their systems. All this work should amount to $465 million in revenue during CrowdStrike’s MARCH 2020
NEW BILLIONAIRE BY ANGEL AU-YEUNG; BUY HOLD SELL BY CHRISTIAN KREZNAR PHOTOGRAPH BY TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD FOR FORBES; ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID MAHONEY
FRONTRUNNER
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Leaders from the worlds of business, academia, entertainment and politics share what’s on their bedside table.
MARCH 2020
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRIS LYONS
BUY, HOLD, SELL Stephen Fishler
COMICS: HOLLYWOOD-RELATED MARVEL AND DC
CEO, Metropolis Collectibles
25 FRONTRUNNER
latest fiscal year (ending on January 31, 2020), a roughly 86% gain from a year earlier. Shares are about flat since its June IPO, but they’re still enough for Kurtz’s 10% stake to be worth nearly $1.1 billion. After getting a business degree from Seton Hall University and spending years as an ITand security-consulting drone, Kurtz launched his own software security startup, Foundstone, in 1999. He sold that company to McAfee and later became the bigger firm’s chief technology officer. The idea for CrowdStrike’s simpler, faster, cloud-based software came from watching a guy seated next to him on a flight in 2011 spend a good 15 minutes scanning his laptop with McAfee. “I’m just sitting there going, ‘Oh, my God, this is terrible.’ ” He quit McAfee that same year to start CrowdStrike. Five years later, it had roughly $50 million in revenue, a figure that more than doubled the following year. Now CrowdStrike is focused on current global boiling points such as Iran; it’s likely increasing its reach in Europe, where potential users will face many of the same threats as CrowdStrike’s stable of American customers. Trump’s Ukraine conspiracy theory, meanwhile, isn’t hurting business. In fact, Kurtz says, it has raised “our visibility as a world leader in cybersecurity.”
Minor Marvel Characters As the Marvel Universe expands, dust off rarities like Marvel Mystery and Sub-Mariner ($2,000 per issue) from the wartime Golden Age.
Victoria James
Joker
X-Men
Batman’s oldest foe got a shot in the arm from the 2019 movie Joker. A high-grade cover ($3,000 to $7,000) will net nicely when a sequel rolls in.
With Dark Phoenix having hit a wall last year, it seems interest in X-Men has plateaued. Classic titles in great condition can fetch $2,000.
WINE: WOMEN VINTNERS
Partner and beverage director at Cote restaurant, sommelier, author
2015 Spe’y, Kitá Wines Made by Native American winemaker Tara Gomez on tribal land in California’s Santa Ynez Valley. Five years in the bottle will have this Rhône blend ($30) singing—and doubling in value.
Barolo Marassio, Giulia Negri
2018 SP68, Occhipinti
Negri’s Italian red is a breath of fresh air for Piedmont’s venerable vintners. At $125, expect it to triple in a decade.
Cult classics among sommeliers, Arianna Occhipinti’s other biodynamic wines offer more gravitas than this cheerful $35 Sicilian.
AUTOS: JAPANESE SPORTS CARS
Ken Gross Author, former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum
Lexus SC 400 (1991–2000)
Datsun 240Z (1970–1973)
Mazda MX-5 Miata (1989–)
The svelte design of this Grand Touring coupe went virtually unchanged for nine years. Forget its squishy 2001 second-gen replacement and buy it for less than $15,000.
Crisply styled, fun to drive and maintenancefriendly, the 240Z singlehandedly put British sports cars out of business. Aim for $50,000—there’s room to climb.
A rev-happy engine and excellent handling made the lovable little Miata America’s most popular club racing car. Built in huge numbers, they’re unlikely to go past $15,000.
FORBES.COM
FO R B E S I N S I G H TS W I T H C L I F FO R D C H A N C E | PA I D P RO G R A M
1
Set the right pace for your business
To gauge how executives are responding, ÀLià à } Ìà > ` ÌiÀ >Ì > >Ü wÀ Clifford Chance surveyed 300 senior executives worldwide. The research showed that to continue to grow > ` Ì À Ûi] V «> ià ÕÃÌ Ì> i > «À >VÌ Ûi approach to tech-driven growth. Here’s how:
2
Make technology part of your values
Business leaders are using advanced
Tech-driven growth is having an impact on
technologies without always understanding the
much more than companies’ balance sheets.
risks and consequences. To succeed, companies
It is affecting how society functions and how
need to focus on the right level of collaboration,
people live and work. While executives are
recognize the overall impact of advanced
` Û `i` ÛiÀ Ü ÌiV }Þ Ü yÕi Vi
technologies and focus on auditing and testing
the society of the future, those who build
much more readily. Deep understanding will give
ethics and social responsibility into their DNA
deep protection against future regulation.
will be the long-term winners.
3
Aim for the highest levels of compliance
4
Develop your management teams and boards
Without a cohesive global road map for
Just half of boardrooms have technology
the ethical implementation of advanced
expertise around the table, and only half of
technologies, executives face uncertainty. Some
companies have in-house capabilities to deal
jurisdictions have put into effect more stringent
with the legal and ethical aspects of tech-driven
or progressive regulations than others, and some
growth. Boardrooms and management teams
companies have grown due to lax regulations.
need to focus on increasing the tech expertise
In the future, companies need to aim for the
and capabilities in the room, bringing in new
highest levels of compliance. They should see
perspectives and testing “groupthink.”
this as a global risk, not just a country risk.
>> Learn more by visiting www.cliffordchance.com/forbes MARCH 2020
FORBES.COM
PG 27
UNLOCKING TECH-DRIVEN GROWTH
Unlocking Tech-Driven Growth: Four Strategies For Success
Advanced technology is changing the way we live and work and is bringing about unprecedented opportunities and risks for businesses.
30 Under 30 The List
TOP-EARNING GAMERS
Splitting hairs with the Forbes 30 Under 30, in 30 words or less.
1. Tyler Blevins (a.k.a. Ninja) EARNINGS: $17 MIL
Braden Handley, 29 COFOUNDER, INKBOX
Phil Wong, 30, and Brian Jeong, 30
Toronto’s Inkbox (funding: $14.1 million) makes temporary peel-and-stick tattoos for adults that last one to two weeks. An astronaut and a koi are among the most popular designs.
COFOUNDERS, HAWTHORNE
2. Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) $15 MIL
Backed by $10.5 million in funding, New York’s Hawthorne provides a 23-question web-based quiz to help men select the right cologne, shampoo and body wash.
3. Preston Arsement (Preston) $14 MIL
4. Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) $14 MIL
5. Michael Grzesiek (Shroud) $12.5 MIL
Sarah Ribner, 30 COFOUNDER, PIPERWAI
6. Daniel Middleton (DanTDM) $12 MIL
7. Evan Fong (VanossGaming) $11.5 MIL
Alex Tomic, 26, and Nik Mirkovic, 24 COFOUNDERS, HISMILE
The Australians’ teeth-whitening gel took off after a Kylie Jenner sponsorship. Jenner’s 2016 Instagram post has accumulated 1.8 million likes; HiSmile had $100 million–plus in 2019 revenue.
In 2014, Ribner bootstrapped natural deodorant PiperWai with cofounder Jess Edelstein. Their speed sticks took off, and PiperWai has since added a deodorant cream and underarm moisturizing oil.
8. Sean McLoughlin (Jacksepticeye) $11 MIL
9. Timothy Betar (TimTheTatman) $8 MIL
10. Nick Kolcheff (Nickmercs) $6 MIL
FORBES.COM
Kimberly Lewis, 28, and Timothy Lewis, 29 COFOUNDERS, CURLMIX
This Chicago couple—Tim’s a former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestant—got $1.2 million in 2019 for CurlMix’s line of organic shampoos designed for African-Americans.
MARCH 2020
30 UNDER 30 BY MARLEY COYNE ILLUSTRATIONS BY AARON SACCO
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For the first time, we’ve ranked the highest-paid stars in gaming, a league of legends who made a collective $121 million last year. The vast majority of those dollars didn’t come from winning competitions but from YouTube ad revenue and endorsements with the likes of Adidas and Bud Light.
PRETTY. SUCCESSFUL.
Engineered for Enjoyment
ANGOLA
FRONTRUNNER
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WORLD FORBES OF
BOLIVIA
ARGENTINA More than 2.5 million people a month pass through Farmacity’s stores, which are run by Sebastian Miranda. The company, founded in 1997, has 300 locations and is the nation’s biggest employer of pharmacists.
For over 30 years, Carlos Suárez Bello has owned and operated a popular Italian joint, Michelangelo, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s biggest city. Now he’s started fast-food restaurant TutiCapa Pasta y Pizza.
Angola is trying to solve an electricity crisis partly by turning to a stackable battery made by Swissbased Power-Blox.
CHINA
Across the planet, these 34 licensed editions span five continents, 27 languages and 24 time zones. They all share the same mission: to celebrate entrepreneurial capitalism in all its guises.
CZECH REPUBLIC
CYPRUS
A recent Forbes Czech special issue devoted to health care put a spotlight on entrepreneurs including Czech neuroscientist Martin Tolar, whose Boston-based Alzheon is working on an Alzheimer’s treatment.
BRAZIL Brazilian startup Fix It has an innovative take on an old medical product: It makes light, 3D-printed, biodegradable braces to treat injuries such as broken bones.
To speed the Bank of Cyprus’ stalled recovery from the 2013 financial crisis, new CEO Panicos Nicolaou is slicing away bad loans from the institution’s balance sheet— and looking into how it might digitize.
A new list of Central America’s most creative people featured artists including Romeo Santos, who drew 80,000 people to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey last year.
GERMANY Olive oil estate, anyone? Greek property is becoming an increasingly popular investment amid government incentives to spark the real estate industry.
INDONESIA A new report from Google, Bain & Co. and the Singapore state investment firm Temasek lists Indonesia as the largest and fastest-growing digital economy in Southeast Asia, rising fourfold since 2015 to $40 billion in 2019. FORBES.COM
FRANCE
GEORGIA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
GREECE
BlackRock wants to take over the world, and from her Alpine corner of it, Mirjam Staub-Bisang is leading the $85 billion money manager’s efforts in Switzerland, focused partly on sustainable investments like Geberit and Umicore.
Liu Erhai ranks among China’s top VCs thanks to his investment in Luckin Coffee, which is battling Starbucks there.
Leblon Delienne, a maker of high-end pop-art sculptures, has teamed up with Disney to turn out a line of Mickey Mouse figurines.
INDIA
Forbes Georgia made a statement of support for prominent doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili by depicting him on its January cover; he was detained for 49 days in South Ossetia, a breakaway region of the country.
Cricket isn’t the only game in India, where interest in Olympic sports like shooting, wrestling and boxing is on the rise—the latter
HUNGARY
ISRAEL
After selling his truck company, Hungarian industrialist György Wáberer has invested $10 million in a new private clinic, Wáberer Medical Center.
Moshe BenBassat, a college professor, was an early AI evangelist—and has now sold his firm, ClickSoftware, to Salesforce for $1.4 billion.
MARCH 2020
KOREA
ITALY “God can’t destroy streetwear.” That’s the motto for Giuliano Calza, who turned the phrase into an acronym for his company’s name, GCDS, and has persuaded celebs including Kim Kardashian to wear his apparel.
Forbes Latvia’s Under 30 list includes Anastasija Oleinika, 29, CEO of a lending marketplace, and Artūrs Toms Plešs, 27, a member of parliament.
JAPAN
KAZAKHSTAN
Nintendo and energy giant Tokyo Gas are among the businesses featured on Forbes Japan’s Great Company 2020 list.
For Forbes Kazakhstan’s 30 Under 30 package, renegade street artist Pasha Cas, 24, painted a new work titled “Be Brave.”
31
Since 2006, Punsalmaa Badamdorj has led M-Oil Group, one of the five largest Mongolian petro businesses. She’s now focusing partly on the Punsalmaa Fund, which will promote women’s economic empowerment and support women-led small businesses.
Forbes Korea asked 52 leaders about their “bucket list” goals for life. Among their replies: Yang YoonSun, CEO of Medipost, says she wants to give away 20% of her earnings and achieve a “retirement with ‘new challenges.’ ”
EDITED BY ELISABETH BRIER, ABRAM BROWN AND JUSTIN CONKLIN
MALI
MEXICO
“When I started in the hotel industry 25 years ago . . . it was considered reserved for Westerners,” recalls Mossadeck Bally, whose Mali-based Azalaï hotel group now has 10 locations, 1,100 rooms and nearly 1,000 employees.
Raúl Beyruti’s GINgroup is the country’s largest private employer, a nearly $2 billion-in-sales business that mainly manages the payrolls of other companies.
ROMANIA
SPAIN
“Don’t become too obsessed with accolades, recognitions or Michelin stars,” the acclaimed restaurateur Joan Roca once cautioned chefs. He now finds himself on a Forbes Spain list of the most successful people in business.
PORTUGAL “If we try to be everything, we are nothing,” says Miguel Patrício, the new Portugalborn CEO of struggling Kraft Heinz. “We have to be specialists.”
POLAND Nothing evokes Polish verve better than a . . . yacht. At least if you ask Francis Lapp, who projects that his Sunreef Yachts is on course for $1 billion in revenue.
THAILAND
SLOVAKIA “I’ll be happy if I’m able to [make] people view politics not as a dirty game of personal gains . . . of politicians,” President Zuzana Čaputová tells Forbes Slovakia in an exclusive interview.
SOUTH AFRICA
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Mishal Kanoo is modernizing his family’s 130-yearold conglomerate, the Kanoo Group, adding non-family directors and investing in new areas such as fintech.
A father-daughter duo leads Synnex, one of Thailand’s largest electronics importers. Now, chairman Supant and CEO Sutida Mongkolsuthree are focused on 5G.
RUSSIA Forbes Russia’s latest Kings of Real Estate ranking is led by billionaires God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev, who own more than 20 million square feet. MARCH 2020
Space is scarce in South Africa’s cities, so people like Linah Moeketsi are getting creative. She has started an urban farm on the roof of an eight-floor Johannesburg building.
VIETNAM Atop Forbes Vietnam’s list of the 100 biggest public companies: $15 billion (market cap) Vietcombank. FORBES.COM
FRONTRUNNER
MONGOLIA
Three decades after the Romanian revolution, Forbes Romania named the most influential businesspeople of the last 30 years, seating real estate mavens Victor Căpitanu and Andrei Diaconescu in front.
LATVIA
PayPal is solving for millions of daily hopes, dreams, and financial ambitions.
What are you solving for? Google Cloud is helping PayPal with their mission to transform the prosperity and opportunity of millions of businesses around the world. By providing massive scale and processing power with Google Cloud, PayPal is connecting Main Street to every street and building financial trust all over the world.
g.co/cloud/paypal
THE 21 CLUB The arrest of rapper 21 Savage, a U.K. native, by American immigration authorities last year dropped him squarely into a fervid national debate. Readers (mostly) lauded his subsequent advocacy for the Dreamer Act (DACA), and for his Bank Account Campaign, which teaches teens financial literacy.
34 FRONTRUNNER
@REYNAEMONTOYA: “Several days ago @Forbes wrote a story on the DREAM TEAM ft 21 Savage. It was hard for me to share since my heart hurts every time I think what would I do if #DACA were to be taken away and I become detained.”
Conversation
KEY ASSIST
F
@VLUNA1021: “Thank you to @Forbes & @zogblog for including me as part of @21savage story & the 30 Under 30 Dreamer Team, a list of @Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni Dreamers who are leading initiatives in the fight for immigrant justice.”
rom more than 15,000 nominees, Forbes honored 600 innovators and new talents across 20 industries for 2020 in our annual 30 Under 30 (December 31). Strikingly, some 48 percent are either immigrants or first-gen Americans. NBA fans congratulated the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant—a 30 Under 30 alumnus and one of the issue’s five cover stars—for his hoops prowess and for his investment vehicle, Thirty Five Ventures. Durant, sidelined with an injury this season, has fed more than $15 million into 40-plus startups over the last few years. Tweeted @rhondah10336222: “The important thing here is that this young black man who is a basketball phenom is also gifted enough in his business acumen to grace Forbes’ cover.” Meanwhile, Under 30 Asia alumna Melanie Perkins, cofounder and CEO of designsoftware startup Canva, who also graced one of our five Under 30 covers, was lauded on Twitter for her easy-to-use product, a rival to Adobe. Tweeted @TytchMe: “Such a nice and approachable person. Here’s someone who truly empowered professionals and individuals to make their businesses more beautiful and effective at communicating.”
JENNIFER FRANCIS: “I love this. It’s so important to teach financial literacy to teens so they can understand the importance of finances to establish a secure future.”
MARÍA FERNANDA G.: “Love that a celebrity is doing good. These classes and other fundamentals should be taught at least [starting in] high school.”
TIAAN MARAIS: “ ‘The new voice of immigration reform’: the hero we never knew we needed.”
DAINARIS SANTOS: “Undocumented? Try using that line to get a bank loan. No. These are unvetted illegal aliens Democrats are incentivizing to flood by the tens of millions into our schools, hospitals and communities with more than $113 billion a year in taxpayer-funded free health care, education, housing and legal services.”
THE INTEREST GRAPH
5,098,966 views Forbes 30 Under 30 2020 135,248 Canva Uncovered: How a Young Australian Kitesurfer Built a $3.2 Billion (Profitable!) Startup Phenom 91,647 How Billionaire Anthony Wood Quit His Netflix Job, Founded Roku—and Then Quadrupled His Fortune in the Past Year 72,575 The Forbes Investigation: Inside the Secret Bank Behind the Fintech Boom
JUSTIN LOIDOLT: “Lots of opportunity to teach subjects like [financial literacy]. Unbelievable how many teens don’t have these skills when they reach their twenties.”
BY KRISTIN STOLLER
26,941 Three-Point Play: Inside Kevin Durant’s Multimillion-Dollar Basketball, Media and Investing Empire 22,644 Chainsmokers on Fire: The World’s Highest-Paid DJs Are Spinning Celebrity Into a Rock-Star Portfolio 20,028 Class Act: This 31-Year-Old’s Company Rocketed to a $1 Billion Valuation Helping Workers Get Degrees 2,928 THE BOMB 30 Under 30 Education 2020: The Young Problem Solvers Tackling Hurdles from Day Care to Diplomas FORBES.COM
MARCH 2020
Raise one TO THOSE WHO NEVER L E T Y O U D O W N.
Jim Beam Black® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 43% Alc./Vol. ©2019 James B. Beam Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.
CONGRATULATES SARAH COLAMARINO JOHNSON & JOHNSON
HonorRoll CELEBRATING THE INDIVIDUALS WHO DRIVE BRANDFUNDED CONTENT FORWARD
KIRSTIN FALK
CHARLES SCHWAB
D A R E T O D O D I F F E R E N T LY
37
Photograph by Tim Pannell for Forbes
By Amy Feldman
Cleaning Up Yaakoub Hijazi quit college to save his late father’s faltering laundry business. Nine years later, he’s proven that’s there’s still good money to be made in a low-tech service business.
MARCH 2020
FORBES.COM
CONTRARIAN • ENTREPRENEURS
38
I
“I didn’t want my father’s name to be tarnished,” says Yaakoub Hijazi, president of Paterson, New Jersey–based Star Laundry. When his father, Youssef, died in 2011, four months after being diagnosed with lung cancer, Hijazi was a 19-year-old student at Montclair State University. He soon learned that his dad’s $4 million (sales) commercial laundry and dry-cleaning business was on the brink of collapse. “When you go bankrupt, your name is destroyed,” he says. So Hijazi, now 27, ditched school to rescue Star Laundry. “I threw my textbook out, which was a little overboard,” he says. “I told my mother there is no way I can go back.” Since then, Hijazi, who is on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 in Manufacturing & Industry, has not only protected his father’s legacy; he’s built the business into a powerhouse in the tight-knit world of hotel launderers in New York. Today, Star Laundry cleans sheets and towels for more than 100 of the city’s roughly 800 hotels, including the Conrad New York and the W Times Square. Based on Forbes’ estimates, it handles as much as 40% of the laundry generated by the city’s hotels, bringing in some $70 million a year in revenue. Add in Hijazi’s other ventures, including real estate in New Jersey and linen manufacturing in Benin, Africa, and his group’s annual revenue is closer to $120 million. Laundry is a cutthroat business, priced at 30 cents to 45 cents per pound in New York. Price cutting to gain market share is rampant. Stumbles abound. Prestige Industries, once Hijazi’s biggest competitor, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017, and its assets were subsequently bought by a private-equity firm that owns laundry firm PureTex Solutions. “The entire market is fighting over the same 200 hotels,” says Sang Cho, CEO of Prestige until 2012, who founded Cooperative Laundry in 2018. “We’ve heard some of our competitors bidding below 27 or 28 cents a pound, which is crazy.” Hijazi, who owns 100% of Star, wooed customers by being personally on call starting at 3:30 a.m. and setting rates in the mid-to-upper range to atFORBES.COM
HOW TO PLAY IT by William Baldwin Much in vogue are businesses with “moats”—the resistance to competition that comes, for example, from technology or a winner-take-all network. But guess what has been as hot on Wall Street as Alphabet? Laundry. Cintas, which rents and cleans uniforms, has seen its shares climb 14-fold from their recession low 11 years ago. Cintas is now richly priced, with an enterprise value (debt plus market value of common, minus cash) equal to 4.5 times revenue. More affordable is UniFirst, which is in the same line of work and has an enterprise value only two times revenue. Sometimes the mundane makes you more money than the magnificent. William Baldwin is Forbes’ Investment Strategies columnist.
tract hotels while maintaining profitability. “Our selling point is quality,” he says. “That’s why we have no salesmen.” On a November visit to the Paterson headquarters, Hijazi showed off one of his four giant tunnel washers. The dirty linens arrive in 800-pound bins labeled “Star Laundry Baba Joe 1948–2011” for his dad. Next, 135-pound loads pass through modules that scour dirt with 180-degree water and brighten colors with hydrogen peroxide and six to 11 other chemicals. Separate compartments in the tunnel and computer coding allow multiple hotels’ linens to be washed at the same time. Though Hijazi grew up 20 minutes from the plant, in Montclair Heights, he never intended to work there. “He didn’t even want me in it,” Hijazi says of his father, who came from Lebanon at 17 and opened restaurants, including Star Deli, before moving into the laundry business. He later moved that from Brooklyn to New Jersey, where labor costs were lower and union rules more lax. When Hijazi took over, he got hit with a lot. “And when you’re 19 years old, people are not going to listen to what you say,” he recalls. The company faced a cash crunch, sewer liens, tax liens and fines from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Hijazi borrowed $300,000 to pay off everything, ditched the middling dry-cleaning business and hired an OSHA consultant to address the safety issues. Calling on hotels, he used his youth as a selling point. He signed on the DoubleTree on Lexington in 2012, then talked his way into other hotels, including the Westin Times Square: “Hotels realized they were cutting costs and getting crap service.” Don Fraser, a longtime hotel executive then running the Park Central and WestHouse hotels, hired Star in 2016 to handle their nearly 5 million pounds of laundry a year. “He was—I don’t want to say picky, but he was very selective [about] his hotels,” Fraser says. Though located in New Jersey, Hijazi focused on large and luxury hotels in Manhattan, where occupancy rates are high and steady. That helped insulate him from pricing pressures and let him create delivery-route efficiencies. The long hours take a toll. Hijazi is in talks to sell Star Laundry. He declines to discuss details, but Forbes estimates the business could be worth at least $150 million. “The biggest fear,” he says, “is selling what my father started. It’s an emotional fear.” F FINAL THOUGHT
“ I T RUST MY D O C TO R WI T H M Y L I FE , BU T N OT MY DI RT Y LAUN D RY.” —Ada Palmer MARCH 2020
PATRICK WELSH FOR FORBES
Star Laundry Cont.
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CONTRARIAN By Jeff Kauflin
INVESTING Photography by Jeff Wilson for Forbes
Question Everything 40
Want to make money in the crazy, opaque, inefficient crypto market? Start by challenging every assumption, every nugget of news, every piece of social-media wisdom.
Texas Traders Multicoin Capital’s founders and best friends Tushar Jain (left) and Kyle Samani. To cope with the stress of crypto markets, Jain meditates; Samani takes spin classes.
FORBES.COM
MARCH 2020
S
Sitting side-by-side in a trendy Manhattan cafe where a glass of cold-pressed pineapple-and-carrot juice costs $9, the 29-yearold cofounders of cryptocurrency investment firm Multicoin Capital are ticking off the digital coins they’re shorting. They stand to make millions if the virtual coins tank in value. “Two years from now, zcash is worth zero,” says Kyle Samani of the threeyear-old privacy-focused cryptocurrency. Currently, zcash trades for $66. Research suggests that few of zcash’s users are taking advantage of its core privacy features. Even worse, other cryptocurrency platforms such as ethereum are copying zcash’s privacy technology. A zcash spokesperson counters, “If you want a private medium of exchange, there is nothing else like it.” Samani’s cofounder, Tushar Jain, is eager to finger another popular cryptocurrency the duo thinks is worthless. “We’ve been publicly short XRP,” he says, referring to the coin used by San Francisco company Ripple to speed up interbank transactions. From offices overlooking Austin, Texas’ Lady Bird Lake, they manage a $100 million crypto hedge fund backed by venture capitalists including Marc Andreessen and Fred Wilson’s Union Square Ventures. Multicoin concentrates its bets—both long and short—in 11 publicly traded cryptocurrencies. It also owns stakes in 20 private crypto startups. In a market where disclosures are optional and hype and momentum play an outsize role in pricing, the pair uses a combination of data analysis and crowdsourced research to inform trades. Above all, Samani and Jain have thrived because they question every tidbit of information they receive. “In the crypto community, these things are religious in some ways. They keep telling you, ‘Believe, believe, believe,’ forever,” Samani says. “We never take it for granted that what’s being said is accurate.” This skeptical approach has been a big winner. According to those familiar with Multicoin’s results, its fund has returned 143% before fees over the last two years. Jain was born in India and grew up in Astoria, Queens. His parents run a clothing store on ManMARCH 2020
How to Play It
CASHING IN ON CHAOS
For risk lovers willing to take a gambit on crypto, here are Multicoin’s four best ideas.
BUY / CRYPTOAVOID CURRENCY
MARKET CAP
Buy
Bitcoin (BTC)
$169 billion
Buy
Binance coin (BNB) $3 billion
Crypto exchange launches innovative products faster than its competitors.
Avoid
XRP
$10 billion
This currency, designed for interbank transfers, is too volatile for banks to use.
Avoid
Zcash (ZEC)
$600 million
Only 4% of zcash holders use its core privacy features. Others are copying its privacy tech.
MULTICOIN’S VIEW In May a “halving” will slow new bitcoin production significantly.
SOURCE: MESSARI.IO FOR MARKET CAP.
hattan’s Lower East Side. Samani grew up in a wellto-do Austin neighborhood. The two met in 2008 at NYU, where they studied finance and became best friends despite vastly different personalities. Wilson says the hard-charging Samani “can be a little controversial and aggressive.” Jain is reserved and quiet. Upon graduating in 2012, both worked at Samani’s father’s medical-records company but ultimately left to form their own startups—Samani’s made apps for the ill-fated Google Glass wearable-computer venture; Jain’s created a data business that helped doctors find patients for medical trials. But in mid-2016 the two immersed themselves in learning about blockchain. They joined forces to launch Multicoin in May 2017 as the buying frenzy began. Almost immediately they raised $2.5 million from angel investors. Their portfolio, long on highfliers like ether, “0x” and factom, doubled by the end of 2017. In addition to making noise on social media—Samani now has 36,000 Twitter followers—the pair began publishing long technical pieces, including one detailing how cryptocurrencies designed solely to pay for a specific product weren’t worth investing in. “Sometimes we get responses from people that are 1,000-word essays,” Jain says, referring to the insider feedback their posts elicit. “We have a full-time team of 14, but it can feel like an investment team of 50.” Multicoin’s blog posts also serve as advertisements for new investors and for entrepreneurs seeking funding. By July 2018, Multicoin had raised a combined $70 million from David Sacks (a member of the so-called “PayPal Mafia”), Wilson and other investors. The year was a terrible one for cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin falling 74%. Multicoin’s losses were limited to 33% because of successful shorts of litecoin, XRP and ethereum classic. In April 2019, Multicoin made one of its boldest bets: It wagered nearly 15% of its portfolio on Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchangFORBES.COM
41
Multicoin Capital Cont.
FORBES BLOCKCHAIN 50 CONTRARIAN • INVESTING
42
To create our second annual list of big companies innovating with blockchain technology, we vetted hundreds of nominations. The best are leveraging the tech underlying cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to speed operations and increase transparency. Five of the most intriguing are listed below, with their underlying blockchains. The full 50 are at forbes.com/blockchain50.
BAIDU China’s search giant has numerous blockchain ventures, including a canine version of Cryptokitties, which enables millions of Chinese to adopt and trade cute digital puppies, each distinct, that “live” on the blockchain. Another service offers student loans, but funds are disbursed only after the technology is used to verify grades. Baidu uses a popular open-source blockchain originally developed by IBM. UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY: Hyperledger fabric
DE BEERS The end of blood diamonds? De Beers’ new software, Tracr, follows diamonds, which have undergone 3D scans, as the gems are mined, cut, polished and sold. Already more than 30 participants, including Signet Jewelers—owner of Kay, Zales and Jared—have signed on. Tens of thousands of stones are being registered per month. BLOCKCHAIN: Ethereum
FOXCONN TECHNOLOGY GROUP The iPhone maker’s trade-finance venture, Chained Finance, pays more than 20 electronics suppliers using digital coins minted on the ethereum blockchain. The result: Financing costs have plummeted from annual percentage rates as high as 24% to 10%, and the time needed to get funding has been cut from seven days to same-day. Foxconn uses ethereum’s blockchain, famous for innovating so-called smart contracts, which automate financial transactions. BLOCKCHAIN: Ethereum
SQUARE In the third quarter of 2019, Square generated $148 million in revenue from fees charged to users who paid with bitcoin. Just revealed: a service that lets people instantly send and receive crypto payments. BLOCKCHAIN: Bitcoin
UNITED NATIONS The 75-year-old organization connecting 193 countries has numerous blockchain initiatives. To combat warlords who steal aid using pilfered ID cards, the U.N. recently disbursed funds to 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, using blockchain-verified iris scans instead of ID cards. BLOCKCHAIN: Ethereum, bitcoin FORBES.COM
es. Many investors have shunned Binance’s coin because unlike Coinbase (see story) its billionaire CEO, Changpeng Zhao, is known for evading regulatory oversight and skirting U.S. money-laundering laws. Multicoin’s founders were impressed by Binance’s innovative launches, which included a user-run decentralized exchange. The Asian firm was also rapidly gaining market share among crypto exchanges. In June 2019, after Binance announced that a new exchange would comply with U.S. laws, its coin rose to $40, an eightfold gain for Multicoin. Jain and Samani are also pound-the-table bitcoin bulls. They closely monitor the number of accounts holding 1,000 or more bitcoins, worth about $9 million at current prices. That number has risen, and these investors are holding onto their bitcoin for longer durations. Those factors, combined with the upcoming May “halving” of bitcoin—the number of new bitcoins created per day will automatically drop by 50%—convinced them to buy bitcoin call options. In addition to its exchange-traded cryptocurrency bets, Multicoin invests directly in startups like San Francisco’s Helium, which sells a $495 Wi-Fi hotspot that allows homeowners the opportunity to share internet access with others nearby—and earn cryptocurrency by doing so. Using Helium, mobile scooter provider Lime, for instance, was able to keep tabs on its bikes without paying Verizon’s Wi-Fi fees. “I think we’re going to be looking at over a 10x return,” Jain says. A Samani blog post led to their introduction to Helium’s CEO. One Multicoin investment that has been a bust is EOS, a token created by startup Block.one that raised $4 billion in an initial coin offering (ICO). Multicoin invested in EOS in early 2019 after publishing a 31-page analysis of it. The token traded at $11.60 at the time but sells for $4 today. “I wish we had developed a better relationship with the core [EOS] team to understand their vision for the protocol and how they were going to grow and scale it,” says Samani, sounding like a value investor who miscalculated management’s skill. If there’s a lasting lesson from three years in the crypto-trading trenches, it’s that there is no room for passive investing in digital assets. Says Jain: “The crypto markets are the least efficient markets I’ve ever seen in my life, and that means active management has an opportunity to shine.” FINAL THOUGHT
“ D O N ’ T B E A F RA I D TO FAC E T H E FAC TS, A N D N EV E R LOS E YO U R A B I L I T Y TO A S K T HE Q UE ST IO N S W HY? A N D HOW?” —Immanuel Velikovsky MARCH 2020
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CONTRARIAN
TECHNOLOGY Photograph by Eric Millette
By Alex Konrad
Long Live Email I N N OVAT I O N
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The inbox had been left for dead. Now it’s being resurrected by the two founders of Front, a startup with big-name backers and a mission to make old-fashioned email cutting-edge again.
M
Mathilde Collin fidgeted with her backpack as she walked into a building overlooking the Tower of London, worried that she’d seem “too San Francisco” to the executives running a shipping broker that had recently celebrated its 134th birthday. Collin, the CEO of startup Front, was there to pitch software that turned a standard email inbox into a shared workspace—perfect for a logistics team respondFORBES.COM
ing to a stream of price quotes for cargo ships’ availability around the world. To her surprise, it was the broker, Simpson Spence Young, that promptly began pitching her. The company had surveyed its employees and discovered their communications tools, more suited to the telegraphs of an earlier century, needed an overhaul. They wanted Front’s help. Turns out a lot of older businesses that rely heavily on email are eager for Front’s help. “Having a new tool would change their life,” says Collin, 30. Better to fix what you have. Younger tech firms like Shopify and private payments leader Stripe have also signed on, paying between $9 and $79 per user each month (more money gets you more shared inboxes and features). Al-
Survivors Cofounders Mathilde Collin (left) and Laurent Perrin faced personal hardships even as they reinvented corporate inboxes. He received, and beat, a cancer diagnosis; she suffered a breakdown caused in part by the ensuing stress.
MARCH 2020
CELEBRATES
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP 2020 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING IN DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
In recognition of the critical role women play in building and advancing the global economy, Moira Forbes and Carmine Di Sibio, Global Chairman and CEO of EY, paid special tribute to the honorees of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women List. Carmine Di Sibio, Anne Finucane, Stacey Cunningham, Jennifer Morgan, Julie Sweet, Paula Santilli, Moira Forbes
Anne Finucane, Jane Jie Sun, Moira Forbes, Carmine Di Sibio
Moira Forbes, Carmine Di Sibio, Sheryl Sandberg
Stacey Cunningham, Julie Sweet, Jennifer Morgan
Julie Teigland, Christine Lagarde
“
It’s been a great honor to join forces with EY here in Davos for the past 14 years to recognize the efforts of such an accompished and influential group of female leaders.
”
Christine Lagarde, Moira Forbes
MOIRA FORBES, Executive Vice President, Forbes Media
The Vault
GOING, GOULD, GONE!
Long Live Email Cont.
together, the seven-year-old firm has 5,500 customers, and revenue has quadrupled since 2017 to an estimated $32 million last year. It’s tiny, but its elite backers, including Sequoia Capital and founders of software leaders Atlassian, Qualtrics and Zoom—and even email killer Slack—are betting on Front. They have poured nearly $140 million into the San Francisco–based company, most recently boosting its valuation to more than $800 million in January, four times its figure just two years earlier. Unlike others who have been quick to declare the “death” of email—Slack rode a mission to replace it all the way to a stock debut last year— Collin and her cofounder, Laurent Perrin, 38, believe that the problem with the years-old protocol, dominated by Microsoft Outlook and Google’s Gmail, is in the packaging, not the product. The French cofounders met via eFounders, a startup studio in Paris, in 2013. Collin, who studied mathematics and entrepreneurship at HEC Paris business school, had quit her job over disillusionment with its culture. An engineer, Perrin was looking for a new gig after nearly four years as CTO of a French online radio service. After some brainstorming, the pair determined that a collaborative shared inbox—think any email you receive from a company whose address starts with “info” or “help”—would serve as their ticket into a company’s workflows. Before Front, one customer inquiry could set off a flurry of emails inside a business as colleagues copied each other and forwarded feedback in order to come up with one answer. With Front, users got access to a shared email that would treat incoming messages like living documents, appending notes, tagging colleagues and drafting responses without sending any emails. With about a dozen test companies onboard, the cofounders flew to California to interview for prestigious startup accelerator Y Combinator’s summer 2014 program. Collin got to pitch partners including the creators of Gmail and Yahoo
Mail. Expecting profound feedback, she instead received a simple message: Follow your growth. “There was something about her, a competitiveness and assuredness, that spoke to us,” says Geoff Ralston, Yahoo Mail’s creator, who is now president of Y Combinator. “It was counterintuitive. Really, email? That’s the thing that’s going to create a new billion-dollar company?” It’s well on its way, thanks to investors—but also loyal followers. At Edge Logistics in Chicago, president William Kerr says he needed a fulltime employee to manage emails before he discovered Front. Now the company can automatically distribute inbound requests for quotes evenly across its reps, who compare notes and reach consensus on rates within the email before an assigned salesperson responds. “In my business, a lot of times you can win the job just by being the first guy to quote it,” Kerr says. “Over the course of 60,000 or 70,000 jobs a year, it makes a really big difference.” Collin and Perrin’s eventual goal is to undercut Gmail and Outlook while connecting more productivity apps to Front so its collaborative emails become an employee’s central hub. Analysts remain skeptical that it can challenge the duopoly. Both companies bundle their email products with suites of other tools—G Suite for Google, Office 365 for Microsoft. “Many startups have found opportunities under the noses of Microsoft and Google,” says Daniel Ives, a managing director at Wedbush Securities. “But I view email how most consumers view napkins at a restaurant: They’re not paying for it.” Patrick Collison, CEO of customer Stripe, says he recognizes in Front a similarity to his payments business, now worth $35 billion: a willingness to tackle an industry others shunned. To Collison, the question isn’t whether Front can carve out a market, but how big it will be. “It’s as likely that Mathilde figures that out as any other early-stage CEO I’ve met,” he says. Collin is betting on herself. Recently, some of tech’s biggest CEOs have reached out, she says, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff. To Collin, their motives are clear. She says she has no interest in selling: “We are at .0001% of what we could do.”
HOW TO PLAY IT by Jon D. Markman From smarter email to intranet chat, enterprises are desperate to improve productivity. The best way to play this trend is ServiceNow, a maker of cloud-based enterprise software. Its Now platform brings employees, customers and networked devices into a single system. It connects customer service, HR, IT and security, and gives developers tools to integrate custom applications. Everything is accessible with an internet browser or mobile device. Companies are eager to sign up. Fourth-quarter subscription sales were $899 million, up 35% year over year. The gross profit margin was 83%. Shares are up 55% in the last 12 months. Buy pullbacks. Jon D. Markman is president of Markman Capital Insight and the author of Fast Forward Investing.
FINAL THOUGHT
“SOM ET I M E S T H IS H I G H-T EC H WO RL D CAL L S FOR LOW-T ECH S O LU T I ON S.” —Christopher Moore
MARCH 2020
JAY GOULD BY HISTORIC COLLECTION/ALAMY
T EC H N O LO GY • I N N OVAT I O N
46
In the late 1800s, Jay Gould amassed a fortune worth a billion-plus in current dollars through railroads and telegrams—the 19th-century equivalent of emails— after seizing control of Western Union. At the start of the 20th, son George Jay stopped “climb[ing] toward the summits of business success” and instead “plunged headlong into the gayeties,” squandering his old man’s money on ponies, mansions and yachts. —September 15, 1917
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©2020 Quantum Health, Inc. Name and identifying information has been changed to protect privacy of individual.
CONTRARIAN By Chloe Sorvino
LIFE Photograph by Tim Pannell for Forbes
The James Bond of Burgundy CONTRARIAN • LIFE
48
Winemaker Jean-Charles Boisset has stealthily built a $450 million oenological empire in France and California one struggling vineyard at a time— and uncorked a lascivious secret-agent persona.
J
Jean-Charles Boisset quiets a long table of 50-plus guests in New York’s Meatpacking District as gold magnums of Champagne clink in the background. It’s a Last Supper– FORBES.COM
inspired meal for the French-born winemaker, part of his multicity tour to promote a $395 coffee table book called The Alchemy of the Senses. As saumon à l’oseille arrives with a rich pinot noir, Boisset begins to explain his selection, an unusual blend of grapes from Burgundy and California called JCB No. 3. After inhaling deeply from a particularly wide crystal goblet that’s part of his new collaboration with Baccarat, Boisset admits that this din-
A Glass by Himself Jean-Charles Boisset, in the Raymond Vineyards’ Red Room, has a boutique that sells jewelry and a bobblehead of himself that sings.
MARCH 2020
ner has caused him to miss the ten-year anniversary of his marriage to Gina Gallo, the third-generation face of the family behind the world’s largest wine producer by volume, E. & J. Gallo. During their engagement, they made a wine of the same origins together—blending, bottling and corking by hand—and then served it at their wedding as a symbol of her historic California roots becoming intertwined with his family’s own Burgundian heritage. “Half of it is made in Burgundy, so that’s 49% of the blend,” Boisset says in a thick French accent before pausing dramatically. “I need to confess. I will tell you something very personal. My love likes to be on top. So 51% is California.” Sex is clearly the theme of this Boisset soirée, where the innuendo-filled jokes flow as freely as the wine. Leopard-print silk napkins sit on a red velvet tablecloth, and a mirror has replaced the ceiling (“Ladies, be careful, because I can see everything!”). Dates never sit together, and Boisset encourages touching (“You could still caress the person next to you. I see a lot of that is already happening, which I’m delighted to see!”). The 50-year-old Boisset is blithely oblivious to the #MeToo era, and his guests seem to appreciate the single entendres. A few months earlier, Rob McMillan, founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s
Little Big Picture
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS Napa makes up 4% of California’s wine production, but its grapes command the highest prices. Over the past few decades, the median price of Napa grapes has surpassed the steady rise of other California regions. “In Napa, they are willing to pay an awful lot for cabernet,” says John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. As demand has exploded, so has the grape supply. In fact, there’s a surplus—so drink up.
$5,000 $4,000 $3,000 $2,000
MEDIAN GRAPE PRICE PER TON
BUBBLE LOUNGE BY SCOTT CHEBEGIA
$6,000
Napa Sonoma Mendocino
$1,000
1992
1996
Morimoto
2000
2006
2012
2016
USDA NASS Grape Crush Report
Vine Dining The elegant tasting rooms at two of Boisset’s vineyards, Buena Vista (left) and Yountville
wine division, described Boisset as “the wine equivalent to Ringling Brothers—he’s an entertainer with flair and flash. He’s also a great businessperson‚ able to take a tarnished penny and shine it up.” Along with his older sister, Nathalie, Boisset presides over close to 30 wineries worldwide, including a good portion of Burgundy’s vineyards. Annual sales are about $200 million; Forbes conservatively estimates the company to be worth some $450 million. If the collection were divided up at auction, many assets would likely sell for more than as part of the package. “Buyers are looking for a trophy purchase,” says Michael Baynes, executive partner at Vineyards-Bordeaux Christie’s International Real Estate. “There’s a lack of supply. The Boisset Collection would get a very premium price.” Back at Boisset’s Last Supper, he introduces JCB No. 81, a chardonnay inspired by the moment in 1981 when he first became fixated on California wines. As the story goes, it was during a trip to Sonoma with his grandparents when he was 11 years old. After visiting Buena Vista winery, founded in 1857, Boisset turned to his sister and prophesied, “One day we will make wine together in California.” Nearly a decade later, Boisset’s parents acquired a patchwork of properties throughout some of the most valuable parts of Burgundy through a combination of local bank loans and sheer luck. Because it was so hard to combine parcels, few others even tried. He brought that maverick philosophy to America. In 1991, Boisset started leading the family import business in San Francisco and searching for family-owned wineries with history to acquire. Buena Vista, after retreating from national distribution, looked promising, but the owners rebuked Boisset’s offer. “It was very innovative at the time, very iconoclast[ic] from a strategy standpoint. No one looked at California FORBES.COM
CONTRARIAN • LIFE
50
the way we looked at it,” he says. He closed on DeLoach Vineyards in Sonoma instead in 2003. Boisset then began spending more time in California as DeLoach transitioned to biodynamic farming based on the lunar cycle. In 2007 he acquired the 300-acre estate of Raymond Vineyards in St. Helena. Boisset finally secured Buena Vista in 2011, after trying at least four times. After an acquisition, Boisset has three main strategies: First, every vineyard transitions to organic farming. Next, he increases the price of the wines, usually around 30% to 40%. (In the case of Raymond, the retail value of several bottles more than doubled to $45 each.) Finally, the wines are marketed with the rest of the collection to more than 600 partners worldwide. Buena Vista, DeLoach and Raymond, for example, are now sold in more than 20 countries each. Because Boisset’s wines range from $15 to $2,600, this system streamlines the buying process for distributors who can mix and match for different accounts. “In Europe, if you come from Burgundy, you’re on the upper scale,” Boisset says. “But it’s too much stratification of society, perceived value and history based on heritage rather than who you are. In the U.S. you could come from wherever, whoever, whatever. It’s about you. That’s what I really value. That’s what allowed me to become who I am.”
HOW TO PLAY IT According to Charlie Munger Choice grapes and branding genius are at the heart of the business of vintner Jean-Charles Boisset and his $350 The Surrealist cabernet sauvignon. For that price, you could have bought the equivalent of 38 bottles of Kirkland Signature cabernet, sold at Costco, a wholesale club that generates upward of $2 billion in wine sales a year. While Costco’s vino is cheap, its stock has aged like a Lafite Rothschild, returning an annualized 17% since its 1985 IPO, versus 10.7% for the S&P 500. Thanks no doubt to urging by longtime Costco board member and shareholder Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway has a sizable position in its stock. In recent years, savvy wine shoppers have helped Costco maintain 5% growth, even as competitor Amazon has laid siege to many brick-and-mortar retailers.
That includes his not-so-secret identity, Agent 69, an ersatz James Bond who brandishes swords and rescues women—and wine—at lavish parties and in several very campy videos. It’s sometimes difficult to tell where the serious winemaker ends and the louche alter ego begins. At Raymond’s tasting room, visitors on tours are ushered past industrial tanks and mannequins hanging upside-down on fuzzy red swings, wearing sheer bras and leopard-print leggings. Boisset has also commoditized his hyperactive libido. With Swarovski, JCB produces lines of jewelry, one of which, Confession, features handcuffs. There’s also a red wine called Restrained. The bottle is fastened with a leather bondage harness and O-ring. Boisset’s business partners say they’re not put off. “He doesn’t hide who he is,” says Dina Opici, president of her family’s New Jersey–based wineand-spirits distribution company, who has known Boisset for 15 years. “It is really genuine. He’s wellintentioned.” With 10 wineries in the U.S. and a growing private-label business, Boisset must now contend with an overcrowded wine market amid fastgrowing categories such as hard seltzer and legalized cannabis. Last year, Americans’ wine consumption declined for the first time in 25 years, according to trade group IWSR. But opportunities beyond wineries abound. Last year was particularly busy: Boisset acquired the nearly 140-year-old Oakville Grocery and founded Napa’s first wine-history museum. He also opened a strip mall called JCB Village in Yountville that features a tasting room, a day spa and a boutique that sells JCB label candles and dress socks along with Baccarat decanters inspired by Boisset’s own collection, which is the largest in the world. Amid declining Napa tourism, he has opened lounges outside the valley at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco, Ghirardelli Square’s Wattle Creek and the Rosewood Hotel in Palo Alto. Boisset insists his luxury empire will continue to take years to build—and will withstand threats, be they wine tariffs, climate change or competitors. “You don’t build a luxury business in five minutes,” he says. “Besides LVMH and Pernod Ricard, two monsters, no one has had our journey. The American way of life drove me here.” F FINAL THOUGHT
Crystal Clear Boisset has a longstanding collaboration with Swarovski— the collection includes a brooch of his wife Gina Gallo’s lips. FORBES.COM
“A B OT T L E O F W I N E CO N TA I N S M O R E PH I LOS O PH Y T H A N A L L TH E B O O KS I N T HE WOR L D.” —Louis Pasteur MARCH 2020
TIM PANNELL FOR FORBES
The James Bond of Burgundy Cont.
At our 2019 AgTech Summits, we partnered with SVG Ventures-THRIVE for a Demo Day and pitch competition to showcase startups with the best emerging technologies focused on advancing the future of food and agriculture. Winners of the THRIVEForbes Innovation Icon Award received the opportunity to speak at our Under 30 Summit in Detroit this past October, while our Salinas winner received a $200,000 investment from SVG Ventures and our Indianapolis winners received the opportunity to participate in SVG Ventures’ award-winning THRIVE VI Accelerator Program. A big congratulations to the winners!
INNOVATION ICON AWARD WINNERS SALINAS
INDIANAPOLIS
FORBES AGTECH FOUNDING PARTNER
THE LIST
T O P A DV I S O R S
BEST-IN-STATE
WEALTH OUR 2020 BEST-IN-STATE WEALTH ADVISORS LIST SPOTLIGHTS MORE THAN 4,000 ADVISORS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, NOMINATED BY THEIR FIRMS—THEN RESEARCHED, INTERVIEWED AND ASSIGNED A RANKING BY SHOOK RESEARCH. BY S H O O K R E S E A R C H A N D J A S O N B I S N O F F
ALABAMA 1. Moss Crosby HighTower Advisors HUNTSVILLE
$1B 2. Tony Smith UBS Financial Services
PHOENIX
1. Laila Pence Pence Wealth Mgmt.
$540M 6. Brian Crawford Wells Fargo Advisors
NEWPORT BEACH
TUCSON
2. David Bahnsen HighTower Advisors
$1.4B
MENLO PARK
$6.5B
DENVER
$749M
$1.1B 6. Perry Mattern Mattern Capital Mgmt.
3. Thomas Rice Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
DENVER
WILMINGTON
CALIFORNIA (LOS ANGELES AREA)
BIRMINGHAM
$3.5B
7. Jacob Duffy Baird
NEWPORT BEACH
$1.5B
LOS ANGELES
SCOTTSDALE
3. Joseph D. Anderson Pure Financial Advisors
$6B
$893M 4. Bob Runkle Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. MONTGOMERY
$1B 5. Mark Mantooth Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. HUNTSVILLE
$901M 6. Michael Warr Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. TUSCALOOSA
$455M 7. Brian M. Woodke Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BIRMINGHAM
$967M 8. Alistair Harding-Smith Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. BIRMINGHAM
$795M 9. Palmer Whiting Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. MOBILE
$467M 10. S. Wesley Carpenter Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. FAIRHOPE
$444M 11. Robert Comer Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BIRMINGHAM
$405M
ALASKA 1. Tommy Kibler Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. ANCHORAGE
$352M 2. Tom Konop Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. ANCHORAGE
$268M 3. Ryan Callaway Ameriprise Financial Services ANCHORAGE
$475M 4. Kenneth Jones Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. ANCHORAGE
$676M
ARIZONA 1. Steven Schultz UBS Financial Services PHOENIX
$1.9B 2. Glenn Pahnke RBC Wealth Mgmt. SCOTTSDALE
$760M 3. Jeffry Korte Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SCOTTSDALE
$681M 4. Robert Bancroft Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. SCOTTSDALE
$1.3B
FORBES.COM
$426M 8. Tony Bebbington UBS Financial Services
SAN DIEGO
PHOENIX
4. Sonny Kothari Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
$241M
ARKANSAS
1. Hardy Winburn UBS Financial Services LITTLE ROCK
$557M 2. Don McDonald Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. FORT SMITH
$3.6B 3. Robby Bader The Solomon Wealth Grp./Raymond James SPRINGDALE
$421M 4. Pledger Monk Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. LITTLE ROCK
$1.9B
CALIFORNIA (SAN FRANCISCO) 1. Troy Griepp Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $11.2B 2. Elaine Meyers JP Morgan Securities $2.8B 3. Jesse Bromberg Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. $1.3B
2. Richard Jones Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$2.3B
PETER PRINCI
BREA
Boston
$1.3B
Morgan Stanley Graystone
5. Carolyn Taylor Weatherly Asset Mgmt. DEL MAR
$863M 6. Chad Evans Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. NEWPORT BEACH
$9.8B 7. Bob Inbody Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. LA JOLLA
$3.1B 8. Larry Smith UBS Financial Services BREA
$983M 9. Kerrick Bubb KWB Wealth Managers REDLANDS
$729M
“Don’t get caught up in day-to-day ups and downs of news concerning geopolitical risk or polarization of politics. There’s always something to get emotional about, but the focus should be on economic fundamentals.” 7. Cheryl Young Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. LOS GATOS
$993M
SAN DIEGO
8. George Papadoyannis Ameriprise Financial Services
$950M
SAN MATEO
10. David Molnar HighTower Advisors
11. Courtney Liddy UBS Financial Services SAN DIEGO
$647M
$850M 9. Dana Jackson Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. MENLO PARK
4. Jeffrey Colin Baker Street Advisors $9.1B
12. Peter Huffman Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
5. Debra Wetherby Wetherby Asset Mgmt. $5B
LA JOLLA
10. Michael Abrams Wells Fargo Advisors
$722M
PALO ALTO
13. Anouchka Balog Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
$6.5B 11. Alan Zafran IEQ Capital
LAGUNA NIGUEL
FOSTER CITY
$670M
$7.8B
6. Shane Brisbin Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $3.8B 7. Tim Emanuels Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $6.9B 8. Ash Chopra Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. $2.8B 9. Dagny Maidman First Republic Investment Mgmt. $3.9B
CALIFORNIA (NORTHERN)
13. Roger A. Carter Sepio Capital $3B 14. Greg Onken JP Morgan Securities $3.3B 15. Debbie Jorgensen Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1.8B
$7.8B
MENLO PARK
$5.7B 6. Jon Goldstein First Republic Investment Mgmt. PALO ALTO
$3B
$3.2B 5. David Hou Evoke Wealth LOS ANGELES
$4.9B 6. Alan Whitman Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
Wetherby Asset Management
“Many who have founded firms in this business are now facing the decision of how (and in what form) their firm will survive them and pass to the next generation.”
$1.4B
7. Diane Padalino Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
4. David Plaza Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
DENVER
WILMINGTON
$1.5B
$413M
8. Ali Phillips Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel
5. Jason Betz Ameriprise Financial Services
ASPEN
WILMINGTON
$1.6B
$300M
9. Mark Brown Brown and Company
6. Donald Truesdell Jr. Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
DENVER
$508M
WILMINGTON
10. Donna Di Ianni Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
7. TJ Zak Wells Fargo Advisors
ASPEN
GREENVILLE
$1.2B
$340M
11. Andrew Dodds Dodds Wealth Mgmt. Group/LPL
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
$1.4B
$1.8B
CONNECTICUT 1. Jeff Erdmann Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
2. Keith Apton UBS Financial Services $1.5B
LOS ANGELES
GREENWICH
$4.6B
$8.6B
8. Mark Schulten Wells Fargo Advisors LONG BEACH
2. Paul Tramontano First Republic Investment Mgmt.
3. Jim Wohlgemuth Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $758M
$3.8B
GREENWICH
9. Drew Zager Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
3. William Greco UBS Financial Services
LOS ANGELES
HARTFORD
ENGLEWOOD
$423M
$2B
$7.9B
$3.7B
10. Eric Gray Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
4. Brian Hetherington Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
LOS ANGELES
NEW CANAAN
4. Brett Anthony Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. $2.9B 5. J.C. McKnight Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1.3B
$9.3B
$2.7B
6. Michael O’Neill Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $2B
11. Craig Chiate UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
5. Ron Weiner HighTower Advisors
FLORIDA (MIAMI AREA)
WESTPORT
LOS ANGELES
$859M
1. Louis Chiavacci Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$3.2.B 12. Spuds Powell Kayne Anderson Rudnick
COLORADO
San Francisco
$480M
7. Drew Freides UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
PASADENA
$4.6B
DEBRA WETHERBY
DOVER
1. Marvin McIntyre Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $3.8B
LOS ANGELES
MENLO PARK
5. Mark Douglass Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
BEVERLY HILLS
14. Michael Kanigher UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
$9.5B
FOSTER CITY
$15.7B 4. Rebecca Rothstein Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$900M
MENLO PARK
4. Robert J. Skinner II IEQ Capital
LOS ANGELES
PASADENA
2. Greg Vaughan Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
$27.7B
3. Reza Zafari Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
13. Sean Yu Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
$105B
11. Rick Gordon First Republic Investment Mgmt. $1.5B
$15.7B
$4.4B
PALO ALTO
3. Andy Chase Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
LOS ANGELES
LOS ANGELES
1. Mark Curtis Morgan Stanley Graystone
10. Sandi Bragar Aspiriant $12.2B
12. Gillian Yu Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $5.8B
$42B
2. Mike Koppenhaver Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
5. Melissa Corrado Harrison UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
12. Rich Petit Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
1. Randy C. Conner Churchill Mgmt. Group
BIRMINGHAM
A M E R I C A ’ S T O P W E A LT H A D V I S O R S
CALIFORNIA (SOUTHERN)
$1.1B
3. Camper O’Neal Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
54
5. Joe Di Vito RBC Wealth Mgmt.
1. Shawn Fowler Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. DENVER
$3.3B 2. Wally Obermeyer Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel ASPEN
$1.6B 3. Mark Smith M.J. Smith & Associates/Raymond James GREENWOOD VILLAGE
$786M
6. Charles Noble III Janney Montgomery Scott NEW HAVEN
$1B 7. Tom Vacheron Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. FAIRFIELD
$1.7B 8. Harold Trischman Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. GREENWICH
$1.9B 9. Thomas Frame Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
CORAL GABLES
$2.9B 2. Adam Carlin Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. CORAL GABLES
$2.9B 3. Margaret Starner The Starner Group of Raymond James CORAL GABLES
$1.1B 4. Peter Bermont The Bermont Advisory Group of Raymond James CORAL GABLES
GREENWICH
$2.1B
$1.4B
5. Andrew Schultz Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
10. Bryan Stepanian Alex. Brown/ Raymond James
MIAMI BEACH
GREENWICH
$738M
$1.1B
6. Ghislain Gouraige UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
11. Teresa Jacobsen UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
CORAL GABLES
STAMFORD
$2B
$851M
7. Jorge Gomez UBS Financial Services
DELAWARE
4. Pamela Rosenau HighTower Advisors
1. Thomas Weisenfels Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
ASPEN
WILMINGTON
$1.1B
$475M
CORAL GABLES
$1.1B 8. Bruno Miranda UBS Financial Services CORAL GABLES
$650M
MARCH 2020
You may know the name, MainStay Funds. But you may not know the full story.
It started with an idea: to build an investment business with two things in mind—consistent growth and our clients’ challenges to achieve it. It was called MainStay Funds. Three decades later, the principles of consistency, longevity and trust are more apparent than ever. Today, MainStay Funds is working to deliver the right opportunities for our clients with insight and perspective from a network of global, independent boutiques. The MainStay Funds story is only part of the full New York Life Investments story—a story that adds up to more than $550 billion in AUM. And it’s a story that exemplifies the strength of a true client-investor relationship. One that was defined by our parent, New York Life Insurance Company, 175 years ago. To learn more go to morethaninvesting.com
MAINSTAY FUNDS Consider the Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus, or summary prospectus, and the statement of additional information include this and other relevant information about the Funds and are available by visiting nylinvestments.com or by calling 800-624-6782. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. Assets under management as of December 31, 2019. “New York Life Investments” is both a service mark, and the common trade name, of the investment advisers affiliated with New York Life Insurance Company. The MainStay Funds® are managed by New York Life Investment Management LLC and distributed through NYLIFE Distributors LLC, wholly owned subsidiaries of New York Life Insurance Company. NYLIFE Distributors LLC is a Member FINRA/SIPC. 1842026
More than investing. Invested.
FLORIDA (NORTHERN) 1. Michael Valdes Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. TAMPA
$5.1B 2. Clarke Lemons WaterOak Advisors
ATLANTA
$6.3B
$1.4B 9. Wes Moss Capital Investment Advisors ATLANTA
OAK BROOK
$3.6B
$2B
10 Rick Kent Merit Financial Advisors ALPHARETTA
OAK BROOK
ST. PETERSBURG
$2.2B
$905M
$982M
11. Keith Mericka UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
5. Benjamin Klein Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
ATLANTA
NORTHBROOK
PONTE VEDRA BEACH
$3.3B
$856M
$773M
12. Bert Ponder Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
6. Ron Stenger Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
ATLANTA
OAK BROOK
$652M
$1.8B
$856M
6. Manish Mehta UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
13. John Montgomery UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
7. JR Gondeck The Lerner Group
ATLANTA
$1.1B
$817M
$810M
FLORIDA (SOUTHERN)
14. Donna Joyner Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
8. Rod Loewenthal UBS Financial Services
TAVARES
ORLANDO
1. Thomas Moran Moran Wealth Mgmt. NAPLES
$3.4B 2. Don d’Adesky The Americas Group of Raymond James BOCA RATON
$3.2B 3. William King Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
ALPHARETTA
$934M 15. Leslie Lauer UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. ATLANTA
$3.3B 16. Andy Zager UBS Financial Services ATLANTA
$712M
VERO BEACH
GUAM
$976M
1. Daniel Roland Raymond James & Associates
4. Jason Stephens UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. NAPLES
$921M 5. Todd Battaglia MG&A Wealth
MAITE
$1B 2. Jason Miyashita Raymond James & Associates
DES MOINES
3. Scott Magnesen Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
4. Kyle Chudom Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
5. Thomas Ruggie Ruggie Wealth Mgmt.
IOWA 1. Bryan Boesen Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
ROCKFORD
$2.5B
4. Christopher Aitken UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
A M E R I C A ’ S T O P W E A LT H A D V I S O R S
2. Brent Brodeski Savant Capital
WINTER PARK
3. Bob Doyle Doyle Wealth Mgmt.
56
8. Michael J. Merlin Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
DEERFIELD
NORTHBROOK
$818M 9. Tom Kilborn Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. NORTHBROOK
$1B
Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management
“Sometimes you have to keep a line between professional and personal, and sometimes you need to cross it.”
9. Thomas Salvino William Blair & Co. $1.4B
INDIANA 1. Brian Cooke Cooke Financial Group at Noyes
10. Rob Siracusano Wells Fargo Advisors
INDIANAPOLIS
NAPERVILLE
2. J. Christopher Cooke Cooke Financial Group at Noyes
$625M 11. Steven Porter Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. NORTHBROOK
$673M 12. Dave Sheppard Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. DEER PARK
$652M
$2B
INDIANAPOLIS
$2B 3. David Hefty Credent Wealth Mgmt./ LPL AUBURN
$805M 4. Eric Payne Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
MAITE
13. Michael Schaffer Wells Fargo Advisors
$899M
$1B
LAKE FOREST
$1.7B
6. Jeremy Schneider JP Morgan Securities
HAWAII
$1.5B
5. Ron Mencias Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
PLANTATION
PALM BEACH GARDENS
$1.2B
GEORGIA 1. Rod Westmoreland Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. ATLANTA
$5.2B 2. James Hansberger Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. ATLANTA
$2.1B 3. Brian Frank Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. ATLANTA
$2.3B 4. Andy Berg Homrich Berg ATLANTA
$6.1B
1. Eric Fujimoto Ameriprise Financial Services HONOLULU
$629M 2. Peter Backus Morgan Stanley Graystone
7. Buck Wiley III Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. ATLANTA
$2.2B
HIGHLAND PARK
INDIANAPOLIS
$1.1B
4. Malik Khaliq Wells Fargo Advisors DAVENPORT
$277M 5. Joshua Denning Ameriprise Financial Services FORT MADISON
$462M
KANSAS 1. Rick Homuth Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. LEAWOOD
$906M 2. Tom Freeman UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. LEAWOOD
$1.6B 3. Tim L. Werth Raymond James Financial Services HAYS
$680M 4. Scott Ferguson Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. LEAWOOD
$980M 5. Philip Verhaeghe Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. LEAWOOD
$672M
KENTUCKY 1. Travis Musgrave Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. LEXINGTON
$673M 2. Barry Barlow Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. LOUISVILLE
$864M 3. Mitch Settle Hilliard Lyons OWENSBORO
3. Peter Ehrman Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
1. Raj Bhatia Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.6B
$638M
HONOLULU
$1B 4. Jimmy Bennett Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. HONOLULU
$1B
IDAHO 1. Brian King RBC Wealth Mgmt. $614M
BOISE
$593M 3. Justin T. Samples Ameriprise Financial Services BOISE
$618M
ILLINOIS 1. Steve Hefter HLM Capital HIGHLAND PARK
$2.5B
FORBES.COM
6. Martin Gregor Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$408M
ILLINOIS (CHICAGO)
2. Sandra Dalton UBS Financial Services
$1B
$1B
CEDAR RAPIDS
$810M
ATLANTA
ATLANTA
$1.7B
3. Jerry Ask Jerry K. Ask Investment Services/ Raymond James
HONOLULU
EAGLE
6. Ron Hughes Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
INDIANAPOLIS
NORTHBROOK
15. Benjamin Leshem HLM Capital
MAINE 1. Gibson Wilkes HighTower Advisors
$2.5B
5. Hank McLarty Gratus Capital $1.9B
14. John Hammond III Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
INDIANAPOLIS
4. Phil McCauley Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. LOUISVILLE
2. Daniel Fries Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $982M
$989M 5. Drew Watson Ameriprise Financial Services
3. Sharon Oberlander Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1B 4. Mark Thorndyke Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1.1B 5. Jim Moriarity Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.8B 6. John Cultra William Blair & Co. $3.4B 7. Ted Davis Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. $720M 8. Louise Lane William Blair & Co. $1B
OWENSBORO
$575M
LOUISIANA 1. Curtis Eustis Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
LOUISE LANE Chicago
William Blair
When Lane was hired in 1976, she became William Blair’s first female broker. “It is a male-dominated business, and everybody is trying on diversity.”
$1B
$566M
$766M
Pasadena, Calif.
METAIRIE
2. Matt Fryar Wells Fargo Advisors DES MOINES
SEAN YU
4. Charles Simmons Ameriprise Financial Services
NEW ORLEANS
$955M 2. Rick Frayard UBS Financial Services LAFAYETTE
$1.9B 3. James Spiro Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. NEW ORLEANS
$2B
PORTLAND
$518M 2. Jeremiah Burns Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. PORTLAND
$494M 3. Chris Rogers Raymond James & Associates PORTLAND
$730M 4. Todd Doolan Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. PORTLAND
$394M 5. Nichole Raftopoulos Nvest Financial Group KENNEBUNK
$228M
MARYLAND 1. Kent Pearce Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. TOWSON
$1.6B 2. Martin Eby WMS Partners TOWSON
$2.7B 3. Joseph Jacques Jacques Financial ROCKVILLE
$895M 4. Barry Garber Alex. Brown/ Raymond James BALTIMORE
$2.2B 5. Jeff Leventhal HighTower Bethesda BETHESDA
$950M 6. E. Geoffrey Sella SPC Financial/ Raymond James ROCKVILLE
$825M 7. Robert Collins Collins Investment Group BETHESDA
$856M 8. Ann Marie Etergino RBC Wealth Mgmt. CHEVY CHASE
$910M 9. Larry Boggs Wells Fargo Advisors CUMBERLAND
$1.1B 10. Gregory Baker Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BETHESDA
$1B 11. Brad Hill Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. EASTON
$1.4B 12. Jonathan Murray UBS Financial Services HUNT VALLEY
$1.3B
MASSACHUSETTS 1. Susan Kaplan Kaplan Financial Services NEWTON
$2B 2. Chuck Bean Heritage Financial Services WESTWOOD
3. Greg Miller Wellesley Asset Mgmt. WELLESLEY
$2.6B 4. Debra Brede D.K. Brede Investment Mgmt. Company NEEDHAM
$1B 5. Darlene Murphy Wellesley Asset Mgmt. WELLESLEY
$2.6B 6. Dan Wilson Ameriprise Financial Services AUBURNDALE
$1.6B 7. Richard Miller Ameriprise Financial Services WELLESLEY
$653M 8. Thomas Bartholomew Bartholomew & Company WORCESTER
$2.5B 9. Stephen Kelliher Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. NORWELL
$1.3B 10. Jessica Guo UBS Financial Services WELLESLEY
$425M
MASSACHUSETTS (BOSTON AREA) 1. Raj Sharma Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. $7B 2. Peter Princi Morgan Stanley Graystone $3.8B 3. Brian Strachan Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.1B 4. Sean Dillon UBS Financial Services $1.6B 5. Devin Condron Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.4B 6. William Sullivan UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.4B 7. Mary Mullin Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $2.3B 8. Raj Pathak Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. $708M 9. Victor Livingstone Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.3B 10. Richard F. Connolly Jr. Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.6B 11. Marcie Behman Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.5B 12. Maxwell D. Peckler UBS Financial Services $683M 13. David Barcomb Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $870M 14. Gary McGuirk Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. $2.1B
$1.5B
MARCH 2020
MICHIGAN 1. Charles Zhang Zhang Financial
8. Judy Fredrickson UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
3. Andrew Laszlo Jr. Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
10. David Weinerman Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
2. Brian Cochran John Moore Associates/Raymond James
6. Louise Gunderson UBS Financial Services $912M 7. Rich Abrams UBS Financial Services $1B
MINNEAPOLIS
BILLINGS
FLORHAM PARK
ALBUQUERQUE
$3.1B
$1.6B
$1.3B
$4.1B
$566M
2. David Kudla Mainstay Capital Mgmt.
MISSISSIPPI
NEBRASKA
1. Rush Mosby UBS Financial Services
1. Jonathan Beukelman UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
11. Andy Schwartz Bleakley Financial Group
3. Chuck Reardon Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
FAIRFIELD
ALBUQUERQUE
PORTAGE
GRAND BLANC
$2.5B 3. Jeffrey Fratarcangeli Fratarcangeli Wealth Mgmt. BIRMINGHAM
$1.3B 4. Leo Stevenson Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. WYANDOTTE
5. Philip Appel Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BLOOMFIELD HILLS
$2.5B 6. Dana Locniskar Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$1B 2. Arthur Finkelberg Raymond James & Associates RIDGELAND
$498M
LINCOLN
$1.6B 2. Jason Dworak UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. LINCOLN
$818M 3. Todd Feltz Feltz WealthPLAN
CLARKSDALE
OMAHA
$556M
$2.3B
Tampa, Florida
4. Lynn Phillips-Gaines Phillips Financial/ Raymond James
4. Thomas Foley HighTower Advisors
Merrill Private Wealth Management
STARKVILLE
$560M
$182M
MISSOURI
OMAHA
NEVADA
TROY
1. Bud King UBS Financial Services
1. Mark Binder UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
$2.8B
ST. LOUIS
LAS VEGAS
7. Timothy Long Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
$1.3B
$3.2B
2. Mike Moeller Wells Fargo Advisors
GRAND RAPIDS
CHESTERFIELD
2. Randy Garcia The Investment Counsel Company
$6.1B
$1.7B
8. Todd Sanford Sanford Financial Services/ Raymond James
3. Seth Murray Ameriprise Financial Services
PORTAGE
$850M 9. Melissa Spickler Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BLOOMFIELD HILLS
$1.2B 10. Abe Post Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. TROY
$913M 11. Frank Migliazzo MERRILL PRIVATE WEALTH MGMT. TROY
$1.2B
MINNESOTA 1. Christina Boyd Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. WAYZATA
$1B 2. Rob Metcalf UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. MINNEAPOLIS
$1.6B 3. Richard S. Brown JNBA Financial Advisors MINNEAPOLIS
$1B
MICHAEL J. VALDES
3. Dudley Barnes Barnes Pettey/ Raymond James
SPRINGFIELD
$2B 4. Diane Compardo Moneta
LAS VEGAS
$1.2B 3. Deborah Danielson Danielson Financial Group LAS VEGAS
$492M 4. Michael Chudd UBS Financial Services
“We prefer stocks over bonds. With inflation creeping up a bit, fixed income has created a negative rate of return over time.”
4. Dan Schwartz UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. PARAMUS
$1.6B 5. Christopher Cook Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
$1.1B
$810M
12. Jack Riley UBS Financial Services WARREN
4. Nathan Armstrong Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$2.5B
ALBUQUERQUE
13. Scott Mahoney Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. MORRISTOWN
$828M 14. Patricia Bell Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SHORT HILLS
$710M 15. Ken Schapiro Condor Capital Wealth Mgmt. MARTINSVILLE
$1.1B
$450M
NEW YORK (EXCLUDING NYC) 1. Rob Clarfeld Clarfeld Financial Advisors TARRYTOWN
$6.3B 2. Kevin Peters Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. PURCHASE
$1.5B 3. Lori Van Dusen LVW Advisors
NEW JERSEY (SOUTHERN)
PITTSFORD
1. Ira Walker UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
4. Thomas Sullivan Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
RED BANK
GARDEN CITY
$1.2B
$2.4B
2. Jim McLaughlin Princeton Wealth Advisors of Raymond James
5. Daniel O’Connell Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
PRINCETON
GARDEN CITY
$1.7B
$1.9B
$1.3B
FLORHAM PARK
3. Mark Fendrick UBS Financial Services
$2B
MOUNT LAUREL
6. Todd Silaika Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
$997M
CLIFTON PARK
5. Jim Small UBS Financial Services
6. Mary Deatherage Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
CLAYTON
LAS VEGAS
4. Steve Rothman UBS Financial Services
$673M
$1B
LITTLE FALLS
RED BANK
6. Gordon Hamilton III Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
6. Geoff Lee Ameriprise Financial Services
KANSAS CITY
HENDERSON
$1.2B
$400M
7. Dennis Williams Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. KANSAS CITY
$376M
ST. LOUIS
$1.4B 5. Mark Wilkins UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
$1.2B 8. Barbara Archer HighTower St. Louis Wealth Advisors ST. LOUIS
$774M 9. Robert Millner Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. ST. LOUIS
LAS VEGAS
$917M
$2.6B 7. Steve Braverman Pathstone
$477M
ENGLEWOOD
5. John Hudspeth Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
$1.3B 7. W. Corby May Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. GARDEN CITY
$1.2B
$12.8B
MOUNT LAUREL
8. Frank Marzano GM Advisory Group
$961M
MELVILLE
7. David Miller UBS Financial Services
8. Mark Cortazzo MACRO Consulting Group
RENO
6. Christine McGinley UBS Financial Services
PARSIPPANY
MOUNT LAUREL
NEW HAMPSHIRE 1. John Habig Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. PORTSMOUTH
$417M
$839M
9. Michael Ricca Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
7. Anthony Valente Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
FLORHAM PARK
SHREWSBURY
$4.1B
$371M
$1.8B 8. Francis Bitterly Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
2. Bob Bonfiglio Ameriprise Financial Services
RED BANK
$1.3B
BEDFORD
$473M
10. Kathleen Youngerman Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
$382M 3. Brian Doyle Wells Fargo Advisors
9. Rick Udine Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
$740M 9. Jon Myers Ameriprise Financial Services VESTAL
$710M 10. Bruce Burrows Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. GARDEN CITY
$4.6B 11. Chris Sebastian Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BUFFALO
$1B
MOUNT LAUREL
12. Bill Schoff UBS Financial Services
CHESTERFIELD
$700M
$895M
ROCHESTER
$1.2B
$327M
5. Ben Marks Marks Group Wealth Mgmt.
11. Jim Hise Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
4. Sean Doyle Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
10. Michael Pron Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
4. Brad Wheelock RBC Wealth Mgmt. SAINT CLOUD
LEBANON
PRINCETON
MANCHESTER
$706M
KANSAS CITY
$412M
$1.1B
$1B
6. Bryan Sweet Sweet Financial Services/ Raymond James
12. Matt Burke Ameriprise Financial Services
NEW JERSEY (NORTHERN)
RANDY CONNER
1. Frank Seminara Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
Churchill Management Group
MINNETONKA
CHESTERFIELD
FAIRMONT
$390M
$496M
MONTANA
7. Louis Close UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
1. James Stack Stack Financial Mgmt.
MINNEAPOLIS
$1.3B
$1.6B
WHITEFISH
2. William Royer UBS Financial Services BILLINGS
$972M
FLORHAM PARK
$1.2B 2. Joseph Matina UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. SHORT HILLS
$1.2B 3. Elliott Kugel Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BRIDGEWATER
$1.6B
MARCH 2020
Los Angeles
“Take a look back at the last two years and ask yourself how you felt about your investments. 2018 was awful, and in 2019 we had a rally. We think a tactical approach works best.”
11. Neil McPeak Wells Fargo Advisors LINWOOD
$1.2B 12. L. Marc Shegoski UBS Financial Services PRINCETON
$3B
NEW MEXICO 1. Michael Stevens Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. ALBUQUERQUE
$837M
$1.7B
NEW YORK (HIGH NET WORTH) 1. Jason Katz UBS Financial Services $2.6B 2. Gregg S. Fisher Gerstein Fisher $2.3B 3. John Olson Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1.8B 4. Gerard Klingman Klingman & Associates/Raymond James $1.9B 5. Scott Siegel Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. $3B
9. Jacqueline Willens UBS Financial Services $930M 10. Nick Kavallieratos Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. $3B 11. Adam Zipper JP Morgan Securities $1.1B 12. Jay Canell JP Morgan Securities $2.1B 13. Neil Canell JP Morgan Securities $2.1B 14. Peter Svarre Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1.7B 15. Jason Babb First Republic Investment Mgmt. $1B 16. Andrew Vahab Citi Personal $2.6B 17. Ira Mark RBC Wealth Mgmt. $1.3B 18. Allen Saunders UBS Financial Services $784M 19. Harry Elish UBS Financial Services $1.4B
NEW YORK (NYC PRIVATE WEALTH) 1. Brian C. Pfeifler Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $5.2B 2. Christopher Errico UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $2.2B 3. Lyon Polk Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $8.4B 4. Richard Saperstein Hightower/ Treasury Partners $14.8B 5. Martin Halbfinger UBS Financial Services $3.3B 6. Michael Poppo UBS Financial Services $1.3B 7. Ed Moldaver Stifel $3.6B 8. Ron Basu Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $5B 9. Colleen O’Callaghan JP Morgan Securities $1.8B 10. Jordan Waxman Nucleus Advisors $2.1B 11. Jeffrey Kobernick UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $3.4B 12. Rob Sechan UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $3.4B
FORBES.COM
57
A M E R I C A ’ S T O P W E A LT H A D V I S O R S
$701M
JACKSON
8. Brian Bennett UBS Financial Services $778M
13. Ron Vinder Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $2.3B
4. Randy Carver Carver Financial Services/ Raymond James
4. Grant Rawdin Wescott Financial Advisory Group
3. Tommy McBride Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
PHILADELPHIA
DALLAS
14. Scott Stackman UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $3B
MENTOR
$2.3B
$1.7B
5. Rick Buoncore MAI Capital Mgmt.
5. Samuel Spanos Spanos Group of Raymond James
CLEVELAND
BEAVER
4. Dwight Emanuelson Jr. Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$5.2B
$625M
DALLAS
6. Rip Hale Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
6. David Lees myCIO Wealth Partners
BEAVERCREEK
$8.1B
15. John Barrett Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $1.9B
A M E R I C A ’ S T O P W E A LT H A D V I S O R S
58
16. Shawn Rubin Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $1.3B 17. Richard Pluta Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $982M
$1.5B
$1.2B 7. Dean Trindle Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. CINCINNATI
$636M
18. Evan Steinberg Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt. $2.3B
8. Dan Roe Budros, Ruhlin & Roe
19. Peter Rukeyser UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $2B
9. Paul Carbetta Ameriprise Financial Services
20. Alex Williams UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. $2B
$848M
21. Robert Waldele Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $3.1B
NORTH CAROLINA 1. R. Mitchell Wickham Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. CHARLOTTE
$10B 2. Gregory Cash Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. CHARLOTTE
$10B 3. Larry Carroll Carroll Financial Associates CHARLOTTE
$982M 4. John McCardell Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. CHARLOTTE
$4.2B 5. Patrick Rush Triad Financial Advisors (TFA) GREENSBORO
$664M
NORTH DAKOTA 1. Joel Bird Ameriprise Financial Services BISMARCK
$2.2B 2. Jason Kirchmeier Ameriprise Financial Services BISMARCK
$2.2B 3. Dave Schlafman AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL SERVICES BISMARCK
$2.2B
OHIO 1. David Singer Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. CINCINNATI
$3.1B 2. David Ellis III UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. CINCINNATI
$1.6B 3. Kevin Myeroff NCA Financial Planners CLEVELAND
$1.3B
COLUMBUS
$28B
WORTHINGTON
OKLAHOMA
7. Peter Sargent Janney Montgomery Scott YARDLEY
$734M
PITTSBURGH
UBS Private Wealth Management
$1.4B 9. Virgil Kahl Spring Ridge Financial Group WYOMISSING
$767M
PUERTO RICO
SAN JUAN
$733M
$431M 1. Malcolm Makin Professional Planning Group/Raymond James WESTERLY
TULSA
2. Edye De Marco Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
4. Steve Jelley Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. TULSA
$946M 5. John Cary Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. TULSA
$517M 6. Matt Cain Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. TULSA
$1.9B
OREGON 1. Judith McGee McGee Wealth Mgmt./ Raymond James PORTLAND
$632M 2. Lucas Newman First Republic Investment Mgmt. PORTLAND
$694M
$1B
PROVIDENCE
$1B 3. Denise Roberts Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt. NEWPORT
$440M
SOUTH CAROLINA 1. Richard Migliore Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. COLUMBIA
$4.2B 2. E. Robertson Kibler Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. COLUMBIA
$6.2B 3. Robert Vingi Jr. Wells Fargo Advisors CHARLESTON
$1.8B 4. Ronnie Dennis Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
3. Keith Sheppard UBS Financial Services
COLUMBIA
PORTLAND
5. Clark Gallivan UBS Financial Services
$632M 4. Rebecca DeCesaro First Republic Investment Mgmt. PORTLAND
$1B
“A tweet from President Trump or geological events can derail you. Our clients have won the race—I don’t want to put them back in it and crash out, so we aren’t going to take exceptional risk.”
RHODE ISLAND
3. Don Jackson UBS Financial Services $412M
CHRISTOPHER AITKEN
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
$1B
TULSA
DALLAS
8. Jim Rimmel UBS Financial Services
OKLAHOMA CITY
2. Matt Monger Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
5. Rob Bertino UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
PHILADELPHIA
1. Franco EstradaVelasco UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
1. Jeff Blumenthal Wells Fargo Advisors
$2.9B
$4.2B
GREENVILLE
$642M 6. Kenneth Parham UBS Financial Services GREENVILLE
SOUTH DAKOTA 1. Gordon Wollman Cornerstone Financial Solutions/ Raymond James SIOUX FALLS
$426M 2. Todd Nelson Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SIOUX FALLS
$2.4B 3. David Olson Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SIOUX FALLS
$680M
BRENTWOOD
$2.1B 4. Jeffrey Bates Kings Point Capital Mgmt. BRENTWOOD
$977M
1. Peter Rohr Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
7. Jeff Jones Wells Fargo Advisors
5. Matt Miller Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND
BRENTWOOD
2. Johanna Walters Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. BLUE BELL
$5.1B 3. Patti Brennan Key Financial WEST CHESTER
$1B
$402M
$924M
8. Bert Arrowood UBS Financial Services
TEXAS (NORTHERN)
GREENVILLE
$1B
1. Charles McKinney Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
9. Gary Bezilla Wells Fargo Advisors
DALLAS
HILTON HEAD ISLAND
2. William Corbellini Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$645M
$1.3B
DALLAS
$2.9B
FORBES.COM
3. Joshua Parker Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
SEATTLE
BURLINGTON
$2B
$265M
7. Lowry West Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
VIRGINIA (NORTHERN)
$2.1B
SEATTLE
$1.1B 8. Michael Hershey JP Morgan Securities BELLEVUE
$950M
VIENNA
WEST VIRGINIA
$1.3B 3. Gregory Smith Baird
1. Chris Hall Hall Financial Advisors
DALLAS
RESTON
$650M
$2.1B
2. Fred Scheeren Wells Fargo Advisors
$787M
TEXAS (SOUTHERN) 1. Nestor Vicknair Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. HOUSTON
2. Scott Tiras Ameriprise Financial Services HOUSTON
$1.9B 3. Bonner Barnes Corda Investment Mgmt. HOUSTON
4. Simon Hamilton Baird
PARKERSBURG
WHEELING
RESTON
$263M
$2.1B
3. Jeffrey H. Biederman Jr. Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
5. Ryan Sprowls Wells Fargo Advisors ALEXANDRIA
$1.3B 6. Tristan Caudron Caudron Megary Blackburn Wealth Mgmt. ALEXANDRIA
$1.6B
HUNTINGTON
$349M
WISCONSIN 1. Andy Burish UBS Financial Services MADISON
$4B
$1.1B
VIRGINIA (SOUTHERN)
2. Michael Klein Baird
4. Darrell Pennington Ameriprise Financial Services
1. Joe Montgomery Wells Fargo Advisors
MILWAUKEE
WILLIAMSBURG
3. John Petrie Aspiriant
HOUSTON
$899M 5. Brian Tramontano Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. $648M
$1.9B
3. Tim Roberson Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
6. Dean Braun Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Mgmt.
$1.8B
THE WOODLANDS
$2.6B
$761M
$884M
8. Stephen Engro Beacon Financial Group
TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE
BELLEVUE
COLCHESTER
MIDLAND
1. Timothy Pagliara CapWealth $1B
2. Brian Pelkey Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
2. Jeff Grinspoon HighTower Advisors
6. Fred De Groot Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt.
2. Kent Kirby UBS Private Wealth Mgmt.
$1.3B 5. Paul Ried Paul R. Ried Financial Group
RESTON
DAKOTA DUNES
FRANKLIN
MERCER ISLAND
$708M
$1.2B 7. Kevin Blonkvist Sr. RBC Wealth Mgmt.
4. Erin Scannell Ameriprise Financial Services
COLCHESTER
1. Paul Pagnato Pagnato Karp
SAN ANTONIO
$333M
1. Tim Stotz Morgan Stanley Wealth Mgmt.
MIDLAND
4. Mary Sterk Sterk Financial Services
$1B
$4.5B
6. Van Pearcy Van Pearcy’s Wealth Services Team/ Raymond James
$5.6B
PENNSYLVANIA
PHILADELPHIA
$978M
VERMONT
7. Langston Turner UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. HOUSTON
$1.8B
UTAH 1. Dane Runia Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt. PROVO
$2.7B 2. Nick Bapis Rockefeller Capital Mgmt. SALT LAKE CITY
$1.3B 3. Glen Mintz UBS Financial Services PARK CITY
$1B 4. John Van Wagoner Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SALT LAKE CITY
$655M 5. Jeffry Roundy Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SALT LAKE CITY
$1.2B
$1.3B 2. John Gill BB&T Scott & Stringfellow VIRGINIA BEACH
$809M 3. Allan Strange Janney Montgomery Scott RICHMOND
$664M 4. Jamie Cox Harris Financial Group/ LPL RICHMOND
$660M 5. Aashish Matani Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. NORFOLK
$1.2B 6. Brett Hayes Hayes Nystrom Sarrett Wealth Mgmt. Group RICHMOND
$530M 7. Tim Mullins Wells Fargo Advisors RICHMOND
$903M
WASHINGTON 1. Michael Matthews UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. BELLEVUE
$1.2B 2. Bruce Munster Merrill Private Wealth Mgmt.
$4.5B
MILWAUKEE
$12.2B 4 Barry Martzahl Morgan Stanley Graystone GREEN BAY
$1B 5. Bryan Sadoff Sadoff Investment Mgmt. MILWAUKEE
$1.4B 6. Michael Sadoff Sadoff Investment Mgmt. MILWAUKEE
$1.4B
WYOMING 1. Lester Brunker UBS Private Wealth Mgmt. TETON VILLAGE
$345M 2. Jeff Vincent Vincent Financial Services RIVERTON
$270M
For the full ranking, please visit forbes.com/ best-in-statewealth-advisors
BELLEVUE
$2B 3. Steve Hollomon Merrill Lynch Wealth Mgmt. SEATTLE
$2B
MARCH 2020
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800.FIDELITY Fidelity.com/score IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by the Fidelity Retirement Score regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results. Your results may vary with each use and over time. The Fidelity Retirement Score is a hypothetical illustration and does not represent your individual situation or the investment results of any particular investment or investment strategy, and is not a guarantee of future results. Your score does not consider the composition of current savings and other factors. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. The trademarks and/or service marks appearing above are the property of FMR LLC and may be registered. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC. © 2019 FMR LLC. All rights reserved. 880419.1.0
THE LIST
THE FINTECH 50
IN CRYPTO HE TRUSTS
INVESTMENT GUIDE
60
GUTTER CREDIT
FOR NOW, COINBASE LOOKS LIKE A CASINO, BUT ITS BILLIONAIRE FOUNDER, BRIAN ARMSTRONG, SEES IT AS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE FINANCIAL LIBERATION OF THE PLANET.
BY W I L L I A M B A L D W I N A N D M I C H A E L D E L C A S T I L LO P H OTO G R A P H BY J A M E L T O P P I N F O R F O R B E S FORBES.COM
MARCH 2020
61
MARCH 2020
FORBES.COM
→ Near the foot of San Francisco’s California A few paces away sit the offices of Coinbase, the largest American exchange for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. It’s a beehive of software engineers and young marketing executives. There, the worlds of by-the-books banking and cryptoanarchism collide. In style and philosophy, Brian Armstrong, the 37-year-old billionaire cofounder and CEO of Coinbase, is in the camp of the financial anarchists. He sits, jammed alongside lieutenants, in a row of tiny desks resembling library carrels. He wears a black T-shirt, black pants and shiny white sneakers. He talks about a brave new world in which we are liberated from the shackles of giant banks and government-controlled money supplies. During an expansive interview, this usually reserved and press-shy entrepreneur declares why he got into this business: “I wanted the world to have a global, open financial system that drove innovation and freedom.” In following a business model, though, Armstrong fits in with the pinstriped financiers working down the block. Eight years after its start, his firm has opened 35 million accounts, presides over $21 billion of assets and is on target, we estimate, to top $800 million in revenue this year. That success comes from acting like a bank. Coinbase draws in customer funds via bank wires. It stores its assets—numerical keys that unlock coins—in vaults. It boasts of insurance coverage from Lloyd’s of London. It has a security staff of 41, including an Iraq War veteran assessing perimeter risks and a Ph.D. cryptographer doing the same for mathematical assaults. The selling proposition here is security—security conspicuously lacking at some of the exchanges with which Coinbase has competed. The Mt. Gox exchange in Japan went bust in 2014 after hackers spirited away coins worth $480 million. Customers of QuadrigaCX, which was one of Canada’s largest exchanges, have been unable to retrieve $150 million in crypto since the founder supposedly died suddenly in December 2018, holding the only set of keys to unlock their money. They now want the body exhumed. In order to capture a gilt edge, though, Armstrong has had to veer away from the antiestablishment ethos that got Change Agents
Chief operating officer Emilie Choi (left) and chief financial officer Alesia Haas at Coinbase in San Francisco’s Financial District
FORBES.COM
MARCH 2020
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ETHAN PINES FOR FORBES
INVESTMENT GUIDE • THE LIST
62
Street stand the august stone pillars of a bank dating to the 19th century.
B
orn near San Jose to engineer parents, Armstrong displayed an entrepreneurial streak as early as grade school. He recalls being hauled into the principal’s office on charges of operating a candy-reselling venture on the playground. The business flings continued with a scheme to resell used computers and, after he earned a master’s degree in 2006 from Rice University, a startup that matched tutors to students. He worked on the education venture while living in Buenos Aires. “I had just decided, I’ve
THE FORBES
FINTECH 50 INVESTORS PUT MORE THAN $53 BILLION INTO FINTECH STARTUPS WORLDWIDE IN 2019, ACCORDING TO ACCENTURE. WITH ENTREPRENEURS STAGING A FRONTAL ASSAULT ON CENTURIES-OLD FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, MORE OF THE POT HAS BEEN GOING TO DIGITAL-FIRST BANKS AND INSURTECHS. VALUATIONS ARE GROWING: 13 OF THIS YEAR’S PICKS ARE WORTH MORE THAN $2 BILLION, COMPARED WITH EIGHT LAST YEAR. SO, TOO, IS INNOVATION. NINETEEN COMPANIES ON THE 2020 FINTECH 50—OUR FIFTH ANNUAL LIST—ARE FIRST-TIMERS. ALL COMPANIES ARE PRIVATE AND HAVE OPERATIONS OR CUSTOMERS IN THE U.S. SEE MORE DETAILS AT FORBES.COM/FINTECH50. EDITED BY JANET NOVACK AND JEFF KAUFLIN REPORTED BY MICHAEL DEL CASTILLO, ASHLEA EBELING, ANTOINE GARA, SARAH HANSEN, SAMANTHA SHARF, KELLY ANNE SMITH AND HANK TUCKER
ACORNS
AFFIRM
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO
PERSONAL FINANCE
For $1 a month, micro-investing app rounds up debit- and creditcard purchases, moving extra pennies into portfolios of ETFs. For $3 a month, it adds IRAs, checking and debit card. FUNDING: $257 million; latest valuation of $860 million BONA FIDES: 6.2 million users, up from 4.5 million a year before CEO: Noah Kerner, 42
ADDEPAR WALL STREET & ENTERPRISE
PORTRAITS BY PATRICK WELSH FOR FORBES
TURBOCHARGE YOUR CASH Thanks to a rush of fintechs and nonbank alternatives, you no longer need to settle for pitiful bank deposit returns. Goldman Sachs’ digital bank, Marcus, and Fintech 50 members Betterment and Credit Karma are among those paying 1.7% or more on FDIC-insured money-market accounts. Even better, the fintechs will spread your money among multiple banks, boosting your effective FDIC insurance coverage from $250,000 to $1 million or more. Or, for 0.08% a year, MaxMyInterest.com links to your bank account, sweeping excess cash to the highest-paying insured accounts online. —Sarah Hansen MARCH 2020
Offers consumers instant short-term, point-of-sale loans at APRs between 10% and 30% when they check out online at 4,000 participating merchants, including Walmart, Wayfair and Expedia. (Select retailers, such as Peloton, subsidize 0% loans.) New app allows users to prequalify for financing and shop anywhere. FUNDING: $800 million; latest valuation of $2.9 billion
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA
Money Moves 2020
PERSONAL FINANCE
Cloud-based software used by Morgan Stanley, Fidelity and hundreds of other firms allows financial advisors, family offices and private banks to track and analyze clients’ holdings.
BONA FIDES: Generated $4 billion in loans in 2019 COFOUNDER & CEO: Max Levchin, 44, a cofounder of PayPal and former chairman of Yelp
FUNDING: $240 million; latest valuation of $500 million BONA FIDES: $1.7 trillion in assets tracked on platform COFOUNDER & EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Joe Lonsdale, 37, also a cofounder of Palantir Technologies CEO: Eric Poirier, 37
MAX LEVCHIN
FORBES.COM
63 INVESTMENT GUIDE • THE LIST
bitcoin going. He plays ball with government inspectors, for example. The Coinbase compliance staff, already numbering 55, is expected to grow to 70 by quarter’s end. They comb through transactions looking for money laundering. They will conform to a controversial new rule that mandates a paper trail when customers move coins from one exchange to another. Coinbase dutifully sends 1099-K reports to the IRS on traders who in one year do 200 or more trades involving a combined $20,000 or more in proceeds. Given all this snitching, how does Coinbase appeal to diehard crypto fans? One way is by having a menu that includes 26 newer currencies, some of which are explicitly designed to offer more privacy than bitcoin does. The other is a service, introduced in August 2018, that enables a customer to move bitcoin into a personal wallet exempt from know-your-customer and antimoney-laundering regulations. “If you are an individual and you want to store your own cryptocurrency, you’re not a financial service business,” says Armstrong, mindful of any U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network cops who might be listening. “And there are companies, including us, who provide tools for people to store their own cryptocurrency and use it.”
BEATING CANCER IS IN OUR BLOOD. ®
Michael Agostino, Hy-Vee, Inc. Tom Alban, Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives Leslie Amendola, Johnson and Johnson Tamara Amini, Bank of America Sabrina Anderson, Team Sabrina Brett Anderson, Colorado State University Todd Anderson, Kettering Health Network Adam Andolina, KeyBank Ray Armini, Peninsula Country Club Steve Armstrong, MSC Industrial Supply Co. Norman Armstrong, King & Spalding Bhavesh Ashar, Bayer Jamie Atkinson, Swan Global Investments Mohammad Azab, Astex Pharmaceuticals Anna Backman, HCA MidAmerica Division Tony Bajak, Good Samaritan Medical Center Mario Barnaba, Barnaba & Marconi LLP Tedd Barr, Converze Media Michael Barrett, Unosquare Michael Bartschat, Johnson Controls Missy Bass, C & F Mortgage Richard Battle, Elliott Davis Mitch Beckman, Webber Kathy Belfiore, Sanofi Genzyme Lynda Bennett, Lowenstein Sandler Mitch Berger, Montgomery County Public Schools Laura Berra, Wells Fargo Advisors Troy Beshears, Elbit Systems of America Darrell Bilbrey, Encompass Health Misty Birch, Castleview Hospital Scott Birkhead, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Lauren Bishop, Beam Team Courtney Black Michael Blackman, Retired IBM Executive Colin and Jessica Blalock, Jones and Kolb Barry Blanton, Blanton Advisors, LLC Christina Bold, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Dennis Bole Dave Borkowski, Harkins Builders, Inc. Chris Born, Dell Children’s Medical Center Marsha Bourque, Marsha Bourque and Associates R. Michael Brannock, Jr., WorkForce Unlimited, LLC Harris Brett, Gibson Energy Joseph B. Brocato, Gozdecki, Del Giudice, Americus, Farkas & Brocato LLP James Brooks, SWERP, Incorporated Samantha Burns, Student at Weston High School Brian Burns, Storr Office Environments Bill Burns, Cross Country Healthcare John Burroughs, Warren American Oil Company Callie Cantrell, Dell Matthew Casner, Barclays Michael Castellano, Esse Health Patrick Chairs, Prudential Advisors Dr. Mohamad Cherry, Atlantic Health System Paul Chodak III, AEP - American Electric Power Brian Christein Dan Church, DairyChem, Inc. Matthew Clear, HKS Architects, Inc. Ronda Conger, CBH Homes John Conklin, BlackArch Partners Tim Conklin, BMC David Conway, Morgan Stanley Adam Cook, Commonwealth Real Estate Services Elizabeth Cote, The Long Group Jeff Cregger, Frederick Brick Works Inc. Mike Criscuolo, Skyline-Holt Exhibits + Events
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society challenged these executives to raise $10,000 or more. Together they
raised over $12 million to bring light to the darkness of cancer.
David Crow, SailPoint Eardie Curry, St. David’s South Austin Medical Center Thuy Dancik, Team Dancik Melissa Davis, BSA LifeStructures Steve Dearborn, Miller Paint Company Ryan DeBolt, Combover LLC Steve DeCook, E-Konomy Pool Service and Supplies Ellen Defuso, Blue Green Vacations Steve DeMattos, Xencor Matt Denning, C.H. Robinson Joseph DeSabia, Barclays Jacqueline DeSteffano, Team Jackiepie Jaclyn Diamond, Macy’s, Inc. Robert A. Dickinson, Dickinson Fleet Services Donald Dixon, Retired, Deloitte Tam Driscoll, Team Nancy & Cath Jeffrey Dunn, Florida Power & Light Company Mike Dykema, Western Michigan Fleet Parts Inc. Cheryl Ecton, Elite Building Services, Inc. Scott Eichel, Barclays Martin Einhorn, W.E.C. Bill Eisig, BDO USA, LLP Lyle Ekdahl, Oracle Jason Ellington, Brasfield & Gorrie Jesse Essex, Hendrick Motorsports Jamie Fagan, Biotronik Barbara Farber, Lympho-Lights Mike Farmer, BMC Triangle Bill Farris, Generac Power Systems Dr. Omotayo Fasan, Novant Health Scott Feighner, Colliers International Hugo Fernandez, M.D., Moffit Malignant Hematology and Cellular Therapy at Memorial Healthcare System Rita Ferro, The Walt Disney Company Sanford Feuer, Best Buy Co., Inc., retiree Christine Finley, Ferguson Enterprises Al Fliss, Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Brian Follbaum, FPL Energy Services, Inc. Sam Forrest, Florida Power & Light Company Archie Foster, Citi George Frahm, Stater Bros. Markets Todd Frank, SRS Real Estate Partners Donna Frazier Daniele Fresca-Carteaux, LeadIn Logistics Christy Froehlich, Precision Planners Richard Garber, Garber Automotive Group Stuart Gelb, The Liquidity Source Karen Geraci, Bristol-Myers Squib Steve Gfroerer, Cobb Strecker Dunphy & Zimmermann Inc. Adam Gill, Walgreens Linda Glover Ron Goldman, Deloitte Lynn Goldschmidt, DKMG Consulting Wendy Gonsalves, Avnet, Inc. Manny Gonzalez, MGM Consulting Josh Goyne, Webber Todd Granato Carol Gray, Westwood Cartage Rick Gray, The Wynn Las Vegas David Grish, Team Jackiepie Tami Gunsch, Berkshire Bank Jessica Hack, UFCW Local 27 Bryan Hacken, Team Attacken’ for Maddie Hacken Christina Hamati, Northwestern Mutual Kathryn Hansen, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Chad Harder, LAUNCHPAD Jeffrey Hare
Holly Heer, Barnes & Thornburg LLP Jeff Hennessy Rich Heppe Ed Hetherington, Doosan Financial Solutions Guy Hill, Allstate Donnie Hill, Precision Manufacturing Co Inc. Rick Hoagland, GEICO Louis Hoch, USIO Paul Hoelscher, Horizon Therapeutics Tom Holland, Citrix Systems Bill Hollett, Cousins Properties Carol Horn, Horn Team Wesley Hudson, Otemanu Group Philip Hughes, Jr., Keystone Industries Mike Hunsaker, BMC Triangle Michael Huntress, Acquest Development Benjamin Hurd, IA Management, LLC Kelsey Hyland, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Brian Jaramillo, Tilden-Coil Constructors Jenn Johnston, Global Franchise Group Elizabeth Jordan Maxwell Kagan, Wellstar Dan Kaplan, Sierra Land Group Aaron Kaplowitz, Johnson and Johnson Amy Kappen, Medpace Jennifer Keating, Palo Alto Networks Harold Keer, Astex Pharmaceuticals Dave Keffer, Blue Delta Capital Partners Karri Kelly, Robson Communities
ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE? Become a 2020 Executive Challenger LightTheNight.org Aron Kershner, Goldman Sachs Sumeet Khemani, ComplySci Kevin Kieran, Exelon Corporation Bob Kimbro, Ernst & Young John King, Waterfront Botanical Gardens David & Louise Kingsley Jennifer Kipphut, Fortitude Fitness/Beauty Counter Sam Kirschner, Caribbean Property Group, LLC Bruce Klein, Klein Consulting Stuart Klein, Self-Employed CPA BJ Knapp, Iowa Realty Dr. Greg Knight, Levine Cancer Institute Grant Knowles, Ardon Health Guenther Koehne M.D., Ph.D., Miami Cancer Institute Dave Koenig, GEHA Lynn Kuckelman Peters, LK Design Group Robert LaCaze, Bayer John Lambert, US Bank Jay & Kelley Lamy Kathy Lanterman Andrew Larew, Larew, Doyle & Associates LLC Arnold Lau, Morgan Stanley Ashley Lawson, VGraham, LLC Shane Lea, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Jeff Leahy, Balfour Beatty Michelle Leon Cordova, Intuit
THOMAS DOLL
Subaru of America, Inc.
CHUCK CUDA
OPES Commercial Real Estate
Peter Levine, Amber Properties Alanna Levine, Boston Children’s Health Physicians Sarah Seiff Lewis, Salesforce Ross A. Lissuzzo, CIBC Bank USA Larry Little, VCU Health Judith Lofurno, Billups Joe Lopez-Cepero, Good Samaritan Medical Center Christine Lowney, EY Robert MacAdam-King, Bedford Cabinet Amanda Maggiotto, Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center Mark Magness, Ecotone Tim Main, Barclays Becky Mancuso-Winding, UCLA Health Carol Markway, Markway Strong John Marraffa, KPH Healthcare Services, Inc. Brittney Martin, Kendra Scott Ron Martin, BDO John T. McCauley, Wells Fargo Advisors Mark McCullough, AEP - American Electric Power Mark McDonald, CM Constructors Jack McKeegan, Harrison Financial Services Mark Merz, FIS Bill Messner, Portland General Electric Melissa Messner, Lovejoy Real Estate Edgar Meza, Fred Loya Insurance Steve Mihalik, Progressive Insurance Corporation Ken Miller, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco Richard Miller, Earl Swensson Associates, Inc. Michael R. Mills, Glenn Associates Surveying, Inc. Brad A. Molotsky, Duane Morris LLP Brandon Moore, JE Dunn Construction Courtney Morgan, SIMON Markets Sonya Arnold Motes, Merrill Lynch Patrick Mulloy, RSM US LLP Helen Murphy Connors, Salesforce.com Lisa Myers, Gerstle, Rosen & Goldenberg, P.A. Swati Navani, Seattle Genetics Marjie Nealon, Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP Robert Newton, Morgan Stanley Paula T Nylander, Jones Day Mark Nylander, Nylander + Associates Susan O’Brien, MD, UC-Irvine Matthew O’Bryan, KLA Laboratories Inc. Ryan O’Connell, SDS Restaurant Group Karl Olson, Burns & Wilcox Brokerage John Orsini, UAW Local 774 Teresa Orton, IQVIA Rick Ostroff, Ostroff Associates Jay Palus, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pranav Parekh, Google Stan Patterson, IQVIA Biotech Brandon Pauler, BDO Keith Pence, Caler, Donten, Levine, Cohen, Porter & Veil, P.A. Tracy Peters, Red Capital Group Ken Peterson, Shea Homes Jennifer Petrillo, Accenture Brittany Pietrucci, Cumulus Media Joe Pizzimenti, Bigfish Creative Group Kevin Pohle, Energy Reps Steve Pollard, JLL Ryan Pratt, Ernst & Young Kristen Presser, Penn Medicine Ron Pusey, CTSI Randy Quickel, UFCW Michael Quinn, Williams Quinn Petersen & Associates of Ameriprise
HEATH MELTON
The Howard Hughes Corporation
CHUCK KIVEN
SK2 Campus Living
Richard Raffetto, US Bank Regina Ramazani, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Gene Rapisardi, Cigna HealthCare Lisa Reale, M.D., Miami Cancer Institute Jay Reavis, Delta Dental of Tennessee Tim Regan, Clover Key Home Loans Ryan Rehmann, Dynamic Systems, Inc. Nikolas Reigleman, BDO Steven Reiss, Willis Towers Watson Guy Revelle, Splitsville Richard Reynolds, PwC Toni Reynolds, Les Schwab Mark Richards, Northwestern Mutual Bobby Rios, Bartlett Cocke General Contractors Raul Rios, RSM US LLP Kurt Ripkey, Icon Cole Robertson, BP Energy Partners Debra Robinson, Centennial Revenue Management Emily Robinson Gorelik, CBC Specialty Beverage Sasha Rocke, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Manny Rodriguez, UCHealth Theodore S. Roman Michelle Roomsburg, BRR Refrigeration Adam Rosenfelt, Atomic Entertainment Lisa Roth, EisnerAmper LLP Mary Rower, Markowitz Herbold PC Kristin Rubino, Terra Lawn Care Peter Ruehlman, Retired - Oncologist/Hematologist Kim Rupert, SAIC Kristine Rutter, Wells Fargo Amanda Salas, Fox 11 - Los Angeles Brian Sapp, Jam City Manolis Saridakis, US Bank Mary Savage, GlaxoSmithKline Tracey Sawyer, Mission Pharmacal Peter Schaaf, Harkins Builders, Inc. Joseph Schenk, PRG Josh Schimmels, AZ Big Media Robert P. Schmid, The Schmid Group LLC Mike Schmidt, Generac Power Systems Terry K. Schmoyer, Jr., Schmoyer And Company, LLC Brian Schneider, Phyl-Mar Electrical Supply Corp. Jeremy Schraeder, Streamline Sales & Marketing Rick Schuerger, John Moriarty & Associates of Florida, Inc. Eduardo Schur, Guidehouse Martin Schweitzer, Goldman Sachs Sean Sciara, Boston Scientific Corporation Jennifer Sciarra Helena Scott, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Matt Seehawer, Oregon Mainline Paving, LLC Michael Seiden, The US Oncology Network, McKesson Norma Serna, BMC - New Braunfels Faisal Shaikh, Deloitte Ben Shapiro, PIVOT Patty Sharpe, The Woodshed Jeff Shaw, Bridge Commercial Real Estate Garrett Sheehan, EXCEL Joseph Shermer, ADP Dave Shevsky, Ally Financial Inc. Linda Silver Cynthia Simon, Bristol-Myers Squibb John Simon, Onyx & East Tom Simons, Woda Cooper Companies Mike Simons, EY Steve Sipola, BNB Bank Keith Sitzman, Skanska Brad Slomsky, Towne Properties
JIM CARMAN
The Howard Hughes Corporation
Amy Smedley, Huntsman Corporation Mike Smith, The Rockport Group Chris Smyth, IQVIA Biotech Bradley Souder, Universal Interiors Jason Spears, Academy Mortgage Corp Johnese Spisso, UCLA Health Clark Spoden, Burr & Forman LLP Taylor Stefano, Team One Laura Steger, Insight Global Allie Steiner Fujarski, Paycom Jeffrey Stern, Houlihan Lokey Ralph Stingo, Bernhard MCC Steve Stouthamer, Skanska Suzanne B. Strothkamp, SSM Health Legal Affairs Heather Stubblefield, Florida Power & Light Company Jennifer Swanton, AZ Big Media Jason Swift, Best Egg Shandell Szabo, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Darren Taylor, GEHA Lauren Thompson, Lauren Thompson Counseling Tana Thomson, Vista Capital Partners Jay Tilley, Costco Wholesale Corporation David Tokarsky, Garber Bay Road Raphael Tomlin, Global Franchise Group Atlanta Michael Tooley, Tooley Oil Company Michael Touloupas, Touloupas & Touloupas Dentistry Nancy Tower, Tampa Electric Company Beth Trammell, DocVue Greg Trayer, James Hardie Winselow Tucker, Bristol-Myers Squibb Donald Ubell, First Tryon Securities Michelle Urban, Nabriva Therapeutics Brian Vail, River West Investments Ada Varchola, Goldman Sachs C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Barclays Adam Viente, JLL Ginger Villanti, Broadcom Jen Wahl, Sun Life Whitney Wall, Wells Fargo Jagath Wanninayake, Suvoda LLC John Ward, Bridge Investment Group John Warren, Energy Alloys Zach Weast, Chisholm Trail State Bank Bob Weintraub, Industrial Controls Supply Chris Wheeler, George & Margaret McLane Foundation Jeremy Wien, Graham Capital Management Melissa Wilkinson, CBH Homes Greg Williams, Carruthers & Roth, P.A. Barry Willis, Costco Wholesale Corporation Jeff Willman, Citizens Energy Group Dwayne Wilson, Salesforce Meron Winkler, Twilio James & Brenda Wishbow, James P. Wishbow Company John Wright, RSM US LLP Brian Wulfestieg, Toll Brothers Seattle Division Susan Yaeger, Merrill Lynch Jim Yancey, The Clearing House Marta Yee Viñas, Royal Homes Ken Yoder, Baker Tilly Melissa Young, Corporate Incentives, Inc. Chris Zavadowski, LifetimeMarketingSuccess.com Elizabeth Zazo, Jodi’s Family & Friends Jackie Ziemianski, Peoples Jeff Zwick, PEDCO Engineering
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never been to South America. I want to travel for a year and try to work on this remotely as an adventure. Figure out what I want to do with my life,” he says. “[It] was an interesting experience to see the financial system in another country like that, that had gone through hyperinflation.” Later, as a coder at Airbnb, Armstrong had his crypto epiphany. His employer was sending money to landlords in Latin America. He describes the process this way: “High fees . . . long delays . . . opaque. We’d try sending money to somebody in Uruguay and didn’t know how much would show up on the other side.” In 2010 he read the manifesto, published by a person (or persons) under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, that proposed bitcoin as an underground currency. Its transactions are recorded on a ledger called the blockchain, maintained in duplicated computer files by a band of self-appointed guardians called nodes. Disputes about transactions and ground rules are resolved by majority vote. The nodes are kept honest, and troublemakers at bay, by requiring a participant in the network to engage in some arithmetic busywork before certifying a batch of transactions. A node who completes the arithmetic task is awarded a few new coins. The busywork, called mining, did not interest Armstrong. But he did see an opportunity in the business of safeguarding the keys to the coins and setting up transactions. Anybody can do that with some readily available software, but if you mishandle the protocol your coins will be stolen or lost. Armstrong took a flyer on bitcoins, buying $1,000 worth at $9 a coin. The price sank to $2. He kept the faith. Working weekends and late nights, Armstrong wrote code in Ruby and JavaScript to buy and store coins. He was doing for the bitcoin network what an earlier generation of programmers had done for the internet by creating browsers. It was fun. Was it worth quitting his day job?
AXONI
BETTERMENT
NEW YORK CITY
NEW YORK CITY
BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
Uses blockchain technology to overhaul financial-markets infrastructure, most notably the DTCC’s Trade Information Warehouse, which tracks $10 trillion worth of credit derivatives around the globe.
FUNDING: $275 million; latest valuation of $800 million1
FUNDING: $59 million; latest valuation of $171 million1
BONA FIDES: $22 billion in assets under management
BONA FIDES: 15 banks, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, just launched new Axoni-built infrastructure for equity swaps
COFOUNDER & CEO: Jon Stein, 40
COFOUNDERS: CEO Greg Schvey, 33, and CTO Jeff Schvey, 35, brothers who also cofounded TradeBlock
BREX
USE A RETIREMENT-INCOME HACK Figuring how best to draw annual income from various accounts in retirement can be bewildering. But new hybrid-robo services such as Vanguard’s Personal Advisor, Schwab’s Intelligent Income, Capital One’s United Income and Fintech 50 member Kindur make it easy. The apps create an individualized asset allocation and tax-optimized income plan (they’ll even send you a monthly “paycheck” and counsel you on when to take Social Security), all under the watch of on-call human advisors. Costs vary, but are usually far less than for a traditional planner. —Ashlea Ebeling FORBES.COM
Robo-advice pioneer offers managed ETF portfolios for 0.25% of assets a year, or 0.40% for access to human financial planners, too.
SAN FRANCISCO B2B LENDING
BEHAVOX NEW YORK CITY WALL STREET & ENTERPRISE
Sells system used to monitor traders for insider trading and market manipulation. Its algorithms screen email and chat data, while its voice biometrics track phone calls on loud trading desks.
Issues corporate credit cards designed for startups. In October, it rolled out a corporate cash-management account. FUNDING: $315 million; latest valuation of $2.6 billion BONA FIDES: More than 10,000 customers, including Airbnb COFOUNDERS & CO-CEOS: Henrique Dubugras, 24; Pedro Franceschi, 23
FUNDING: $20 million; latest valuation of $300 million BONA FIDES: Used by more than 40 companies; revenues grew 130% in 2019 FOUNDER & CEO: Erkin Adylov, 36, a Kyrgyzstan-born former Goldman Sachs analyst and hedge fund portfolio manager
BETTER.COM NEW YORK CITY REAL ESTATE
Money Moves 2020
INVESTING
Online mortgage originator provides home shoppers with preapprovals in as little as three minutes. Uses matching software to sell loans to institutions such as Chase and Fannie Mae. FUNDING: $254 million; latest valuation of $610 million BONA FIDES: Revenue increased fivefold to $115 million in 2019, thanks in part to a refi boom FOUNDER & CEO: Vishal Garg, 42, also started MyRichUncle, an early online lender that shut down in 2009 1
According to PitchBook
RYAN WILLIAMS
CADRE NEW YORK CITY REAL ESTATE
Online platform allows institutional and wealthy investors to buy into commercial real estate partnerships at lower fees. FUNDING: $133 million; latest valuation of $800 million BONA FIDES: Has financed purchases of $3.1 billion worth of property in 36 deals COFOUNDERS: CEO Ryan Williams, 32; brothers Jared Kushner, 39, and Joshua Kushner, 34
MARCH 2020
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Fees are only one consideration when making the decision to roll over. And in certain situations, fees may be higher in a rollover IRA. Review your retirement plan rollover choices at tdameritrade.com/rollover. The 401k fee analyzer tool is for informational and illustrative purposes only, and does not constitute advice. TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Š 2019 TD Ameritrade.
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A $150,000 capital infusion from Y Combinator, source of seed funding to Airbnb and many other illustrious startups, answered that question in 2012. Fred Ehrsam, a Goldman Sachs alum, joined the venture and gave Coinbase credibility with the banks that would be wiring money to it. Venture capitalists, led by Andreessen Horowitz, have showered half a billion dollars on Coinbase. “It’s like if Google made Gmail for bitcoin,” says Chris Dixon, an Andreessen partner who serves on the Coinbase board. “And that’s literally the way they described it.” Its last round of funding valued Coinbase at $8.1 billion. Ehrsam, 31, has since left Coinbase but retains a stake; he keeps busy arranging venture capital for startups that aim to use cryptocurrencies and blockchains to build transaction networks for corporations.
CARTA
COINBASE
SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO
WALL STREET & ENTERPRISE
Tracks capital tables (shares, ownership, value, dilution and options) for private companies, their investors and employees. FUNDING: $448 million; latest valuation of $1.7 billion BONA FIDES: Now managing cap tables for 13,000 companies (including most valuable fintech, Stripe) worth a collective $575 billion, with 800,000 investors COFOUNDER & CEO: Henry Ward, 44
T
After making its mark as a safe, regulatory-compliant crypto exchange, Coinbase has branched out to offer a variety of additional services. (See story, p. 60.) FUNDING: $525 million; latest valuation of $8.1 billion BONA FIDES: Coinbase Custody holds $8 billion in assets for 200 institutional clients COFOUNDERS: Brian Armstrong, 37; Fred Ehrsam, 31
C H A I N A LY S I S
CREDIT KARMA
NEW YORK CITY
he essence of what Armstrong has in mind can be captured in the word defi, which stands for decentralized finance or, if you prefer, defiance of authority. Defi is supposed to reach into all aspects of wealth; someday, supposedly, blockchains will support trading, peer-to-peer lending and loan collateralization without the usual financial institutions as intermediaries. Intriguingly, Coinbase has a broker/dealer license. Could it someday end-run stock exchanges? Maybe. If the grand vision for Coinbase is to be a gateway to decentralized finance of all sorts, the revenue for now is coming from more mundane things like trading commissions. Coinbase allows amateurs to go in and out of crypto, or swap one crypto for another, for fees and spreads that come to 2% or so. At archrival Binance, these small-
BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
SAN FRANCISCO
BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
PERSONAL FINANCE
Builds tools to help enforcers track down criminals, and financial institutions comply with regulations, in crypto space. FUNDING: $45 million; latest valuation of $266 million1 BONA FIDES: 250 customers, including the U.S. government, Barclays and Bittrex COFOUNDER & CEO: Michael Gronager, 49
The original free credit-monitoring and credit-score service has expanded its offerings to include free online tax filing and high-yield savings accounts. Earns fat referral fees when users bite on its recommendations for credit cards, loans or auto insurance. FUNDING: $869 million; latest valuation of $4 billion BONA FIDES: More than 100 million users in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. COFOUNDERS: CEO Ken Lin, 44; CRO Nichole Mustard, 47; CTO Ryan Graciano, 38
CHRIS BRITT
D A V E Ì LOS ANGELES PERSONAL FINANCE
Money Moves 2020
BUY CREDIT BLUE-CHIPS Credit tracker Fair Isaac is an excellent way to play the digitization of credit. The company’s credit-scoring technology currently underlies a vast majority of all credit-card issuance decisions. It’s also beginning to use artificial intelligence with psychometric and financial data to create ultra-reliable profiles of consumer behavior. Relatedly, duopoly Mastercard is a great play on the growth of e-commerce. Within a decade, Mastercard projects, machines will begin transacting digital payments as, for example, gas pumps hook up with computers in cars. Everything will share a connection with encrypted personal financial information stored in the cloud, and Mastercard is a natural gatekeeper. Both Fair Isaac and Mastercard are brisk growers with high P/Es, but they’re worth it, considering their 10-year annual returns of about 30% each. —Jon D. Markman FORBES.COM
CHIME SAN FRANCISCO PERSONAL FINANCE
This $1-a-month mobile app offers users checking accounts with no minimums or overdraft fees, cash advances of up to $100, automated budgeting and the ability to build up their credit score through reporting of rent and utility payments to credit bureaus.
Digital-only bank offers no-fee checking accounts with free overdraft protection of up to $100, access to paychecks up to two days early and option to round up debit purchases and move extra pennies into savings.
FUNDING: $76 million; latest valuation of $1.2 billion
FUNDING: $805 million; latest valuation of $5.8 billion
BONA FIDES: 2019 revenue of $90 million; 5 million–plus users
BONA FIDES: Exceeded 7 million accounts in January
COFOUNDERS: CEO Jason Wilk, 34; CTO Paras Chitrakar, 41; chief design officer John Wolanin, 37
COFOUNDERS: CEO Chris Britt, 47; CTO Ryan King, 43
ÌNEW TO LIST 1
According to PitchBook
MARCH 2020
IT TAKES EIGHT YEARS TO MAKE A DOCTOR. IT TAKES NINE TO MAKE KNOB CREEK. FLAVOR, LIKE DEGREES, MUST BE EARNED OVER TIME.
KNOB CREEK® KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY AND STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY 50% ALC./VOL. ©2020 KNOB CREEK DISTILLING COMPANY, CLERMONT, KY.
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fry speculators would pay 90% less, but they’d be dealing with a firm that mostly inhabits the shadowy world of offshore finance. Malta-based Binance has only a small presence in the U.S. Serious traders get a better deal. They use Coinbase Pro, a different platform that replicates the bid-and-ask order book of a stock exchange; here the combined buyer and seller commission ranges from 1% for small trades down to 0.07% at the $100 million level. Somewhat more than half of Coinbase Pro’s trading volume comes from algorithmic trading. Furious trading doesn’t look socially productive, but it lubricates the capital markets. Bid/ask spreads on bitcoins, now worth $9,300 apiece, are measured in dimes. In percentage terms, the crypto spread competes with the spread on the very liquid SPDR S&P 500 ETF. The trouble with commission income is that it’s extremely sensitive to crypto prices. When bitcoin collapses, as it did in 2018, trading volume shrinks and the dollar revenue from each coin goes down. So Coinbase is trying to create stable revenue streams to balance out the commissions. A big one, says Alesia Haas, the company’s chief financial officer, is coming from a custody operation for institutional clients. This digital warehouse, greatly expanded by Coinbase’s acquisition last August of Xapo’s institutional business, holds $8 billion of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. A new revenue source is “staking.” Here, the holder of certain coins, such as tezos and EOS, collects fees for confirming transactions on the network. There is no electricity-gobbling busywork calculation as with bitcoin, but some finesse is needed, because messing up the recipe causes the player’s stake to be confiscated. Coinbase handles the details and splits stake revenue with its customers. It’s rather like a stockbroker
D I V V Y H O M E S Ì
F A T T M E R C H A N T Ì
SAN FRANCISCO
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
REAL ESTATE
PAYMENTS
A digital take on rent-to-own, Divvy buys homes that clients select and becomes their landlord, allowing 2% upfront fee and part of rent to be turned into a down payment later. Now in six markets.
Bundles online and in-store credit-card processing and sales analysis into one monthly subscription service that it says costs small businesses 30% to 40% less than traditional pertransaction charges.
FUNDING: $66 million; latest valuation of $163 million1
FUNDING: $18 million; latest valuation of $140 million
BONA FIDES: Receiving 10,000 applications a month
BONA FIDES: Processed $2.3 billion in transactions in 2019
COFOUNDER & CEO: Adena Hefets, 33
COFOUNDERS: CEO Suneera Madhani, 32; president Sal Rehmetullah, 30 (Madhani’s brother); CTO Jacques Fun, 34; chief strategy officer Lyndsey Lang, 27
F I N I X Ì SAN FRANCISCO PAYMENTS
ADENA HEFETS
E T H O S Ì SAN FRANCISCO INSURANCE
Uses predictive technology to quote term life insurance rates in about 10 minutes via app. It verifies data with medical and pharmacy records, requiring no exam for most buyers. FUNDING: $107 million; latest valuation of $450 million1 BONA FIDES: Licensed in every state except New York COFOUNDERS: CEO Peter Colis, 30; CTO Lingke Wang, 29
Money Moves 2020
TURN YOUR HSA INTO AN INVESTMENT FUND One of the best-kept secrets about Health Savings Accounts is that they can be used as investment accounts. If you’re covered by an eligible high-deductible health insurance plan, you can contribute up to $3,550 for an individual or $7,100 for a family to an HSA for 2020, reducing your taxable income by that amount. Of course, HSA withdrawals are tax-free when used to pay for medical expenses. But healthy or wealthy HSA holders should invest and grow the stash tax-free to be used for medical costs in retirement. Fidelity and Fintech 50 member Lively offer investor-friendly HSA platforms. Fidelity offers mutual funds plus commission-free trading of U.S. stocks and ETFs. Lively provides no-fee access to TD Ameritrade, which also offers free online trading. —A.E. FORBES.COM
E V E R L E D G E R Ì LONDON BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
Has developed a blockchain to track goods from raw-materials source to sales. FUNDING: $20 million; latest valuation of $100 million BONA FIDES: First application tracks 2 million diamonds
Gives companies more control over their payment processing, which helps them to keep more of the processing fees merchants pay. FUNDING: $55 million BONA FIDES: More than 50 customers, including Lightspeed, a Canadian company that processes $17 billion a year in transactions COFOUNDERS: CEO Richie Serna, 32; Sean Donovan, 37
H I P P O Ì PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA INSURANCE
Using public data, satellite imagery and smart home devices such as water-leak and motion detectors, home insurance agent Hippo streamlines the application process and minimizes claims. It’s currently licensed in 21 states and aims to be nationwide by year’s end. FUNDING: $209 million; latest valuation of $1 billion BONA FIDES: Premiums grew fivefold last year COFOUNDERS: CEO Assaf Wand, 45; CTO Eyal Navon, 39
FOUNDER & CEO: Australian Leanne Kemp, 47
ÌNEW TO LIST 1
According to PitchBook
MARCH 2020
THE FORBES FINTECH 50
ICAPITAL NETWORK KINDUR NEW YORK CITY
Ì
NEW YORK CITY
INVESTING
INVESTING
Platform allows high-net-worth clients to invest as little as $25,000 per fund in private equity, debt, VC and hedge funds.
COFOUNDER & CEO: Lawrence Calcano, 57
FUNDING: $11 million; latest valuation of $35 million1
FUNDING: $80 million; latest valuation of $700 million1
BONA FIDES: 21,000 people with $14 billion in retirement savings have built free plans on Kindur since its launch last April FOUNDER & CEO: Rhian Horgan, 42
LEMONADE NEW YORK CITY INSURANCE
SNEJINA ZACHARIA
I N S U R I F Y Ì CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS INSURANCE
Comparison site aims to use AI to sell auto, home and life policies online, without buyers talking to human agents. FUNDING: $30 million BONA FIDES: Has closed 130,000 auto policies, 67% of them without touch of human agent COFOUNDER & CEO: Snejina Zacharia, 43, a native of Bulgaria
KABBAGE ATLANTA B2B LENDING
Its automated system approves lines of credit up to $200,000 in minutes. New service helps small businesses manage invoices and receivables. FUNDING: $489 million; latest valuation of $1.2 billion BONA FIDES: Has loaned more than $9 billion, including about $3 billion in 2019, to 220,000 small businesses COFOUNDERS: CEO Rob Frohwein, 52; president Kathryn Petralia, 49 MARCH 2020
Sells renters’ insurance from $5 a month and homeowners’ from $25 a month using AI to approve coverage in 90 seconds and pay claims in as little as three minutes. Discourages bogus claims by donating excess (after claims, expenses and fixed fee) to charity. Now in 26 states, D.C. and Germany. FUNDING: $480 million; latest valuation of $2.1 billion1 BONA FIDES: More than 500,000 customers, producing annual recurring revenue of $115 million COFOUNDERS: CEO Daniel Schreiber, 49; COO Shai Wininger, 46
L I V E LY Ì SAN FRANCISCO PERSONAL FINANCE
Digital health-savings-account platform offers workers access to fee-free investing (through TD Ameritrade) of money they’ve socked away tax-free for future medical costs. FUNDING: $42 million; latest valuation of $112 million1 BONA FIDES: Users have nearly $200 million in accounts, double the amount a year ago COFOUNDERS: CEO Alex Cyriac, 37, and COO Shobin Uralil, 38
Money Moves 2020
RIDE THE STOCK MARKET WITH TRAINING WHEELS Know someone with only $50 to invest? Mobile app Stash offers fractional purchases of stocks, and Acorns, a “round-up” app, moves extra pennies from credit- and debit-card purchases into ETFs. No-fee, no-minimum custodial Roth IRAs are available from both Schwab and Fidelity for youngsters with earned income. Roths grow tax-free for retirement, and original contributions can be taken out without penalty or tax at any time. A word of warning, though: Don’t try this if your kid might qualify for need-based aid from a private college. —A.E. FORBES.COM
71 INVESTMENT GUIDE • THE LIST
BONA FIDES: $47 billion in assets invested through the platform
Hybrid advice service lures Boomers with free roboretirement-income plans, then pitches comprehensive money management with a dedicated human advisor for 0.50% of assets on accounts of $5,000plus, 0.25% on $500,000-plus.
lending out your margined securities to shortsellers, except that there you’re unlikely to get cut in on the revenue. Another Coinbase product, called USD Coin, developed in partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Circle, lets customers put up U.S. dollars in exchange for a cryptocurrency that has the same value but can be traded more quickly. The dollars in question earn interest that Coinbase shares with its customers. Coinbase says it handled $80 billion of transactions last year. (Binance boasts of a daily volume that annualizes to $1 trillion.) Is that enough for a profit? CFO Haas allows that the bottom line flits in and out of the plus column from month to month. But, she adds, if you exclude non-cash items like charges for goodwill amortization and the hypothetical value of employee options, Coinbase has been solidly in the black for several years. In a firm fixated on growth, the money goes out the door almost as quickly as it comes in. Coinbase has quadrupled its staff to 1,000 since hiring chief operating officer Emilie Choi two years ago. At headquarters, construction workers can barely keep up with the new hires streaming out of the onboarding room. There are offices in New York, Dublin and Tokyo. And then there are bets on the future. Choi, who came to Coinbase after doing business development at LinkedIn, has taken the venture capital portfolio from nothing to 60 firms. It includes Bison Trails in New York City and Alchemy in San Francisco, both aiming to help corporations use blockchains, and Amber Group in Shenzhen, China, which is applying artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency trading. Says Choi: “A lot of the stuff that we’re doing in the venture side of the house is things we probably wouldn’t do as a principal but that we think are really interesting.” Armstrong adds, “These venture bets could be huge, but we don’t know if they’re gonna work.
THE FORBES FINTECH 50 And they actually should have a pretty high rate of failure. Otherwise, we’re not thinking big enough.”
M A K E R D A O Ì
N E X T I N S U R A N C E Ì
NEW YORK CITY
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
INVESTMENT GUIDE • THE LIST
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C
rypto has been condemned as rat poison by Warren Buffett, as a fraud by Jamie Dimon and the mother of all scams by doomsday economist Nouriel Roubini. Where’s the payoff to the economy? It’s coming, Armstrong says. He posits a future in which thousands of startups use crypto to raise capital in a global marketplace no longer controlled by Wall Street firms. Within a decade, he predicts, the number of people participating in the blockchain economy will explode from 50 million to 1 billion. We are destined to enjoy a financial system that is “more global, more fair, more free and more efficient.” There is an emotional component to the quest for financial liberation. Coinbase’s newly hired chief product officer, Surojit Chatterjee, talks about what happened when India all but destroyed currency holdings in a surprise attack on the money supply. His 80-year-old father spent five hours in line to retrieve the equivalent of $30. Many countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Russia and Cyprus, have perpetrated wealth confiscations of this sort, in which some store of value is frozen or forcibly converted into something less valuable. The U.S. is an offender, too. FDR seized gold in 1933, replacing it with pieces of paper that have since lost 95% of their value. Like gold, bitcoin is too cumbersome to be used as a means of exchange. The convoluted mechanism for adding transactions to the ledger means it takes 10 minutes to confirm a payment and that only four transfers can take place per second. You can’t run a global economy on that. Solutions are on the way, Armstrong says. One is to consider bitcoin a store of value and add a
Decentralized finance platform lets borrowers use volatile cryptocurrency as collateral for loans of stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. FUNDING: $63 million; latest valuation of $500 million BONA FIDES: Generated $10 million in interest in 2019 FOUNDER AND CEO: Rune Christensen, 29
INSURANCE
Mobile-first insurance carrier sells small business lines (liability, commercial auto and workers’ comp) packaged for specific industries (e.g., restaurants). Sells in all states except New York and is a licensed carrier in 26. FUNDING: $381 million; latest valuation of more than $1 billion BONA FIDES: Serves 79,000 small businesses COFOUNDERS: CEO Guy Goldstein, 52; CTO Alon Huri, 43; VP of R&D Nissim Tapiro, 50
MARQETA OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA PAYMENTS
Debit-card transaction processor gives companies that issue cards to workers or customers more control over which transactions are approved. FUNDING: $378 million; latest valuation of $1.9 billion BONA FIDES: $300 million-plus in 2019 revenue, Forbes estimates COFOUNDER & CEO: Jason Gardner, 50
NOVA CREDIT SAN FRANCISCO PERSONAL FINANCE
Draws on credit-report information from eight countries to produce a standardized number similar to a U.S. FICO credit score, enabling newcomers to the U.S. to qualify for loans and apartment rentals based on their home-country records. FUNDING: $65 million BONA FIDES: American Express uses Nova data to instantly approve immigrants from Australia, Canada, India, Mexico and the U.K. for U.S. cards COFOUNDERS: CEO Misha Esipov, 32; COO Nicky Goulimis, 31; Loek Janssen, 30
JASON GARDNER
OPENDOOR SAN FRANCISCO
M O N E Y L I O N Ì NEW YORK CITY PERSONAL FINANCE
Money Moves 2020
GIVE YOUR IRA A SECOND WIND Effective January 2020, Congress made a bunch of changes to the rules governing retirement accounts. For one, if you have earned income, you can now contribute to an Individual Retirement Account no matter your age (the old cutoff was 70½). That’s great if you continue to work part-time after you “retire.” Another boon to Boomers: The age for taking mandatory retirement-account payouts was pushed from 70½ to 72. One new gotcha: Leave your Individual Retirement Accounts to non-spouse heirs, and in most cases they must withdraw the money within 10 years. —A.E. FORBES.COM
Digital bank provides users free checking, debit cards, paycheck advances (with direct deposit) and managed ETF portfolios. FUNDING: $207 million; latest valuation of $630 million BONA FIDES: 6 million–plus users COFOUNDERS: CEO Dee Choubey, 38; CIO Pratyush Tiwari, 43; CTO Chee Mun Foong, 42
ÌNEW TO LIST 1
According to PitchBook
REAL ESTATE
Home sellers in 21 cities can request all-cash offers from Opendoor online, receive bids in 24 hours and close in as little as two weeks. New app enables buyers to make offers on any home for sale in six cities, including Dallas and Phoenix. FUNDING: $1.3 billion; latest valuation of $3.8 billion BONA FIDES: Purchased 19,000 homes in 2019 COFOUNDER AND CEO: Eric Wu, 37
MARCH 2020
The
of the nation
25 years in a row.
The world travels to the hospital ranked #1 in heart care.
ClevelandClinic.org /Care
THE FORBES FINTECH 50
INVESTMENT GUIDE • THE LIST
74
layer atop it for transactions, much the way a quiescent base of vault currency and Federal Reserve deposits supports a torrent of checks and electronic payments in the banking system. The other is to create new digital currencies built with transaction speed in mind. Among the ones Coinbase supports are litecoin and bitcoin cash. In December, Coinbase got a first-of-its-kind authorization from Visa to issue debit cards that allow holders to make purchases at the 46 million locations (including ATMs) that accept Visa, and have the money drawn from a Coinbase account holding cryptocurrencies. Initially, these debit cards will be available to residents of 29 countries, but not the U.S. Still, Coinbase could eventually develop its Visa authorization into yet another business line: issuing credit cards on behalf of other crypto exchanges. Banks, meanwhile, aren’t missing the opportunity to redesign payment networks using oldfashioned dollars. Zelle, an instant-payment system run by a consortium of big banks, ran $187 billion of traffic last year, putting it well ahead of PayPal’s Venmo. Zelle is mostly aimed at retail clients doing things like splitting dinner tabs, but has handled transactions as large as $3.2 million. No question, disruptive technology is coming to the banking system, and Coinbase will be a part of it. It is the only outfit to appear on both the Forbes Fintech 50 and Blockchain 50 lists. But Armstrong is going to have plenty of competition, starting with central banks, which are plotting their own digital currencies. Facebook hasn’t given up on Libra, which is intended to be a globally accessible digital currency backed by assets like dollars and euros. Let a thousand flowers bloom, says Armstrong. “When I started Coinbase, most people thought [blockchain] was crazy. Governments and the old guard, the blue chips, are now investing in this technology. So let’s just say that’s a very good thing.”
Money Moves 2020
OWN UP TO YOUR CRYPTO TRADING HABIT The new Schedule 1 of the IRS’ 1040 form asks whether you had any transactions in virtual currencies last year, so forgetting to report sales is no longer an option for people who want to avoid jail. But being honest may in fact save you money: As with other kinds of property, capital-gains tax on a cryptocurrency investment is due only when you sell. Selling just your losing positions generates capital losses that can be put to use absorbing gains elsewhere (such as from stocks and bonds). Crypto, moreover, is exempt from the wash-sale rule that limits capital loss deductions for securities positions that are quickly reestablished. —W.B. FORBES.COM
P A Y O N E E R Ì
P R O P E L Ì
NEW YORK CITY
NEW YORK CITY
PAYMENTS
PERSONAL FINANCE
Enables third-party sellers and hosts on marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart.com and Airbnb to accept payments in foreign currencies. Has started lending to Amazon and Walmart sellers. FUNDING: $270 million; latest valuation of $1 billion1 BONA FIDES: Four million customers in 150 countries; net profit margins north of 5%
Its Fresh EBT mobile app allows food-stamp recipients to check balances, clip store coupons and search job listings. FUNDING: $18 million; latest valuation of $55 million1 BONA FIDES: Users doubled to 2 million in 2019 FOUNDER & CEO: Jimmy Chen, 32
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT: Yuval Tal, 54 CEO: Scott Galit, 49
PLAID SAN FRANCISCO PAYMENTS
Making its fifth—and, assuming its pending acquisition by Visa goes through, last—appearance on this list, Plaid connects payment apps like Square Cash and personal-finance apps like Acorns to users’ bank accounts to transfer and track funds. FUNDING: $310 million; Visa agreed to pay $5.3 billion BONA FIDES: 2,600 customers, including Venmo, Robinhood and Coinbase COFOUNDERS: CEO Zach Perret, 32, and former CTO William Hockey, 30
PLASTIQ
Ì
SAN FRANCISCO PAYMENTS
For a 2.5% fee, lets small businesses use a credit card to pay expenses (e.g., rent) for which cards usually aren’t accepted. Typical clients are restaurants, doctors’ offices and construction firms. FUNDING: $140 million; latest valuation of $700 to $800 million BONA FIDES: More than 50,000 customers; processing nearly $4 billion in transactions a year COFOUNDER AND CEO: Eliot Buchanan, 30, started Plastiq after his attempt to pay his Harvard tuition with a credit card was rejected
ÌNEW TO LIST 1
According to PitchBook
JIMMY CHEN
RIPPLE SAN FRANCISCO BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN
Its blockchain-based global settlements network is used by some 300 institutions. It also lets companies make payments in XRP, the crypto created by its founders. FUNDING: $293 million; latest valuation of $10 billion BONA FIDES: Still holds $12 billion of XRP in escrow and has used XRP sales to fund expansion COFOUNDERS: Chris Larsen, 59; Jed McCaleb, 45; Arthur Britto CEO: Brad Garlinghouse, 49
ROOFSTOCK OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE
Digital real estate marketplace enables investors to purchase single-family rental properties in 25 states. FUNDING: $133 million; latest valuation of $550 million BONA FIDES: Has sold $2 billion of real estate COFOUNDER AND CEO: Gary Beasley, 54
MARCH 2020
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THE FORBES FINTECH 50
ROOT INSURANCE
STRIPE
T A L LY Ì
TRUMID
COLUMBUS, OHIO
SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO
NEW YORK CITY
INSURANCE
INVESTMENT GUIDE • THE LIST
76
PAYMENTS
Auto insurer sets customers’ rates by first monitoring their driving with a smartphone app measuring 200 variables (e.g., braking, miles driven). FUNDING: $528 million; latest valuation of $3.7 billion BONA FIDES: $307 million in direct premiums in the first three quarters of 2019 COFOUNDERS: CEO Alex Timm, 31; CTO Dan Manges, 34
PERSONAL FINANCE
Its platform lets businesses ranging from small websites to Amazon and Facebook accept online payments. Last year, Stripe launched a corporate credit card and small business loans, which are automatically repaid from payments it processes for borrowers.
Credit card debt consolidation and payoff app extends a line of credit (at a lower-than-credit-card interest rate) to customers and applies their monthly payment to their existing credit card debts, avoiding late fees and paying off highest interestrate balances first.
FUNDING: $1 billion; latest valuation of $35 billion, making Stripe the most valuable private fintech in the U.S.
FUNDING: $92 million; latest valuation of $285 million1
BONA FIDES: Processes hundreds of billions of dollars a year in transactions
STASH NEW YORK CITY INVESTING
For a flat fee of $1 to $9 a month, app offers fractional purchases of stocks and ETFs, no-fee checking account and a debit card with stock rewards. FUNDING: $192 million; latest valuation of $585 million1 BONA FIDES: More than 4 million customers COFOUNDERS: CEO Brandon Krieg, 45; president Ed Robinson, 36
COFOUNDERS: CEO Patrick Collison, 31, and president John Collison, 29
BONA FIDES: Increased revenue fourfold in the past year COFOUNDERS: CEO Jason Brown, 40; Jasper Platz, 40
TOAST PAYMENTS
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA PERSONAL FINANCE
Makes loans ranging from $10 to $500 to developing-world customers with little or no formal borrowing history, using their smartphone data to judge risk. (Applicants who pay utility bills on time and phone their mother regularly are more reliable.) FUNDING: $200 million; latest valuation of $800 million BONA FIDES: Made more than $1 billion in loans to 4 million customers; profitable in Kenya and the Philippines; growing fast in Tanzania, Mexico and India
Its restaurant point-of-sale software can handle payments, reservations, online orders and payroll. Now makes loans to restaurants, too. FUNDING: $498 million; latest valuation of $2.7 billion BONA FIDES: Processes tens of billions in sales a year COFOUNDERS: Co-presidents Aman Narang, 37, and Steve Fredette, 36; CTO Jonathan Grimm, 34 CEO: Chris Comparato, 52
TRANSFERWISE LONDON PAYMENTS
MAX SIMKOFF
S T A T E S T I T L E Ì
FOUNDER & CEO: Shivani Siroya, 38, started Tala after having studied the impact of microcredit in sub-Saharan Africa for the U.N.
SAN FRANCISCO REAL ESTATE
Using online ownership data and predictive analytics, clears 80% of homes for title insurance in less than a minute.
BONA FIDES: 6 million customers in 71 countries transfer $5.5 billion a month
BONA FIDES: 2019 revenue of $185 million, after taking over part of Lennar’s title business SHIVANI SIROYA
COFOUNDER AND CEO: Max Simkoff, 38
FORBES.COM
Executes international money transfers for consumers at an average cost of 0.7%, compared with 4% to 5% at U.S. banks, by matching currency orders within a country. Its new debit card allows fee-free purchases and ATM withdrawals around the world. FUNDING: $689 million; latest valuation of $3.5 billion
FUNDING: $107 million
1
According to PitchBook
Electronic bond-trading platform for investment-grade and junk bonds. Started with anonymous block trades, but now also allows traders to post bids and asks anonymously and then negotiate privately. FUNDING: $200 million BONA FIDES: Trading volume has surged to $17 billion a month FOUNDER & CEO: Ronnie Mateo, 46
U N I S O N Ì SAN FRANCISCO
BOSTON
TALA
WALL STREET & ENTERPRISE
COFOUNDERS: CEO Kristo Käärmann, 40, and chairman Taavet Hinrikus, 39, both originally from Estonia
ÌNEW TO LIST
REAL ESTATE
Offers homebuyers and owners in 30 states and Washington, D.C., the option of selling some of the future appreciation in their houses. If Unison and its investors put down 10% of a home’s purchase price, they take 33% of appreciation when the house is sold. FUNDING: $40 million BONA FIDES: Has bought stakes in $4.4 billion worth of housing FOUNDER AND CEO: Thomas Sponholtz, 53
UPSTART SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA PERSONAL FINANCE
Online lending platform uses AI and alternative data such as education and employment history, as well as conventional credit score and income info, to underwrite personal loans. Upstart says 70% of its originations are fully automated. FUNDING: $165 million; latest valuation $750 million1 BONA FIDES: Has generated $6 billion–plus in loans to more than 400,000 borrowers; loans are funded by five partner banks COFOUNDERS: CEO Dave Girouard, 54, previously president at Google Enterprise; product head Paul Gu, 29; operations head Anna M. Counselman, 39
MARCH 2020
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
JAPAN 2020: POSITIONED FOR GROWTH The country’s corporate lodestars are firmly focused on the horizon in positioning their companies for continued success.
With the enthronement of a new emperor in May 2019 and the successful hosting of Asia’s first Rugby World Cup, optimism in Japan has been running high in recent months. This enthusiasm is expected to carry over this year, as the country takes center stage again with the Tokyo Olympic Games, which is scheduled to take place this summer. Meanwhile, Japan's government in December raised its economic growth forecast for the next fiscal year to 1.4% on the back of improving domestic demand. Despite the bright spots, there is no getting away from an uncertain macro environment plagued by trade tensions, a broader retreat from globalization and geopolitical tensions. For some of Japan’s most successful corporates, however, the current bout of volatility is just another short-term challenge in their long and successful track record of overcoming adversity.
Indeed, a focus on the long term and the ability to adapt to ever-changing conditions have been the hallmarks of leading companies such as Canon, Kikkoman and THK. Yuzaburo Mogi, Honorary CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kikkoman Corporation, is one who is no stranger to taking bold steps in the face of uncertainty. He led the traditional soy sauce maker to set up a factory in the U.S. back in the early 1970s, a daring move that was decades ahead of its time. Looking ahead, he believes that companies need to look beyond just technology and focus on developing their human capital in order to succeed. Fujio Mitarai, Chairman and CEO of Canon Inc., is another Japanese corporate leader concentrating beyond the immediate turbulence to position his company for future growth well into the middle of this century. Canon is in the midst of a major
transformation that aims to foster synergies in new business areas, even as it continues to pursue a strategy of mergers and acquisitions. As for Akihiro Teramachi, CEO and President of THK, the aim is to capitalize on the megatrends of digital technology, aging populations and globalization to fuel the company’s growth. He likens running a business to a marathon rather than a sprint, stressing the need to keep a long-term view in order to reap efficiencies. In 2020, THK will launch a new service known as OMNIedge—a solution to predictive failure detection. It works by installing sensors on existing THK components embedded in client machines that collect and analyze data and provide alerts. In an era marked by disruption and change, it will be companies such as these that will emerge stronger from the immediate challenges ahead to prosper for many more generations to come. Japan
1
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
FUJIO MITARAI AIMING TO POSITION CANON FOR FURTHER GROWTH ST INTO THE MID-21 CENTURY equipment, such as CT, MRI and ultrasound, while also boosting their competitive capabilities. Mid- to long-term growth includes a focus on regenerative medicine, which could have far-reaching applications, especially in an aging society. Since August 2019, the company has engaged in joint research with Nobel Prize winner Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and how they could be used to replicate injured tissue, test drug efficacy and develop new medicines. Canon is contributing advanced optical, measuring and diagnostic imaging technologies to the project. Together with Yamanaka and his research group, Canon is confident they can make a contribution to the further development and adoption of regenerative medicine. It’s still in the early stages, according to Mitarai, but there is huge growth potential.
M&A: Mitarai Adopts Two-Pronged Strategy
Fujio Mitarai is looking to position Canon Inc. for future growth into the middle of the 21st century by building on the transformation of his company’s business portfolio to make the switch from a B2C to a B2B company and stay abreast of global market developments. The year 2020 marks the end of Phase V of this business portfolio transformation, and the multinational company that is listed on both the Tokyo and New York stock exchanges continues to advance steadily toward the targets set by Mitarai. “We are transforming our business portfolio to stay in sync with the changing times,” Mitarai says.
2
Japan
The transformation of Canon’s business portfolio includes seeking synergies in new business areas that leverage its existing assets, including both technology and human resources, while also continuing to pursue a strategy of merger and acquisitions. “We are transforming our business portfolio to stay in sync with the changing times,” Mitarai says.
Canon at the Cutting Edge in the Medical Field Mitarai has earmarked the medical field as an area for potential growth and in December 2016, Canon acquired Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation. Over the short term, Canon is looking to expand its lineup of diagnostic imaging
Canon's network camera business boasts annual growth of more than 15% outpacing the market, and Mitarai aims for further dominance in this area with a two-pronged strategy of acquiring various hardware and software businesses. In 2015, Canon acquired Axis Communications, a global leader in network video equipment, less than a year after the acquisition of Milestone Systems, a leader in video management software for such equipment. In addition, in 2018, Canon acquired leading video analysis solution provider BriefCam. The global network camera market is expected to see annual growth in excess of 10% over the mid- to long-term, with such fields as security and law enforcement making up a major share. Mitarai explains, “Using a camera equipped with the ultra-high-resolution 250-megapixel CMOS sensor and 800mm telephoto lens, it is possible to identify the lettering on the side of an aircraft from a distance of about 18km. This can help security patrols view objects that
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Canon to expand its lineup of diagnostic imaging equipment.
cannot be seen with the naked eye.” That’s not to say Mitarai is ignoring the conventional applications of network cameras and their potential to help realize a safer, more secure society. Mitarai also sees uses in marketing: “Network cameras can be used in places like supermarkets to gather data on purchases made by certain demographics from specific shelves. I believe that this technology can be used to create a more convenient society,” he says. He cites potential smart cities as a catalyst for the future development of the network camera market, envisaging the technology connecting such institutions as schools, broadcasters and hospitals. Mitarai’s M&A strategy is also proving a success in the field of commercial printing, identified as one of Canon’s new core businesses. Canon acquired Océ, based in Venlo, the Netherlands, in 2010, but the company that is expected to revolutionize high-volume, highspeed printing continued to operate under its original name. Last year, Océ’s business division recognized the advantage of adopting the Canon brand name, and effective from January 2020, the company has been rebranded as Canon Production Printing— making Océ, already a fully fledged member of the Canon Group, a member in name as well.
8K immersive live viewing at Canon's Tokyo headquarters.
Serving Professionals and Innovating Imagery The Canon name has long been synonymous with consumer cameras, but this market has matured as many of the original user needs can now be met by smartphones. Mitarai wants his company to focus its efforts elsewhere, including the professional user market. “When we talk about the shrinking camera market we are really only talking about consumer cameras. The market for professionallevel cameras used by the media and those who shoot sporting events will not disappear. These are areas where smartphones can’t meet user needs,” he says. Beginning with the Rugby World Cup in 2019, Japan is set to host a number of global sporting events over the next several years. Mitarai himself played a leading role during the Rugby World Cup as Chairman of the Organizing Committee. Canon maintains a strong connection to sports, including event sponsorship and media support, and has actively honed its technological capabilities, including the Free Viewpoint Video System, capture and display of high-resolution 8K images, and immersive widescreen viewing experiences. Canon produced video content that allowed viewers to feel like they were right in the middle of the action.
A native of Kyushu, Japan, Fujio Mitarai decided not to follow his father and brothers into medical school, but instead joined Canon where his uncle served as the first President. Five years later he was posted to Canon’s U.S. headquarters. He stayed for 23 years, eventually becoming President of Canon U.S.A. Back in Japan, he was later appointed President of Canon Inc. before becoming Chairman and CEO. global.canon
Canon’s Free Viewpoint Video System is comprised of cameras installed around the perimeter of the field, producing computergenerated video that provides a new perspective of the game. “The images from the cameras are immediately processed by computers and television viewers can observe events from virtually the same level as the crowd in the stadium. It is also possible to trace individual on-field plays, and to use computer processing to view them from different perspectives,” Mitarai says. He sees possibilities for strategic analysis in such sports as American football and to help referees determine rule violations from positions they cannot see for themselves. “This will transform the way people watch sports,” he adds. Looking ahead, you can be certain that Mitarai and his staff have plans for Canon to continue to create new image expressions that change the way people view sports as the third decade of the 21st century gets underway.
Fujio Mitarai Chairman and CEO, Canon Inc.
Japan
3
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONINGS Few executives anywhere have seen as many economic cycles as the head of the world’s best-known maker and purveyor of soy sauce and other global seasonings.
He’s not as young as he used to be, but he still cuts a dapper figure in person. At 84, he is one of the elder statesmen of Japanese business, not merely by virtue of age, but due to the widespread respect he commands both at home and abroad. Yuzaburo Mogi, the Honorary CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kikkoman Corporation, is in many ways the face of the company. Back in the early 1970s, he pushed the traditional soy sauce maker to set up a factory in the U.S.—years before Japan’s giant electronics companies and automakers did the same. His strategy of local manufacturing, local sales and responding to local needs was decades ahead of its time. How does this farsighted executive feel about changes in Japan today? For example, many Japanese companies set 60 as their mandatory retirement age, but are now hiking it to 65 in response to the growing labor shortage. How does Mogi see that change? He is quick to respond: “There are lots of people who are still vigorous and want to work until 70 or even 75. Why should they be forced to retire? Older workers have a wealth of knowledge and experience. Putting those
assets to work, perhaps by having older workers teach younger ones, is a smart policy. It’s good for the company, good for the workers and good for society. Everyone wins.” Regarding Japan’s labor shortage he says, “The short-term answer is simple: we must make the best possible use of our existing resources. That means providing better working opportunities for both seniors and for women.” Many Japanese companies are now putting a strong emphasis on hiring employees with IT or technical skills. As Kikkoman is deeply involved in biotechnology, does Mogi share that emphasis on technical expertise and IT skills? He thinks a moment and replies, “Of course, IT skills are important today, but for most workers, they’re only a tool. Business is fundamentally about people, not technology. To succeed in business you must understand people.” “I hear some executives say that history, literature, philosophy and so on have no value in the business world. I disagree. I believe our education system is too specialized; it has forgotten the importance of liberal arts. If you don’t understand the background of
Yuzaburo Mogi is a descendant of one of the founding families of Kikkoman, which is among the oldest continually running businesses in Japan. He became company President in 1995, was named Chairman in 2004, and assumed the title of Honorary CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2011. Mogi holds an MBA from Columbia University.
something, the human perspective, you can’t really understand anything in business today.” His most incisive comments were about rapid change, risk and middle managers’ inability to deal with both: “One thing I notice is the increasing pace of change. Of course, there is change in any era. But now the business cycles are much faster. There is greater pressure for companies to make changes quickly. Management must adapt. However, today’s middle managers have never experienced a period of strong economic growth. To use another sports analogy, they’ve never been on a winning team, so they don’t know how to win.” “In fact, top management isn’t much better—in many cases senior executives are just as risk-averse as middle managers, afraid to invest even when doing so is necessary for a company’s growth. Simply put, people are afraid of risk," he says.
What should be done? Mogi replies quickly that “both employees and managers should be given a wider range of experiences to broaden their outlook.” Bold, decisive men such as Mogi helped to build Japan into the economic giant it became in the 1970s and beyond. To continue growing in this century, the nation needs more leaders with his values, insight and vision.
Yuzaburo Mogi Honorary CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kikkoman Corporation
Japan
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THK TO MAINTAIN MID- TO LONGTERM BUSINESS STANCE “I believe business is more like a marathon, so it is necessary to see things over the longer term if we are to react efficiently.” Akihiro Teramachi Chief Executive Officer and President, THK
Impact of Digital Technology and OMNIedge Launch
While many companies have assumed a short-term business stance, Akihiro Teramachi is keeping his sights on the mid- to longterm, and is looking to capitalize on the new reality of digital technology, aging populations and globalization. “The business world is shifting more and more to a short-term stance. It’s a bit like being told to be ‘on your mark, get set and go,’ then having to dash. I believe business is more like a marathon, so we need to see things over the longer term if we are to react efficiently,” says Teramachi, Chief Executive Officer and President of the company that developed the Linear Motion (LM) Guide mechanism in 1972.
Teramachi and his staff are not adopting a short-term stance, but are seeking medium to longer term solutions as their clients switch strategies, products and business flows using the latest in digital technology. Digital technology underpins AI, IoT and robots, all of which are fields where THK solutions are in demand. However, increased digitalization has also created a need to boost their response time to their clients. To reply to those demands, the company developed Omni THK, a platform for communicating with clients. Following on this development, from 2020 THK will offer a new service—OMNIedge. OMNIedge installs sensors on THK components embedded in client machines to monitor and predict faults by collecting and analyzing data as well as issuing alerts. “The data gathered from this diagnosis not only makes our products more visible, but can also be used to help us advance to the next stage,” Teramachi says.
Extended Life Expectancy Presents Staggering Business Opportunity
“Human beings are multifunctional animals. Hence, robots that perform only single tasks will not be able to help us in the future. Human symbiotic or human-friendly robots that can perform multiple tasks or jobs are needed,” he says. That suggests a business opportunity of staggering proportions. “The global population is approximately 7 to 8 billion people, and if the approximately 1 billion of those people who live in the advanced industrialized world live in harmony with such human-friendly robots, then we are talking about the birth of a market equivalent to that of the global automobile market,” Teramachi says.
Globalization Given that 60% of its workforce now works overseas, it is no surprise that THK is also banking on globalization. The company is building a new factory in India, and Teramachi expects the country to develop into a market second only to China. Further factories are being considered as THK looks to cut the distance between supplier and user. “When it comes to components produced in volume, supply and distribution lead times become extremely important, and we are setting up a system that allows us to produce close to our clients. I believe this to be an important strategy,” he says. The adoption of these bold strategies suggests that Teramachi and THK will successfully continue to adapt to the changing business environment of the future.
Amid predictions that human beings may live until the age of 120, the challenge is to keep up with the compound needs of the ultraaging population. Teramachi believes support robots are the answer, but he sets high entry requirements.
Akihiro Teramachi graduated from Keio University in 1971 and joined THK Co., Ltd. in 1975. He became a Director in 1982 and Vice President in 1994, before becoming CEO in 1997. www.thk.com
Akihiro Teramachi Chief Executive Officer and President, THK
Japan
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ELON’S NEW NEMESIS C H E C K YO U R R E A RV I E W M I R RO R , TESLA. RIVIAN HAS A $3 BILLION WAR CHEST FROM AMAZON, FORD AND THE SAUDIS, AND IS REVVING UP PRODUCTION ON ITS ELECTRIC SUVS AND TRUCKS. NOW ALL THE SECRETIVE AUTOMAKER HAS TO DO I S S TA R T B U I L D I N G C A R S A N D AV O I D T H E R O A D B L O C K S T H AT A L M O S T CAUSED TESLA TO CRASH. A RARE I N T E RV I E W W I T H I T S 3 7 -Y E A R - O L D FOUNDER, R.J. SCARINGE. BY C H U C K TA N N E R T
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It’s 8 o’clock on a January morning, and the temperature in Normal, Illinois, just a few hours south of Chicago, is well below freezing. The small pond in front of Rivian Automotive’s assembly plant has turned to ice, the grass is covered with frost and there is snow in the forecast. It’s not much warmer inside the plant. Nearly the entire 2.6 million-square-foot facility is a construction zone, undergoing a massive $750 million renovation to prepare for the end of the year, when it expects to start rolling out batterypowered trucks, vans and SUVs. So minor details like heat are not exactly a top priority. The only finished area—a second floor at the front of the building that overlooks the factory— is where the plant’s previous owner, Mitsubishi, had its executive offices. Back then, access to this floor was restricted to the suits. Now it’s a giant
2003
DRIVE TIME
TESLA
Company founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tappenning.
2004 Elon Musk joins as chairman after investing in its $7.5 million Series A.
2005
open workspace, accessible to all, with a cafeteria, polished concrete floors and lots of natural light, just like the floor plan at Rivian’s research and design center in Plymouth, Michigan. The concept for both offices was to merge industrial and outdoor aesthetics that mirror the company’s brand—an automaker that builds sustainable vehicles usable in off-road settings. Rivian, which was founded in 2009 but is finally releasing its first vehicle this year, also has operations in San Jose and Irvine, California, where it develops its technology and batteries. “When we’re done cleaning, painting and installing the equipment,” says Rivian’s 37-yearold founder and CEO, Robert Joseph Scaringe (better known as just R.J.), “we will eventually be able to produce 250,000 vehicles per year by mid-decade.” Starting an independent car company is not easy. Among the roadkill in automotive history are Preston Tucker, who challenged Detroit in the late 1940s, and John DeLorean, who failed to take the Motor City back to the future in the early 1980s. Producing a line of mass-market vehicles in the 21st century is even more difficult than it was for Tucker and DeLorean, and considerably more perilous in the EV category. With the emergence of Rivian, the electric vehicle market is no longer a one horseless carriage race. Indeed, the 2020s are gearing up to be the decade of the EV. According to research at Oppenheimer, EVs and plug-in electric hybrids accounted for a mere 2.2 percent of all U.S. vehicles sold in the last quarter of 2019. And only a third of those were purely electric. But that is changing rapidly. While only 5.1 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2018, that figure is expected to surge throughout the decade—21 million units are projected to be sold in 2020, 98 million in 2025 and 253 million in 2030. Building a new EV, however, requires investing in cutting-edge research into components like battery packs and powertrains. The only company that has been remotely successful is, of course, Tesla—and even it has had a rough go of it. “We spent a lot of time looking at and understanding how different [automakers] were
2006
Roadster prototype unveiled.
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2008 Musk becomes CEO; first Roadsters delivered.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TESLA AND RIVIAN RIVIAN
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Model S debuts.
2010 Tesla goes public with $1.7 billion market cap.
R.J. Scaringe launches Mainstream Motors.
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Rivian’s adventure SUV can accommodate seven people, but the company has also filed for a patent to adapt a seat for first responders.
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Model X introduced.
Name changed to Rivian Automotive.
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built,” Scaringe says. “And we spent a lot of time understanding the risks associated with how to build and scale a business, and the working capital that’s [required].” Over the past 13 months, he and his team have raised $2.85 billion to fund Rivian’s future. First Amazon (and others) invested $700 million in February 2019. Then Ford ponied up $500 million two months later. Cox Automotive, whose brands include Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, came through with another $350 million in September. And if that weren’t enough to turbocharge Scaringe’s outsized ambitions, just before Christmas Eve, money management behemoth T. Rowe Price led yet another investment round worth more than $1.3 billion. That early infusion of capital—on top of investments of nearly $500 million, including from
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Raises $1 billion– plus in debt and more than $5 billion over the next five years.
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Model 3 launches; orders top $7.5 billion in 24 hours. Research operations begin in Michigan; California follows in 2016.
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Model Y debuts.
Acquires former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois, for $16 million.
Raises $200 million in funding from Standard Chartered Bank; reveals first vehicles, R1T pickup and R1S SUV.
2020 Market cap reaches $100 billion; Tesla becomes the most valuable U.S. automaker.
Secures $2.9 billion from Amazon, Cox, Ford and T. Rowe Price.
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Ride and Seek
JIMCO, the investment arm of Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi corporation that has bet big on energy and mobility—has given Rivian a valuation just north of $5.5 billion. Scaringe is estimated to own slightly more than 20 percent of the company, making him the latest automotive billionaire. The funding has also allowed Scaringe to nearly triple the size of Rivian’s workforce, from around 700 in 2018 to more than 2,000 today, which is how he can scale production this year. The question is: Even with $3 billion, does Rivian have enough to realize Scaringe’s electric dreams? Until now, it’s been a far smoother road than the one Musk faced with his first vehicle. Tesla raised around $100 million between 2003 and 2008 to produce the Roadster, which was soon abandoned in favor of the Model S, and the Model S required more than $350 million in funding (including a 2010 IPO that valued the company at $1.7 billion). The journey of the Model 3 was particularly rocky. Supplychain issues and Musk’s desire to completely disrupt the manufacturing process led to a two year– plus delay delivering cars to customers and a slew of quality-control issues. The fallout from these problems reportedly cost the EV maker hundreds of millions of dollars. (Tesla did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) The company then took on estimated billions in debt as it scaled its production for the mass market. So if the mighty Tesla has faced so many detours and potholes, what makes Scaringe think that Rivian, which hasn’t made a single car, can have a smooth ride? He doesn’t. “Things will go wrong,” admits the young CEO. And Scaringe, who comes across like a mild-mannered Clark Kent type com-
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Elon Musk CEO, Tesla
R.J. Scaringe Founder/CEO, Rivian BORN
Melbourne, Florida
Pretoria, South Africa AGE
37
48 NET WORTH
$1 billion
$39.3 billion CARS PRODUCED TO DATE
0
900,000-plus EDUCATION
B.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; M.S. and Ph.D., MIT, Sloan Automotive Lab
B.S., University of Pennsylvania; B.S., the Wharton School
MARITAL STATUS
Married, three sons
Twice divorced, five sons; now dating pop star Grimes SUPERHERO ALTER EGO
Clark Kent
Tony Stark TWITTER FOLLOWERS
10,600
31 million TYPICAL TWEET
“And, no, I’m not an alien . . . but I used to be one.”
“Great work team.”
pared to Musk’s manic Tony Stark, is confident he can overcome any perils or roadblocks. After all, Rivian is built for treacherous terrain.
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.J. Scaringe first dreamed of starting his own car company when he was in high school. But unlike most teenage gearheads with the same ambition, Scaringe backed it up by studying engineering. His vision changed in 2007 while attending MIT’s prestigious Sloan Automotive Lab, where he attained a doctorate in mechanical engineering and the skills he would need to build the vehicle he imagined in his head. “As I became increasingly aware of how many problems were born out of the automobile—geopolitical, climate, air quality and more—it became a huge source of internal conflict for me,” he recalls. So he scrapped his plan for a gas-powered sports car for one that was battery-powered, much like Tesla’s original Roadster.
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JOHN RAOUX/AP; CARLOS DELGADO-AP
ROA D WA R R I O R S
After graduating with his doctorate in 2009, Scaringe returned home to Melbourne, Florida, where he founded the company that became Rivian. He and his team spent four years developing a speedster-like EV before Scaringe found what he thought was an obvious gap in electric vehicles and one that spoke to his outdoorsy interests—a truck and a luxury SUV. Scaringe also spent nearly a decade developing its innovative skateboard platform—a chassis that contains the battery pack, suspension, electric motors for propulsion and a computer to control it all. Finally, in November 2018, Rivian unveiled its two prototypes at the Los Angeles Auto Show: The R1S, an electric SUV that seats seven, and the R1T, an electric pickup truck. The so-called “adventure vehicles” look like the love children of a Range Rover—rugged, capable and luxurious—and are packed with the latest amenities such as internet connectivity and a host of driver-assist safety features. The company expects to deliver an ambitious 20,000 units (combined truck and SUV) in 2021 and 40,000 in 2022, which could translate to approximately $1.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, if all goes according to plan. By comparison, Tesla sold 25,000 units of the Model X in 2016, its first full year of release. Beyond its first two releases, Scaringe says there will be three more vehicles in the Rivian portfolio by 2024. Though he is cautious about providing details, Scaringe admits that one will be smaller in size and all will be considerably lower in price. It’s a strategy akin to what Land Rover does with its Defender and top-of-theline Range Rovers—i.e., the same base model with fewer amenities. And if Scaringe can truly keep the price below $50,000, it will cause far worse headaches for Musk than a broken shatterproof window on his Franken-vehicle, the Cybertruck. Tesla, of course, now dominates the EV market—by one estimate it represents nearly 80% of sales in the United States—and Rivian will face stiff competition in the luxury battery-powered SUV segment from other automakers. The R1S SUV will enter a market in the fall that includes the Mercedes-Benz EQC (starting at $67,900); the Audi e-tron SUV ($74,800); the Jaguar iPace ($69,500); and, of course, the Tesla Model X ($84,990). Other automakers such as Hyundai and Kia will offer more affordable options, such as the Kona EV, starting at $37,190, and Niro EV, starting at $38,500, respectively. Rivian should be without real competition in the truck category, however. Despite Tesla’s highly public debut of the Cybertruck, it’s not expected to be produced until 2022. And both Ford and
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aving built a $3 billion war chest from Amazon, Ford and Cox in a short time is certainly an impressive start for Scaringe, but if Tesla’s history is an example, that won’t be enough funding to scale production to compete with Musk. Then again, those brands see opportunity in Rivian that Tesla could never provide. The partnerships Scaringe forged weren’t just about the cash. In Ford’s case, the two companies will also build an electric vehicle together. “We’re providing the platform,” Scaringe says. “They will provide the body and the interior.” Although Scaringe is reticent in talking about the project, the vehicle will be a luxury SUV with Ford’s Lincoln brand. Rivian hopes the Ford alliance will allow the company to grow beyond its own consumer electric vehicle offerings. For its part, Ford is seemingly doing it to keep the company’s options open, as it often does, to pursue the best option with which to achieve its electrification goals: 40 electric vehicle models by the end of 2022. Besides the Lincoln with Rivian, Ford is working on the electric Mustang-inspired Mach-E SUV and both a hybrid and all-electric version of the Ford F-150, America’s best-selling vehicle. Ford is also working with Volkswagen to develop EVs on its new EV platform. Amazon, meanwhile, is looking to Rivian to develop a battery-powered delivery van as part of its pledge to be net-zero carbon across all its businesses by 2040 and use 100 percent renewable energy to power those businesses by 2030.
T H E FA B U LO U S ST U D E BA K E R B OYS Electric-car companies have been short-circuiting for more than a century. Some 50 years after their company was founded, three of the Studebaker brothers—Henry, Clem and John—steered their family’s prosperous wagonmaking business toward automobiles. In 1902, Studebaker released its first battery-operated vehicle and would eventually add several more models, including a line of commercial trucks. But the cars were expensive—around $30,000 in today’s dollars, or nearly 15% more than a Ford Model T—and slow, maxing out around 20 mph, a third of what a gas-powered car could do. The batteries alone weighed 970 pounds. After producing just 1,841 vehicles in 12 years, Studebaker ended its electric line in 1912 to focus on gas vehicles. The irony was not lost on Elon Musk, who in 2018 visited the Studebaker museum in South Bend, Indiana, and tweeted out John Studebaker’s dictum about gas cars: “Clumsy, dangerous, noisy brutes, which stink to high heaven.” Five Pack The Studebakers launched their wagon company in 1852. The last car to bear their name, the Studebaker Cruiser, rolled off the line in 1966.
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General Motors have promised to release electric pickups in the next few years. “The opportunities [in the EV market] are pretty substantial,” says Ed Kim, a market analyst for AutoPacific, an automotive research and consulting firm based in California. If Rivian becomes a threat to Tesla dominance, it could energize the category and set up a true EV rivalry. “Some experts have been predicting this for a while, and I think there are a few key factors happening now that [are leading to further] penetration of the EV,” says Steven Low, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Caltech. One is that vehicle range is expanding. Another is the availability of more charging facilities. And the third element is price. Rivian claims its R1S and R1T will offer outstanding performance, including a range of just over 400 miles, or nearly 75 miles more than any other existing EV. Both will be able to sprint from zero to 60 mph in about three seconds. Above all, Rivian promises genuine off-road capability. Try driving your Tesla on the beach or into the woods. The company also plans to build out a charging infrastructure, much like Tesla’s Superchargers. “We are developing them in parallel,” Scaringe says. As for the cost, Rivian’s pickup will have a base price around $69,000, and the SUV will be $72,500 (and both come with a federal tax incentive). Scaringe hints that these prices will come down closer to release but wouldn’t reveal a precise figure. Much will depend on Rivian’s new deep-pocketed partners.
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The New Normal Rivian’s complex in Illinois was formerly a Mitsubishi factory, many of whose workers have returned. Next, Scaringe will purchase a 350-acre farm nearby to supply food for the facility.
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he name of the Illinois town that Rivian calls home is the perfect adjective to describe Scaringe himself and differentiate him from Musk: Normal. Whereas Tesla’s cofounder is all bravado and showmanship—he has weaponized his Twitter account and turned it into a de facto marketing division—Scaringe is soft-spoken and low-key. While Musk is photographed with models and pop stars, Scaringe is a family man, even if he rarely sees his family lately. These days, he lives
out of a suitcase, spending five days a week traveling among the company’s four offices to make sure things are on schedule. His wife, Meagan, and their three boys (all under 5) see him from Friday night to Sunday evening in their unassuming three-bedroom house near Irvine. On Sunday evening, he boards a plane to Michigan and repeats the process to ensure that his larger vision is being realized: thinking globally and acting locally. When the Mitsubishi plant closed in July 2015, for example, the mood in Normal was decidedly funereal. “It hurt,” says Mayor Chris Koos. “It left over 1,000 people out of work, which causes a ripple effect throughout the community.” Even after the plant was sold to Rivian for $16 million in 2017, residents remained skeptical. That negative sentiment soon changed, however. “Rivian showed interest in the lifestyle of the community, the quality of education, affordable housing and access to transportation,” Mayor Koos says. The company even had a preview day in Normal last summer to answer any questions from local residents. It made a big impact on Normal’s perception of Rivian and, not surprisingly, proved valuable when it came to recruiting employees. With the town onboard, Scaringe is now on a mission to lead Rivian through its first production cycle and expand its line. Though it’s too early to tell who will win the EV wars, Rivian is one of just a couple of companies that has a strong chance not only to survive, but thrive, according to Navigant’s Sam Abuelsamid. He thinks Rivian might even be in a better position going forward than Tesla: “If you’re talking about who’s going to have potentially the most volume, getting more vehicles to market in the near to midterm, [I’d say] probably Tesla.” But from an actual business standpoint, Rivian is “in the better position to succeed because of the nature of the products they have.” But first, the rubber has to hit the road.
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Consequently, Amazon ordered 100,000 vans from Rivian. At least 10,000 should be on the road by late 2022, and all are expected to be operating in Amazon’s fleet by 2024. The vans will presumably become part of an end-to-end logistics network that Amazon has been working on since 2015. If so, expect more Rivian orders to come down the road. But it’s the Cox partnership that could prove the most troubling for Musk. While Tesla has more than 100 service centers in 30 states, Cox handled more than 55 million service appointments in 2019 at its sprawling network of commercial and dealer partner service centers across the United States. If something goes wrong with an R1T or R1S, the idea, presumably, is that a customer will be able to take the vehicle to a Cox service center like Pivet to have it repaired correctly and in a timely fashion, something that Tesla has struggled with since its inception. Cox is also playing the long game with Rivian—as more vehicles come to market, it wants to control secondary sales. “My hope is with the skills that we have,” says Cox president Sandy Schwartz, “and with all the things that we’re learning, that we’ll be the chief wholesale remarketer for all Rivians someday.” Now they just have to build some.
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TRUST YOUR GUT × ×
× × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × × O N T H E B R AV E S T F R O N T I E R I N H U M A N H E A LT H , S C I E N T I S T S A R E U S I N G BACTERIA FROM THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM T O C R E AT E N O V E L M E D I C I N E S F O R A HUGE RANGE OF AILMENTS INCLUDING PA R K I N S O N ’ S , CA N C E R A N D AU T I S M . G AT E S , B E N I O F F A N D Z U C K E R B E R G A R E T R U E B E L I E V E R S , A N D T H E R E S U LT C O U L D B E B L O C K B U S T E R D R U G S T H AT TRANSFORM LIVES—AND DELIVER M A S S I V E R E T U R N S F O R E A R LY I N V E S T O R S .
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Fecal Forest Finch Therapeutics cofounder Mark Smith at Finch’s Somerville, Massachusetts, offices. “It’s only in the past 15 years that we’ve come to understand the incredible diversity of the microbiome. It’s almost like a rainforest inside our bodies. There are 100 times more bacterial genes than human genes.”
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→ Sharp pains shot through the patient’s stomach, and he had constant diarrhea. Seven rounds of antibiotics over 18 months had only made him feel worse. A previously healthy man in his 20s who wishes to remain anonymous, he had contracted a recurring case of Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, after having his gallbladder removed in 2012. Hospital patients are prone to C. diff since antibiotic treatment for other maladies decimates the infectionfighting capacity of what scientists call the gut microbiome, the trillions of cells that move through the human digestive system. “It didn’t just affect my gut,” he says. “I was exhausted all the time. I had really bad brain fog. I couldn’t concentrate.” Desperate, he researched possible therapies and discovered articles about fecal transplants wiping out the infection. But his gastroenterologist refused to perform the procedure. So he took matters into his own hands. He asked his roommate to supply a stool sample, bought an enema kit from CVS, pulsed the mixture in a blender, strained it through a coffee filter and pumped it into his gut. As though a wizard had cast a spell, he made a full recovery within days. Welcome to the most promising new frontier in medicine: poop. By focusing on what’s coming out of patients’ rear ends, a growing body of scientific research over the last 15 years has highlighted the crucial role the microbiome plays in human health. That new understanding could lead to breakthrough treatments for a huge range of illnesses, from obvious ones like digestive ailments and food allergies to surprising ones like cancer and autism. A microbiome-derived drug is already in the works to prevent childhood asthma. Put crudely, the idea is to use gut bugs as drugs. More than 50,000 scientific papers in the last five years have explored the microbiome’s effects. Various kinds of gut bacteria appear to stimulate or suppress immune responses in the body, while others seem to fight off disease-causing microbes. A groundswell of cutting-edge research has the potential to deliver a burst of new therapies that will vastly reduce human suffering—and generate huge paydays for the field’s pioneers. When scientists transferred gut microbiome cells from obese mice into lean ones, the recipients gained weight. In one study, melanoma patients with the most diverse microbiomes had the best response to immunotherapy. And mice injected with gut bacteria from marathon runners ran FORBES.COM
longer distances. A new drug for obesity alone could be worth more than $20 billion. So far, the most compelling microbiome-derived therapy is a live fecal transplant for C. diff, which strikes half a million Americans annually, killing 15,000. In 2013, the New England Journal of Medicine published a paper that caught the scientific community by surprise and jump-started investment in microbiome drug development. In a randomized trial, 94% of recurrent C. diff patients recovered after receiving fecal transplants. To put that in context, cancer drugs with efficacy rates as low as 10% have been approved by the FDA. Billions of dollars are pouring into microbiome medicine. Gbola Amusa, a medical doctor and partner at Chardan, a health care–focused investment bank in New York, pegs the total amount invested since 2014 at more than $5 billion. Techie billionaires including Bill Gates, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla are funding microbiome startups, and Gates, Benioff and Mark Zuckerberg have all made donations to support microbiome research at institutions including Stanford, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California, San Francisco. The race is on for FDA approval of the first drug made from gut bacteria. But the science is young and unproven. At Oppenheimer in New York, Mark Breidenbach says investor enthusiasm in microbiome companies is on a downswing because “there is no consensus about what the microbiome can do.” Amusa is more bullish. “The science is turning,” he says. “When it comes through with proof, these biotech companies will be worth not hundreds of millions of dollars, but billions.” MARCH
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omerville, Massachusetts–based Finch cessfully treated, freeze-drying it and delivering the equivaTherapeutics is one of the most prom- lent of a fecal transplant in a single pill. It’s also working on ising startups developing microbiome simpler drugs made from five to 10 key bacteria. It expects drugs. Cofounder Mark Smith, 33, was a results from its first Phase 2 trial (which demonstrates efmicrobiology grad student at MIT when ficacy) of the full-spectrum C. diff capsule by the end of the the 20-something C. diff patient begged him for help. “I had second quarter of 2020. to tell him, I’m a microbiologist, not a doctor,” Smith says. “Even if only a few of the microbiome therapies scientists The patient’s ordeal motivated Smith to create Open- are working on come to fruition,” Smith says, “it will have a Biome, the equivalent of a public blood bank for human huge impact on public health.” feces, while Smith was still at MIT in 2013. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, nonprofit, the first of its kind in the world, nother MIT Ph.D., Bernat Olle, 40, is runhas since supplied stool for more than 53,000 transplants ning Vedanta Biosciences, a nine-year-old in 1,200 hospitals and clinics. Cambridge, Massachusetts–based microInspired by the demand for transplants, Smith cofoundbiome drug developer with $112 million ed for-profit Finch (named for the diverse group of finches in funding, including $10 million from Charles Darwin discovered in the Galápagos Islands) in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates investment 2016 to develop an FDA-approved C. diff pill. Currently, supports preclinical research at Vedanta aimed at developmost doctors perform fecal transplants through a colonos- ing a gut bacteria–derived drug that would prevent child copy, which can cost as much as $5,000. The procedure is malnutrition in the developing world. Nearly 200 million not FDA-approved or reliably covered by insurance. children under age 5 suffer from either wasting or stunting, Smith and his 80 employees occupy two floors in an in- resulting in at least 1.5 million deaths a year. “Malnourished dustrial park that formerly housed administrative offices children struggle to gain weight even when fed enough,” and storage space for the Harvard Art Museums. Tall and Olle says. “Emerging research suggests that this is because slender with piercing blue eyes, he welcomes the inevitable their gut microbiota develop abnormally, and that benefijokes that come with being a human-feces entrepreneur. On cial gut bacterial strains may help correct this imbalance.” Halloween he wore a poop-emoji costume (“I was a pooper Vedanta also has two partnerships with big pharmaceutitrooper”) to the office, where the copiers have names like cal companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, to develop Squatty Potty and Magic Stool Bus. drugs aimed at boosting the effectiveness of immunotherapy But he has raised serious capital. Venture funds have put to treat melanoma and colorectal and gastric cancers. Like in $130 million, and Finch has a partnership with Tokyo- Finch, Vedanta is developing a drug to treat recurrent C. diff. based pharma giant Takeda to develop drugs for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, which together have 10 million sufferers worldwide. Finch is also working on an autism drug. Traditionally, scientists start with data gathered through experiments on mice. Finch is taking a “human-first” approach, skipping the rodents and analyzing the stool of human patients who have recovered after receiving fecal transplants. “We’re looking at what works in patients and figuring out how to make our drugs from the top down,” Smith says. “It’s called reverse translation.” For one of its C. diff drugs, Finch is extracting what Smith describes as the “full spectrum” of bacteria in a Drugs From Bugs Bernat Olle, cofounder and CEO of Vedanta Biosciences, in one of Vedanta’s labs human stool sample from in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “I don’t think there’s any other field of medicine today a patient who has been suc- that holds as much promise for the future of medicine as the microbiome.”
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very gold rush attracts its share of charlatans and claim jumpers. More than a halfdozen startups are using the microbiome as a marketing buzzword to sell stool-analysis tests. The kits, which require the consumer to mail a small sample to a lab, purport to convey valuable personalized health data and nutrition advice. That despite a consensus among scientists that it’s not yet possible to draw useful dietary recommendations from a person’s poop. To avoid hostile oversight by the FDA, the kit sellers are careful to make no specific claims about diagnosing or treating particular diseases. Four years ago, former InfoSpace billionaire Naveen Jain, 60, launched Bellevue, Washington–based Viome, which sells a $119 “gut intelligence test” online. After analyzing a pea-sized stool sample, it sends customers a customized 60-page report with dietary recommendations “aimed at balancing your overall microbiome.” It might recommend, for instance, increasing Medicine Show consumption of “superfoods” like alViome founder Naveen Jain at company headquarters in a Bellevue, Washington, falfa sprouts and anchovies or avoiding WeWork space. “The goal is to scientifically show that it’s not voodoo stuff or a placebo.” green beans and kombucha. Jain says Viome has sold more than 100,000 kits Inside Vedanta’s maze of labs and storage rooms is an and banked more than $15 million in revenue last year. “Viome’s claims are not supported by any scientific literaoversized freezer containing fecal matter from 275 donors on four continents, including an indigenous tribe in Papua ture,” says Jonathan Eisen, a medical microbiology professor New Guinea. Vedanta is isolating and then testing bacteria who directs microbiome research at the University of Califrom each sample in the hope of determining which strains fornia, Davis. “What they’re saying is, in fact, deceptive.” A dozen former Viome staffers say they believe the company make the most effective drugs. A wiry Catalan immigrant with close-cropped salt-and- was selling a product of dubious value. Six of those ex-staffers pepper hair who bicycles to work, Olle came to the U.S. describe the food recommendations as “pseudoscience.” “Anyone who says this doesn’t understand how our sciin 2002 to study chemical engineering at MIT, where he focused on the emerging science of using live organisms ence works and how we make recommendations,” Jain like bacteria to produce drugs. In 2007, after earning both counters. “It’s not my job to convince everyone; it’s my job an MIT doctorate and an MBA from the Sloan School, he to continue to help make the world a better place.” A nonstop talker prone to enthusiastic, stream-ofjoined PureTech Health, a Boston biotech firm. In 2010 PureTech backed him in launching Vedanta consciousness self-promotion, Jain immigrated to the U.S. with five cofounders, all scientists, including big names from India in 1982 and worked at Microsoft from 1989 until such as Kenya Honda, a microbiology professor at Keio 1996, when he founded InfoSpace, also in Bellevue, which University medical school in Tokyo. Honda had published delivered internet content to early cellphones. His net a groundbreaking paper on the connection between gut worth ballooned to $8 billion, then crashed to $220 million bacteria and regulatory T cells, known to prevent inflam- when the first internet bubble burst. A flood of shareholder matory diseases. “Think of them as the U.N. peace forces suits followed, and the InfoSpace board fired him as CEO in of the intestine,” Olle says. “Honda’s work suggested that late 2002. Before he left InfoSpace, he bought a $13 million the cells encoded in human DNA are influenced by the stucco mansion on the shores of Lake Washington not far from Jeff Bezos’ and Bill Gates’ pads. bacteria that live within you.” Despite having no background in science or medicine, “This work has forced me to rethink what it means to be human,” Olle says. “We are not just the product of the Homo Jain has managed to raise $75 million from investors including Benioff and Khosla. Both declined to comment on sapiens genome.”
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where 1,000 germ-free mice, delivered by Caesarean section in sterile conditions to ensure they are bacteria-free, live inside plastic-encased rectangular bubbles. Grad students douse the animals’ food with various gut microbes to test which bacteria promote tremors and motor problems in mice that correlate with Parkinson’s symptoms in humans. In 2016, David Donabedian, a chemistry Ph.D. who was then a partner at Longwood Fund, a Boston venture capital firm, volunteered to raise the money and research power to move Mazmanian’s biotech venture forward. The company, Waltham, Massachusetts–based Axial Biotherapeutics, has $55 million in backing and 30 employees. Under Donabedian as CEO, Axial is in the early stages of developing synthetic drugs made of small molecules it hopes will absorb the particular gut-bacteria byproducts (called “metabolites”) that appear to exacerbate autism symptoms. It’s also working on a drug to treat the digestive problems suffered by many people with Parkinson’s. In the U.S., more than a million people suffer from autism, and there are no drugs to treat it; an additional million have Parkinson’s. What would be the value of an FDA-approved drug for either condition? “I can’t give you a market size,” says Donabedian. “But if either one hits, it will be huge.” Chris Howerton, a biotechnology analyst at Jefferies, a New York investment bank, is less shy. “If every single microbiome paper turns into a proven therapy, it could impact the drug markets for most major categories of disease, which together were worth $350 billion in 2018 in the U.S. alone,” he says. “The breadth of the microbiome’s potential application is really tantalizing.” F
t Caltech in Pasadena, California, microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian, 47, is considered one of the foremost gurus of microbiome research. In 2012 the MacArthur Foundation gave him a $500,000 “genius” grant for his work on the microbiome’s role in disease. Since then, he’s been exploring one of the most intriguing connections in human health: the “gut-brain axis.” The working thesis is that the bugs in your belly have a direct impact on your neurological health, which has profound implications for autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In 2008, two years after joining the Caltech faculty, Mazmanian published a cover story in Nature that documented his successful treatment of inflammatory bowel disease in mice with human gut bacteria. A Caltech colleague, Paul Patterson, who was researching autism in mice, saw a possible connection to the digestive problems suffered by as many as 60% of children with autism. Together they started testing whether human gut bacteria could induce and ameliorate autism-like symptoms in mice. In the midst of their early work, Patterson was diagnosed with fatal brain cancer. In a hospital room at UCLA where Patterson was awaiting surgery in May 2014, Mazmanian signed papers giving Patterson a stake in a company that would develop drugs from their experiments. “I wanted Paul to get the recognition of his contribution,” says Mazmanian. Patterson died the following month. Mazmanian is carrying The Gut-Brain Connection professor Sarkis Mazmanian in one of his Pasadena, California, labs. In a trailblazing study, on their research in his sub- Caltech he transferred gut bacteria from humans with autism into sterile mice who then exhibited autism-like basement lab at Caltech, behaviors. “The most rigorous clinicians and investors,” he says, “realize this is a long journey we’re on.”
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their microbiome investments. But Alex Morgan, a Khosla Ventures principal with an M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford, suggests Khosla’s decision to back Viome has nothing to do with nutritional advice. Instead, he says, the firm invested because Viome hired a team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. In addition, Viome had made a deal with the lab to license a valuable tech platform that has a unique ability to sequence the biochemical activity in microorganisms. So even if Jain is selling snake oil, Viome might have significant value. Indeed, British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline struck a royalty deal with Viome in November 2019 to use its tech to help develop microbiome-derived vaccines. Jain’s investors could make out handsomely.
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BLOOM AND BUST KR SRIDHAR’S BLOOM ENERGY PROMISED TO TURN NATURAL GAS INTO CLEAN ELECTRICITY “CHEAPER THAN THE GRID.” BUT AFTER BLOWING BILLIONS, ITS FUEL CELLS HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE OUTRAGEOUSLY COSTLY—AND NOT SO GREEN AFTER ALL.
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As wildfires raged last October, more than a million northern Californians suffered through blackouts, their electricity cut in order to reduce the likelihood of high winds sparking new conflagrations. In smoke, KR Sridhar smelled opportunity. His company, publicly traded Bloom Energy, sells fuel cells—steel boxes that generate electricity using natural gas. The boxes, which it calls energy servers, emit a nearly pure stream of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, but they are supposed to make much less of it than traditional power plants and do so without generating lots of smog ingredients like nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxides. Even better, Bloom’s units get their fuel via underground pipelines unaffected by the Diablo winds that threatened California’s high-voltage wires and led to the power outages that Sridhar considers intolerable in any modern society, let alone in Silicon Valley. “Every time there is a disaster your power price is going to go up, because somebody has to pay for the damage,” Sridhar says. “That is the catalyst for change.” Bloom is capitalizing on the outages by wooing potential customers in fire-risk zones to protect against grid failure with Bloom-powered “microgrids,” like its 26 so far in California, which carried customers through last year’s blackouts. Over its 19 years in business, Bloom has installed several thousand of its 15-ton boxes worldwide for big tech companies including Apple, AT&T and Paypal, which are willing to pay up to guarantee 24/7 power for data centers where the cost of downtime is nearly $9,000 per minute. A lot of its customers are in states with the highest power prices and big clean-energy subsidies, like New York, where Home Depot has installed them as backup generators “wherever they make economic sense,” says the chain’s U.S. energy chief, Craig D’Arcy. Bloom boxes have been operating nonstop at Caltech for over a decade, providing nearly 30% of the power to its Pasadena campus. “Having stable power is very important to scientists,” says Caltech facilities director Jim Cowell. “The grid has been disintermediated.” This should be Bloom’s time to shine. “The natural gas, thanks to fracking, is already there,” Sridhar says. And yet, despite big promises, Sridhar’s boxes are highly unlikely to transform the grid in California, or anywhere else. The reasons are manifold, but boil down to this: Bloom’s technology is too dirty and too costly. Bloom has never generated a profit, despite at least $1.7 billion of invested capital, some of which was FORBES.COM
raised on the back of false statements. It could soon be out of runway as lucrative tax credits phase out and financing dries up. Sridhar has already enlisted investment bank Jefferies to help restructure over $300 million of debt coming due at the end of this year. Shares are down nearly 50% since Bloom raised $282 million in its 2018 IPO. And now regulators and even local politicians are clashing with the company. Cities like Berkeley have turned against natural gas for not being green enough. A court recently blocked Santa Clara County, in the heart of Silicon Valley, from essentially banning new Bloom installations unless they are fueled, for instance, by exorbitantly expensive “biogas” siphoned from manure ponds or landfills.
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decade ago, Sridhar envisioned that by now his fuel cell technology would be in every home, costing $3,000 a pop. In reality, not a single home in America has its own Bloom box, not even Sridhar’s $7.6 million house in Woodside, California. Instead, his boxes are used mostly for industrial and commercial customers, costing approximately $1.2 million each. Without subsidies, they generate power at a cost of roughly 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour versus 10 cents per kwh for grid power nationally. Truly renewable power is now much cheaper than Bloom’s. Without subsidies, solar and onshore wind both cost 4 cents per kwh, according to asset management firm Lazard. Don’t think for a second that Sridhar, 59, is discouraged. “This is a pretty amazing pace of progress,” he says, especially compared to where he got his start. He grew up in India, where power outages are common, and attended the National Institute of Technology Trichy, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, MARCH 2020
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build, install, service and fuel these boxes. Subsidies like the lucrative federal investment tax credit knock off a bit more—1.5 cents in California. This might appeal to customers paying more per kwh in some high-price states. But the national average for retail power is 10 cents and falling, says Ed Hirs, a fellow at the University of Houston and energy advisor to tax consultancy BDO. “This technology is a nonstarter in most of the country, where Bloom is competing against real renewables like solar and wind that have come down the cost curve far faster,” Hirs says. “Add in batteries and you can achieve similar reliability at far lower cost, with no carbon emissions.” Los Angeles has entered into a 25-year agreement to buy solarplus-battery power at 2 cents per kwh. Bloom is a long way from being able to offer such pricing, though the technology is getting better. Whereas its earliest boxes lasted fewer than two years before they needed to be replaced, today Bloom claims it has y 2008, Sridhar had True Believer gotten the lifespan up to nearly five installed Bloom’s Famed venture capitalist John Doerr has stood KR Sridhar, even granting him voting proxy years. What would be more impresfirst boxes at Google, by over his firm Kleiner Perkins’ now 14% stake. sive: if it could make money. So far where Doerr is a longtime board member. There were problems the firm has chalked up more than $2.7 billion (and countfrom the start. Those initial machines were hand-assembled, ing) in cumulative losses. In the nine months through SepSridhar recalls, in a hobby shop at Moffett airfield in Santa tember 2019, Bloom posted a net loss of $195 million on Clara County, rather than on today’s automated assembly $668 million in sales. Bloom has gotten help covering its losses from the resiline. A former Bloom executive claims that those early boxes had to be monitored 24/7, and that internal modules stacked dents of Delaware, where energy company Delmarva Power with hundreds of 4-by-4-inch fuel cell wafers needed to be is eight years into a 21-year project with Bloom. In 2011 Delswapped out a couple times a year, at $225,000 a pop. Anoth- aware’s General Assembly voted to allow Bloom to qualify er complication of these Rube Goldberg devices was the fil- for its renewables program, even though its units don’t run tration systems—metal canisters filled with pebbles of solid on renewable fuel. For this perceived green benefit, Delcatalysts that separate sulfur compounds and other contami- marva’s 300,000 Delaware customers are on the hook to nants from the methane gas. According to the same execu- pay a monthly tariff equivalent to about 16 cents per kwh tive, the first time technicians went to empty the canisters, for the output of 123 Bloom boxes. Delaware also handed they simply sucked out the used catalyst with a Shop-Vac and out $12 million in grants to Bloom. State records show that ended up spreading a rotten-egg smell across the neighbor- in the 12 months ending May 2019, Delmarva forked over $34 million to Bloom’s operating company for electrichood. Bloom called the executive’s account “hearsay.” But, like other fake-it-till-you-make-it techies, Doerr and ity that it sold to the grid for just $9 million. As a further Sridhar acted like Bloom already had it all figured out. In a slight, Sridhar promised 900 jobs at its Delaware plant in TV interview with Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes in 2010, they 2012, but so far only 340 of those have materialized. Actouted Bloom boxes as the future of clean, green power gen- cording to Bloom, the project was intended to meet a series eration. “The Bloom box is intended to replace the grid—it’s of economic development and energy policy goals, and was cheaper than the grid, it’s cleaner than the grid,” Doerr told expected to cost more than wholesale. Stahl. At a press conference soon after, Sridhar told reporters that the box could deliver power at “9 to 10 cents per t least Bloom’s tech is cleaner than the kilowatt hour.” average power plant, though, right? Not But that wasn’t entirely true. Bloom insists it did sell always. When the boxes are new, they some power that cheap, but only after applying generous run at optimum efficiency, converting subsidies and operating at a loss. (A Kleiner Perkins spokesnearly 65% of their methane fuel into person says it’s common to sell at a loss to build market electricity and emitting 679 pounds of carbon dioxide per share.) It confirms its unsubsidized cost in 2010 was 19 megawatt hour. This compares to overall U.S. power-sector cents per kwh. Now, after a decade of R&D and plunging emissions of 914 pounds per mwh as of mid-2019, accordnatural-gas prices, it still costs about 13.5 cents per kwh to ing to Carnegie Mellon’s Scott Institute. It’s also better than
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then came to the U.S. to get his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. He later worked at the University of Arizona’s Space Technologies Lab, building an oxygen-generating machine for NASA’s missions to Mars. When the Mars Polar Lander crashed in 1999, his project was canceled. Undeterred, he worked to more or less reverse that technology, to turn methane and oxygen into carbon dioxide and electricity. In 2001 Sridhar cofounded the company that became Bloom and soon met John Doerr, the legendary billionaire venture capitalist who got rich funding infotech companies such as Amazon, Google and Sun Microsystems. Doerr’s firm, Kleiner Perkins, put about $60 million into Bloom and still owns close to 14% of it after selling roughly half its stake in the past year. Other long-term investors include venture shop New Enterprise Associates, Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund and pension funds in Canada and New Zealand.
COURTESY OF BLOOM ENERGY
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natural gas–fired power plants, which emit 850 pounds, and for fraudulently inducing them to settle. Bloom contends much better than coal, at more than 1,400 pounds. Yet as the suit has no merit. On July 25, 2018, the day of Bloom’s IPO, Sridhar falsely told the fuel cells age, the electrochemical process degrades their efficiency. Based on Forbes’ calculations, some of the oldest MarketWatch reporters that the company was profitable as boxes in Delaware have put out 960 pounds of CO2 per mwh. of the second quarter and that it would be cash-flow-positive In California, where local utility PG&E generates power at and GAAP-profitable that year, when in fact it was still losing money. Bloom issued a correction the next day, and assures 210 pounds per mwh, Bloom may be losing its appeal. Then there’s the issue of hazardous waste. When Bloom Sridhar “simply made a mistake.” Other investors who scooped applied for its operating permits in Delaware, it answered up Bloom shares have sued Sridhar and Bloom for, among no when asked whether its systems would generate any other things, hiding what short-seller Nate Anderson of Hinhazardous waste. When in 2014 regulators started asking denburg Research estimates to be more than $2 billion in fumore questions, Bloom disclosed that its filtration systems ture liabilities tied to servicing and replacing old Bloom boxes. caught a host of nasties like arsenic, benzene, sulfur and Bloom denied the Hindenburg report; the suits are pending. As lead. Queried why it had been shipping this hazmat out a former Bloom executive explains, Bloom relies on proceeds of Delaware to processors and incinerators across the na- from new boxes to help offset rising service costs on old ones: tion, without following rules, Bloom replied that it thought “They have to keep selling more on the front end to pay for it was exempt, because it didn’t open the canisters. Nope, the back end.” In recent months Bloom raised more than $250 said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which in million from the likes of Southern Company to swap out its old 2015 reminded Delaware to enforce hazmat rules “no less boxes in Delaware. Bloom could see a wave of such replacestringent” than federal regulations, with “cradle to grave” ments before the 2023 phase-out of the lucrative federal investresponsibility for waste management. Bloom insists that it ment tax credit worth up to 30% of capital invested. When that does not “produce” hazardous waste, that it began to han- credit ends, so will a reliable avenue of financing. Underscoring dle the desulfurization units differently after the EPA issued the sense that Bloom may be living on borrowed time are the guidance and that it is now EPA-compliant. The agency is exits of several executives and the pending retirement of its CFO. Former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte also left its board and still seeking to collect a $1 million fine from Bloom. Some investors have been misled along the way. In 2012 was replaced by former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt. If there is a silver lining to this story, it is that there are the Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily barred Dwight Badger and Keith Daubenspeck, the cofound- plenty of places in the world with dirtier air than California ers of brokerage Advanced Equities, from their jobs after where people may be interested in what Bloom is selling. In Japan, the company has they used false information partnered with Softbank on and negligent due diligence, several installations; in South respectively, to help Bloom Korea, it recently built its first raise $150 million. Misstate“Power Tower”—a four-story ments included that Bloom structure with open sides, had $3 billion in orders from stacked with its boxes, and it the CIA and a grocery store is now exploring, with Samchain, and that it was getting sung, how to use the boxes to a loan of up to $300 million power ships. from the Department of EnSridhar insists that Bloom’s ergy. In emails written to the prices will keep going down SEC, Badger claims to possess while its resiliency goes up. copies of presentations made Powered Up He draws inspiration from to Bloom’s board (including This Bloom installation at La Jolla Commons in San Diego generates satellite pictures of the world Doerr and former Secretary about 5 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. at night, which hang on the of State Colin Powell) that prove Bloom lied to investors. In 2014, the brokers settled walls of Bloom’s offices. The bright lights amid the darkness for $16.7 million, much of it in warrants (the right to pur- represent the vast majority of the world’s population. “The chase shares) if and when Bloom went public. After the IPO, other 2 billion are basically out of grid and out of luck,” he Bloom’s share price never went high enough to put Badger says. “What drove me to start the company is the same” as and Daubenspeck in the money. In 2019 they sued Sridhar what drives him now: to feel “like I have made a dent.” F
P R O M O T I O N
TRUSTED CORPORATE LAW FIRMS
T
his year, Forbes has partnered with market research company Statista to create it’s first-ever list of 243 top U.S. corporate law firms. The list is the result of survey responses from 2,500 lawyers. The honorees include not only names well-known in the corporate and legal worlds but also boutique firms that focus on very specific branches of the law. Here we showcase three recognized firms; Merchant & Gould P.C., a firm specializing in Intellectual Property Law; Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Delaware’s largest law firm, and Ballard Spahr LLP, a national law firm and one of America’s Largest. Ballard Spahr has the national practice depth and talent needed to handle the most challenging and complex business issues. As trusted advisers and strategic business partners, its attorneys deliver innovative solutions that help clients mitigate risk, leverage opportunities, and achieve their business objectives. We hope to showcase other exceptional law firms named to this list over the course of this year.
P R O M O T I O N
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To Learn More Please Visit: www.NAEWS.org
MARCH 2020
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PROMOTION
FIVE STAR PROFESSIONAL
MARKET LEADERS — THE 500 LIST Award-winning real estate agents from across the nation Five Star Professional partners with premier publications across the country to identify real estate agents who provide outstanding service to their clients. Using a proprietary research process, we contact thousands of recent homebuyers every year, soliciting feedback online regarding their experience with their real estate agent. Survey respondents rate their service professional on criteria such as
overall satisfaction, market knowledge and whether they would recommend the provider to a friend. Each year, we name outstanding real estate agents across the country, recognizing no more than 7% of all agents in any market. We believe this process results in a list of Five Star award winners who are focused on the needs of their clients and stand out from their competition. Our Five Star Market Leaders selection – THE 500 LIST – is even more exclusive. See below for a short list of outstanding real estate agents in major markets across the country.
To see the full list of winners, visit www.ďŹ vestarprofessional.com
Atlanta Real Estate Agents Shawn R. Buchan ∙ Pend Realty/Shawn Buchan Realty Group ∙ 678-661-1459 Cindy Corona ∙ Maximum One ∙ 770-919-8825 Ken Covers ∙ Engel & Volkers Atlanta ∙ 404-664-8280 Kim Pritchard ∙ Better Homes and Gardens Metro Brokers ∙ 404-843-2500 Debbie Redford ∙ All Atlanta Realty ∙ 770-403-4565
Austin, San Antonio and Central Texas Real Estate Agents Beth Carter ∙ Compass Real Estate ∙ 512-799-7427 Holly Harris Dees ∙ HD Realty Team ∙ 512-289-9299 Sally Garza ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 210-860-1270 Barbara Gremillion ∙ Coldwell Banker United, Realtors ∙ 512-775-2904 Vickie Karp ∙ Tribe Realty Austin ∙ 512-775-3737 Nancy Knight ∙ Keller Williams Realty ∙ 512-818-4892 Cher Miculka ∙ HSA Real Estate, LLC ∙ 210-394-1376 Vicki Morgan ∙ Keller Williams City View/ Classic Texan Team ∙ 210-394-3194 Bill Morris ∙ RE/MAX Capital City ∙ 512-785-3345 Elizabeth Riley ∙ eXp Realty/Luxe Property Group ∙ 512-658-0045 Wendi Slaton Anderson ∙ Roots Real Estate ∙ 512-743-4653 Linda Zimmerhanzel ∙ Concierge Realty of SA, LLC ∙ 210-392-8088
Boston Real Estate Agents Scott Farrell ∙ Compass ∙ 508-367-7467
Patrick O’Donnell ∙ Keller Williams Showcase Properties ∙ 617-821-2447
Charlotte Real Estate Agents Valarie R. Brooks ∙ Valarie R. Brooks Real Estate ∙ 704-488-2420 Daniel Fisher ∙ Fisher Herman Realty ∙ 704-544-5643 Beth Hahn ∙ Ivester Jackson/ Christie’s International Real Estate ∙ 704-999-7196 Robin Husney ∙ Dickens Mitchener ∙ 704-517-6370 Greg Martin ∙ MartinGroup Properties ∙ 704-903-2889 Scott Pridemore ∙ Pridemore Properties ∙ 704-562-0792 Maureen Elizabeth Roberge ∙ LKNHomes.com, Inc. ∙ 704-323-9222 Jessica Sinski ∙ Bowman Real Estate ∙ 980-365-3575 Sarah K. Zdeb ∙ JP & Associates Realtors Carolina Living ∙ 704-661-2328
Rising Star Real Estate Agents Chris Phillis ∙ eXp Realty ∙ 980-221-5152
Chicago Real Estate Agents Marti Corcoran ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 773-802-5092 Paige Dooley ∙ Compass ∙ 847-609-0963 Connie Dornan ∙ @Properties ∙ 847-208-1397 Brenna Freskos ∙ Royal Family Real Estate ∙ 847-507-2409 Sue Gould ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Starck Real Estate ∙ 847-309-5404 Nicole Hajdu ∙ Dream Town Realty ∙ 773-727-2199 Nancy M. Hotchkiss ∙ Berkshire Hathaway Biros Real Estate ∙ 708-422-0011
Ben Kastein ∙ Advantage Realty Group ∙ 630-631-1296 Nicholas Libert ∙ EXIT Strategy Realty ∙ 312-493-0920 Amanda McMillan ∙ @Properties ∙ 773-537-1300 Jen Ortman ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Starck Real Estate ∙ 847-660-0864 Marlene Rubenstein ∙ Rubenstein Fox Team ∙ 847-565-6666 Mary Serle ∙ Baird & Warner ∙ 503-703-1399 Elizabeth Wieneke ∙ Griffith Grant & Lackie ∙ 847-732-4039
Rising Star Real Estate Agents Melissa Campobasso ∙ RE/MAX Destiny ∙ 847-341-6745
Cincinnati Real Estate Agents Robyn Clifton ∙ Peelle & Lundy Realtors ∙ 937-725-7253 Gina Dubell-Smith ∙ eXp Realty/ Designed2Sell Team ∙ 513-477-1219 Alex M. Moksin ∙ OwnerLand Realty ∙ 513-325-7600
Columbus Real Estate Agents Kathy Blankemeyer ∙ Realty Solutions ∙ 614-325-8111 Debbie Harr ∙ Homes That Click ∙ 614-268-7653 Lois Miller ∙ Keller Williams Classic Properties Realty ∙ 614-284-2085
Connecticut Real Estate Agents Cheryl Auerbach ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 860-235-9099 Sindy Butkus ∙ Klemm Real Estate, Inc. ∙ 203-263-4040
James Childs ∙ Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 860-501-2110 Carl Chisem Jr. ∙ William Raveis Real Estate ∙ 860-575-4739 Carolyn Clark ∙ Houlihan Lawrence ∙ 203-966-6810 Carol Cutler ∙ Higgins Group/Private Brokerage ∙ 203-240-9209 John M. Downs ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties ∙ 860-377-0754 Christine Fairchild ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 203-470-0489 Lauren Freedman ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 203-889-8336 Ellen M.R. Garcia ∙ Halstead Real Estate ∙ 203-981-5244 Robin Gebrian ∙ William Raveis Real Estate ∙ 860-985-7807 Melissa Giangrasso ∙ Signature Properties of New England ∙ 860-912-7313 Marilyn Jacobs ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 860-434-8600 David Jones ∙ Dave Jones Realty ∙ 203-910-2638 Joseph Kelly ∙ William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 860-287-1222 JoAnn Lambert Bredenberg ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 203-232-9452 Bill Mamak ∙ RE/MAX Right Choice ∙ 860-978-0602 Patty McCarthy ∙ William Raveis Real Estate ∙ 203-796-7709 Patty McManus ∙ William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 203-733-3941 Janie Merola ∙ RE/MAX Right Choice ∙ 203-521-0791 Gene Pica ∙ RE/MAX ∙ 203-314-7578 Makaela Stevens ∙ HomeSmart Realty Group ∙ 970-305-1305 Judy Szablak ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 203-257-5892 Donna Tartagni ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 203-980-4295
Maria Taylor ∙ Klemm Real Estate ∙ 203-578-0397 Joseph Waters ∙ Parkview Properties LLC ∙ 203-228-0213 Vicky Welch ∙ William Raveis Real Estate/ Vicky & Company ∙ 203-215-4990
Rising Star Real Estate Agents Kelly Durrschmidt ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 203-878-7424 Kristine Jennings ∙ William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 860-387-8835 Susan Ann Malan ∙ William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 617-645-4392
Dallas/Fort Worth Real Estate Agents Jeanette Armstrong ∙ RE/MAX Four Corners ∙ 214-675-1677 Laura Barnett ∙ RE/MAX ∙ 214-300-8807 David A. Baxter ∙ DABCO Realty ∙ 972-824-0674 Nancy Boucher Guerriero ∙ Guerriero-Law Paragon Realtors ∙ 214-796-8485 Kimberly Broussard ∙ YST Realty, LLC ∙ 214-212-3959 Gloria Burleson ∙ RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs ∙ 469-831-3862 Sherri Burlison ∙ Fathom Realty ∙ 469-233-2741 Daniel Combe ∙ Ebby Halliday ∙ 817-800-0007 Gabriel Corra ∙ YST Realty ∙ 972-588-8788 Donna Douglas ∙ United Country, SPG, Lake Palestine ∙ 903-360-8682 Linda Green ∙ United Real Estate ∙ 214-906-8755 Sharon Hodnett ∙ Keller Williams DFW Southlake ∙ 817-994-7152 Michael Lee Hoover ∙ JP and Associates, Realtors ∙ 817-458-1431 Mary Jane Mathew ∙ TruHome Real Estate ∙ 972-523-7070
REALTORÂŽ is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÂŽ and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM
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#ďŹ vestarprofessionalaward 1
."3$)
PROMOTION
FIVE STAR AWARD WINNERS To see the full list of winners, visit www.ďŹ vestarprofessional.com Chastin J. Miles ∙ eXp Realty/Founders Real Estate Group ∙ 214-586-0096 Pat Ranney ∙ Ebby Halliday, Realtors ∙ 972-342-7651 Sigrid Ruetti ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 463-684-3507 Laurel Silk ∙ RE/MAX DFW Associates ∙ 469-682-0438 Lori Stewart ∙ JP & Associates, Realtors ∙ 940-231-9279
Delaware Real Estate Agents Barbara Carlson ∙ Keller Williams Realty ∙ 302-360-0300 Team Freebery ∙ Keller Williams Realty ∙ 302-420-8606 Laura Walker ∙ Walker Realty Group ∙ 302-373-4884
Denver Real Estate Agents Lori Abbey ∙ Compass ∙ 720-840-4984 Kimberly Austin ∙ Coldwell Banker Devonshire ∙ 303-360-6400 Kari Barnes ∙ RE/MAX Leaders ∙ 303-619-9200 Amy Berglund ∙ RE/MAX Professionals ∙ 720-560-6674 Susan Bradley ∙ The Bradley Group, LLC ∙ 720-327-4993 Kristi Bringle ∙ RE/MAX Professionals ∙ 303-972-9999 Sara Delimont ∙ West & Main Homes ∙ 303-956-4527 Donna Demis ∙ Demis Realty, Inc. ∙ 303-579-0840 W. Bruce Dunning ∙ Dunning Group & Associates LLC ∙ 303-918-5216 Sean Endsley ∙ LIV Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 303-895-4663 Paula Friedman ∙ MileHiModern ∙ 303-919-9016 Cindy Fry ∙ RE/MAX Professionals ∙ 720-351-9273 Mary Gerwin ∙ Porchlight Real Estate Group ∙ 303-619-3150 Heather Graham ∙ LIV Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 720-201-4187 Carol Guzman ∙ Your Castle Real Estate ∙ 303-929-3157 Monica Hernandez ∙ Team Hernandez Real Estate ∙ 720-685-1441 Hope Marie Hooper ∙ RE/MAX Professionals ∙ 303-880-1007 Janice Hovorka ∙ RE/MAX Alliance ∙ 303-324-4705 Kimberly Jones Hutchins ∙ Perry & Co. ∙ 303-885-1193 Nicci Hyatt ∙ Your Castle Real Estate ∙ 303-335-5336
Marilyn Kal-Hagan ∙ Compass Real Estate ∙ 303-587-6720 Janet Kritzer ∙ LIV Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 303-883-2474 Olivia Kunevicius ∙ Live.Laugh.Denver. Real Estate ∙ 720-933-8499 Alan Larson ∙ Kentwood Real Estate ∙ 303-773-3399 Bill Leeper ∙ Keller Williams Realty DTC/Your Colorado Home Group ∙ 720-480-6505 Luana Lindholm ∙ HomeSmart Cherry Creek Elite ∙ 720-341-6588 Brian Lovett ∙ Live Urban Real Estate ∙ 303-748-7933 Aaron Luttrell ∙ Coldwell Banker Devonshire ∙ 303-748-3200 Kayla Maathuis ∙ RE/MAX Alliance ∙ 303-674-0090 Jody Malone ∙ Teater Realty Company ∙ 303-908-1900 Ginger Matney ∙ Elevate Real Estate ∙ 303-834-1151 Donna J. Merten ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 303-829-1228 Matt Metcalf ∙ Simply Denver ∙ 720-260-0180 Leslie Monaco ∙ Kentwood Real Estate ∙ 720-273-6907 Holly Morton Chione ∙ Morton Properties of Denver ∙ 303-946-4004 Chris Piele ∙ Assist2Sell Piele Realty ∙ 720-628-2625 Stacye Mallory Pratt ∙ LSP Real Estate LLC ∙ 720-336-8222 Celina Quinones ∙ Cels Homes Real Estate ∙ 303-427-0777 Brandon Rossell ∙ RE/MAX Structure ∙ 303-999-9272 Eriqueca Sanders ∙ 303 Realty Group ∙ 303-495-2125 Lisa Santos ∙ Compass Real Estate ∙ 720-933-3377 David Scott ∙ Colorado Landmark, Realtors ∙ 303-588-8358 Laura Seitz ∙ Compass Real Estate ∙ 303-906-8455 Neelam Shrestha ∙ RE/MAX Northwest ∙ 303-594-8496 Kim Stephens ∙ RE/MAX ∙ 720-273-2699 Carolyn Tracy ∙ Colorado Preferred Real Estate ∙ 720-495-9229 Mike Treadway ∙ Metro Brokers/Prism Realty, Inc. ∙ 303-720-8680 Chris M. Vinci ∙ da Vinci Realty ∙ 303-679-0360 William Watson ∙ Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty/Watson Group ∙ 720-463-0002 Patrice Winans ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential ∙ 303-829-5694 Melanie D. Yacko ∙ Realty One Group ∙ 303-882-2007
Fresno Real Estate Agents Laurie Salvano ∙ Realty Concepts ∙ 559-999-7987 Jan Wright ∙ Realty Concepts ∙ 559-288-6893
Hampton Real Estate Agents Don Duty ∙ RE/MAX Peninsula ∙ 757-873-3636 Melody Matthews ∙ Melody Matthews & Associates ∙ 757-813-1828 Collin McDowell ∙ Garrett Realty Partners ∙ 757-719-4445 Marilyn Rivera ∙ World Class Realty & Associates Realtors ∙ 757-561-6099 Michele Slowey ∙ Howard Hanna Real Estate ∙ 757-285-2111
Houston Real Estate Agents Marilyn Ames ∙ Premier Properties of Texas ∙ 281-799-5572 Vicki Barazandeh ∙ Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 713-520-1981 Susan Brock ∙ Brock and Foster ∙ 713-272-2000 Kim Buish ∙ JLA Realty ∙ 713-819-1642 Sherry Campbell ∙ Energy Realty ∙ 281-679-6266 Kiesha Nicole Curtis ∙ Realty Kings Properties ∙ 832-244-2342 Michelle Hinton ∙ Compass ∙ 832-795-2246 Ray Larson ∙ RE/MAX ∙ 713-899-9255 Linda Jamail Marshall ∙ Linda Marshall, Realtors, Inc. ∙ 713-201-3469 Star Massing ∙ Boulevard Realty ∙ 832-640-1628 Tracy Montgomery ∙ Keller Williams ∙ 281-812-8265 Sara Nguyen ∙ Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene ∙ 832-439-7600 Melinda C. Noel ∙ Greenwood King Properties ∙ 713-201-7400 Kelly Simon ∙ Kelly Simon Properties ∙ 832-309-1433 Judy Walker ∙ RE/MAX Universal & Abide Property Management ∙ 281-460-1261 Beverly K. Witt ∙ B. K. Witt & Associates, Inc. ∙ 832-498-0925
Hudson
Heather Martin ∙ Keller Williams ∙ 845-901-6093 Lonna Ralbag ∙ Rodeo Realty ∙ 914-548-0870
Indianapolis Real Estate Agents Rick Bradford ∙ RE/MAX Centerstone ∙ 317-858-5727 Loris Heck ∙ Carpenter, Realtors ∙ 317-446-1895 Jason Millican ∙ Millican Realty ∙ 812-333-0550 Jennil Salazar-Scott ∙ RE/MAX Collection Ability Plus ∙ 317-610-6252 Nancy Warfield Dewbrew ∙ Central Indiana Real Estate ∙ 317-406-0016
Jacksonville Real Estate Agents Mark Christopher DeRubeis ∙ LMH Realty ∙ 904-534-1095 Kathleen Floryan ∙ eXp Realty, LLC ∙ 904-687-5146 Bonne Jones ∙ Watson Realty ∙ 904-669-1449 Jamie Spicer ∙ Janie Boyd & Associates Real Estate Services ∙ 904-705-9401 Michael K. Taylor ∙ Premier Homes Realty, Inc. ∙ 904-214-4780 Tari Taylor ∙ Premier Homes Realty, Inc. ∙ 904-214-4780
Kansas City Real Estate Agents Amy Antrim ∙ Coldwell Banker Good Life ∙ 913-634-2724 Tom Finholm Jr. ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KC Realty ∙ 913-481-9523 Jonathan Goforth ∙ Keller Williams Platinum Partners ∙ 816-830-7575 Bryan Huff ∙ The Huff Group ∙ 913-742-8404 Sandy Krueger ∙ ReeceNichols ∙ 913-266-5476 Charlene Muller ∙ ReeceNichols ∙ 816-536-9302 Mike Seymour ∙ Better Homes and Gardens Kansas City Homes ∙ 816-898-6655 Kelly Sloan ∙ Home Sweet Home Realty ∙ 816-808-4000 Edie Waters ∙ Keller Williams Realty/Edie Waters Network ∙ 816-268-6040
Real Estate Agents
Los Angeles
Barbara Carter ∙ CENTURY 21 Alliance Realty Group ∙ 845-505-3160 Sharon Kushner ∙ eXp Realty ∙ 888-276-0630
Real Estate Agents Debra Lee Brzescinski ∙ Choice RE Brokers ∙ 818-522-1454 Violetta Hargitay ∙ Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 310-367-2190
Gary Limjap ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 310-430-0818 Stephanie Payab ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 818-269-2796 Diane Stone ∙ RE/MAX Estate Properties ∙ 310-796-6140
Milwaukee Real Estate Agents Shay Froemming ∙ Froemming Realty, LLC ∙ 262-370-9580 Patti Jastroch ∙ First Weber, Inc. ∙ 414-303-3299 Beau Mitcham ∙ Elements Realty ∙ 262-366-8699 Bruce Allen Nemovitz ∙ Realty Executives Integrity ∙ 262-242-6177 Heather Roden ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 414-559-4619 Carol Sawatske ∙ Realty Executives Elite ∙ 414-333-9562 Mary Sloane ∙ RE/MAX Insight ∙ 262-673-7900 Bob Triplett ∙ Lakehouse 62 Real Estate ∙ 262-210-4323
New Jersey Real Estate Agents Ronald Aiosa ∙ Keller Williams ∙ 973-696-0077 Joshua M. Baris ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 201-741-4999 William “Bill� Boswell ∙ Keller Williams Prosperity Realty ∙ 973-224-4605 Phyllis Calianese ∙ Keller Williams Village Square Realty ∙ 201-446-3870 Victoria Carter ∙ Weichert, Realtors ∙ 973-220-3050 Elizabeth Davis ∙ RE/MAX Real Estate Limited ∙ 866-201-6210 Wendy Wineburgh Dessanti ∙ Weichert, Realtors ∙ 201-310-2255 Randi L. Dickman ∙ RE/MAX First Realty ∙ 732-693-6182 Maryanne Elsaesser ∙ Christie’s International Real Estate Northern New Jersey ∙ 201-904-2085 Pamela Fairley ∙ Town & Country Group, Turpin Realtors ∙ 973-886-2414 Kathryn Fedak ∙ RE/MAX Competitive Edge ∙ 732-548-5555 Anna Garifine ∙ RE/MAX Synergy ∙ 732-795-9500 Judith “ Judy� Gold ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential ∙ 908-303-2100 Jodi Goldberg ∙ RE/MAX Central ∙ 908-770-2150 Donna Gonabe ∙ RE/MAX House Values ∙ 973-713-2354 Betty Ann Hedden ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 973-713-5714
REALTORÂŽ is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÂŽ and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. 2 #ďŹ vestarprofessionalaward F I V E S T A R P R O F E S S I O N A L . C O M
MARCH 2020
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PROMOTION
FIVE STAR AWARD WINNERS To see the full list of winners, visit www.ďŹ vestarprofessional.com Ayelet Hurvitz ∙ Keller Williams Town Life ∙ 201-294-1844 Nancy Kowalik ∙ Nancy Kowalik Real Estate ∙ 856-478-6562 Alan Kurlander ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 732-284-6302 Gloria La Forgia ∙ Weichert, Realtors ∙ 973-984-1400 Sherri Lilienfeld ∙ Apex Prime Realty ∙ 609-487-9996 Karen Mannuzza-Wohlrab ∙ All Towne Realty ∙ 732-453-2217 David Marcantuno ∙ Keller Williams Realty ∙ 856-241-4343 Ellen Murphy ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 908-447-8134 Amy Paternite ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 917-442-5130 Elzbieta “Elaâ€? Ravin ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 973-479-0787 Johnny Rojas ∙ CENTURY 21 ∙ 973-772-9404 Thomas Russo ∙ RE/MAX ∙ 201-337-6600 Alice B. Samach ∙ Weichert, Realtors ∙ 973-610-9021 Kerri Schanen ∙ Diane Turton, Realtors ∙ 732-299-0270 Jeffrey Shapiro ∙ Diane Turton, Realtors ∙ 609-492-7000 Michele Stella ∙ RE/MAX ONE Realty ∙ 856-404-3614 Louis A. Tedesco Jr. ∙ RE/MAX Pros ∙ 201-394-4220 Rosemary Urso ∙ CENTURY 21 Action Plus Realty ∙ 609-290-7775 Gary Vermaat ∙ Lenny Vermaat & Leonard ∙ 856-428-9677 Barbara Zeckman ∙ Coldwell Banker, Realtors ∙ 908-418-3503
Rising Star Real Estate Agents Glenn Aaronson ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 732-616-8020 Danielle L. Lazzaro ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 732-533-3933
Orange County Real Estate Agents Cherie Eckley ∙ First Team Real Estate ∙ 714-357-2001 CaLee McManus ∙ Ladera Realty ∙ 949-606-2135
Orlando Real Estate Agents Nova Fuller ∙ Dave Lowe Realty ∙ 352-551-7359 Patricia Gable ∙ Living Well Realty ∙ 407-257-7287 Tammy Hall ∙ RE/MAX Central Realty ∙ 386-473-2757
Mahdi Jaffer ∙ eXp Realty ∙ 407-881-3572
Philadelphia Real Estate Agents Ginna H. Anderson ∙ Long & Foster Real Estate ∙ 610-696-1100 Jim Byrd ∙ Keller Williams Real Estate ∙ 215-840-8019 Michele Cooley ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors ∙ 267-571-5511 Branka Doych ∙ Compass Real Estate ∙ 610-420-0498 Bonnie J. Fitzgerald ∙ ERA ∙ 732-458-1077 Krista Fuchs ∙ RE/MAX Professional Realty ∙ 610-363-8444 Ed Gomez ∙ eXp Realty ∙ 484-614-0977 Sally Hammer ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors ∙ 215-860-9300 Abe Haupt ∙ Space & Company ∙ 610-996-3405 Hala Imms ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors ∙ 610-937-2154 Frank J. Jackson ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors ∙ 610-668-3400 Neva Jenkins ∙ Coldwell Banker Preferred ∙ 610-656-1141 Kelly A. MacCrory ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 610-212-2626 Jane Bier Maslowski ∙ Keller Williams Realty ∙ 215-646-2900 Carleen Mossett ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors ∙ 215-896-5914 Andy Oei ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 215-790-5230 Lori Shoemaker ∙ Coldwell Banker Preferred ∙ 610-363-6006
Phoenix
Beverly L. Pietrandrea ∙ Bovard Anderson Company ∙ 724-713-2337 Nancy Wrigiht ∙ RE/MAX Realty Brokers ∙ 412-521-1000
Portland Real Estate Agents Bev Blume ∙ Keller Williams Realty Portland Elite ∙ 503-482-8002 Darryl Bodle II ∙ Keller Williams Realty Portland Premiere ∙ 503-709-4632 Tracy Brophy ∙ RE/MAX Equity Group ∙ 503-781-3158 Joy Dale ∙ Knipe Realty Era Powered ∙ 503-432-3445 AnnaMarie Davault ∙ RE/MAX Equity Group/The Davault Team ∙ 503-310-7465 Gloria Hahn ∙ RE/MAX Equity Group ∙ 503-997-5745 Christopher Heinrich ∙ Bella Casa Real Estate Group ∙ 503-459-2300 Diana Lipton ∙ Premiere Property Group, LLC ∙ 503-703-1399 Joshua Miller ∙ Keller Williams Realty Portland Premiere ∙ 503-989-8965 Valerie Mustonen ∙ Meadows Group Realtors, LLC ∙ 503-816-5288 Tracy L. Owen ∙ RE/MAX Equity Group ∙ 360-567-5500 Marketa Pospisil ∙ Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate ∙ 503-267-1395 Robyn Starr Dezendorf ∙ Keller Williams Realty Portland Premiere ∙ 503-407-9102
Rhode Island Real Estate Agents Teri Degnan ∙ Teri Degnan Real Estate & Consulting, Ltd. ∙ 401-474-9191 John Moretti ∙ Williams & Stuart Real Estate ∙ 401-464-2162
Real Estate Agents
Sacramento
Claire Ackerman ∙ North & Co./ The Ackerman Team ∙ 480-800-4803 Yolana Isham ∙ EXIT Realty Expanded Vision ∙ 480-534-7183 Angela Larson ∙ Keller Williams Realty Phoenix ∙ 480-703-9035 Kellie Parten ∙ HomeSmart ∙ 480-586-1687 Lori E. Souza ∙ Innovations ∙ 602-699-5416
Real Estate Agents
Pittsburgh Real Estate Agents Linda DiBucci ∙ Piatt Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 412-850-5404 Linda J. Pelkofer ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 412-487-3200
Pamela W. Brooks ∙ RE/MAX Gold ∙ 916-952-4663 Sonya Dixon ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 916-595-5704 Maic Friedrich ∙ eXp Realty of California, Inc. ∙ 916-826-2169 Renee Friedrich ∙ eXp Realty of California, Inc. ∙ 707-592-5227 Liz Hunter ∙ Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate ∙ 916-276-9097 Donna Sue Judah ∙ Coldwell Banker Sun Ridge Real Estate ∙ 916-412-9190 Dana Miller ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices/NorCal Real Estate ∙ 916-716-9046 Marc Palos ∙ Village Financial Group ∙ 916-284-1365
Deborah Sax ∙ RE/MAX Gold ∙ 916-947-4729
Sarasota Real Estate Agents Peggy Christ ∙ BEE Green Realty LLC ∙ 941-704-4569 Susanna Condon ∙ Keller Williams ∙ 941-243-4771 Harvey Davis ∙ Gulf Shores Realty ∙ 941-486-8686 Michael Kevin Grant ∙ Florida Dream Team Realty Services, LLC ∙ 941-800-8585 Joe Murphy ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, Inc. ∙ 941-780-3260 Karen Schwartz ∙ Prime Residential Brokers ∙ 941-730-3550 Patricia Tan ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 941-504-9232 Judi Lynn Taulbee ∙ Fine Properties ∙ 941-544-6227 John Woodward ∙ Sarasota Real Estate Group ∙ 941-922-8400
Valerie Upham ∙ Compass ∙ 858-761-7890 Jody VanSumer ∙ San Diego Market Realty ∙ 619-962-8800 Scott Voak ∙ Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 858-688-0189 Sharon G. Wittmayer ∙ Integrity Real Estate & Home Loans ∙ 619-889-4463
San Francisco Real Estate Agents Stephanie Saunders Ahlberg ∙ Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 415-271-5117 Kelley Anne Benetti ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 650-207-9556 Lance King ∙ King Realty Group ∙ 415-722-5549 Barbara Major ∙ Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 415-999-9706 Erik McIntosh ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 415-672-5646
San Francisco East Bay
San Diego
Real Estate Agents
Real Estate Agents
Khrista Jarvis ∙ Compass ∙ 925-856-0782 Kristina McCann ∙ Chroma Realty ∙ 925-567-4328 Azita Mowlavi ∙ Compass ∙ 925-209-4095 Michael Perry ∙ Heritage REI, Inc. ∙ 925-231-2341 Jon Wood ∙ Compass ∙ 925-383-5384
Rosamaria Acuna ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties ∙ 619-890-2828 Christine Baker ∙ Willis Allen Real Estate ∙ 858-449-3200 Bob Carlseen ∙ RE/MAX Clarity ∙ 619-216-1018 Michael Chious ∙ Urban Pacific San Diego Realty ∙ 619-726-1004 Laila Coucouroux ∙ Real Estate BrokerOwner ∙ 619-793-8014 Tina Etue ∙ E2 Realty ∙ 619-562-2229 Kris Gelbart ∙ Windermere Homes & Estates ∙ 858-395-0761 Lydia Hwang-Vosovic ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 858-472-0608 Jesse Ibanez ∙ The GreenHouse Group ∙ 858-863-0261 Eric Kalisky ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 858-454-5677 Janet L. McMahon ∙ Windermere Homes & Estates ∙ 858-361-6399 Matt O’Brien ∙ Real Broker ∙ 619-302-3010 Alma Porras ∙ Big Block Realty ∙ 619-247-1977 Patty Reyes ∙ CENTURY 21 Award/Reyes Real Estate ∙ 619-726-2673 Galina Shekhtman ∙ Compass ∙ 858-717-2619 Trudy Stambook ∙ Trudy Stambook Luxury Properties ∙ 619-231-0777 Melissa Goldstein Tucci ∙ Coldwell Banker ∙ 619-787-6852 Maria Turfler ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties ∙ 858-705-1771
Seattle Real Estate Agents Christine Andreasen ∙ eXp Realty/ Christine & Company ∙ 206-353-8787 Peter Badgett ∙ Urban Properties ∙ 206-745-2730 Rachel Badgett ∙ Urban Properties ∙ 206-745-2730 Jim Badgley ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 425-895-8833 Johna Beall ∙ Real Living Northwest Realtors ∙ 206-778-9599 Julie Billett ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 206-819-0685 Bill Blanchard ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 425-652-5225 Pernilla Bradley ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 425-214-2022 Sheley Bressler ∙ Compass ∙ 206-240-8740 Grady Brown Sr. ∙ Skyline Properties, Inc. ∙ 253-236-5642 Karen Buckley ∙ Coldwell Banker Bain ∙ 206-679-6262 RenĂŠe DiBello ∙ Keller Williams/Seattle Eastside Homes ∙ 425-466-4663 Samuel G. Harris ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 206-523-4663 Tammy Hatch ∙ HomeSmart Real Estate Associates ∙ 206-271-4488
REALTORÂŽ is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÂŽ and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM
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PROMOTION
FIVE STAR AWARD WINNERS To see the full list of winners, visit www.ďŹ vestarprofessional.com Chris Haynes ∙ Windermere Real Estate/ Shoreline ∙ 206-353-0134 Sandra Hines ∙ Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 206-778-6090 David Hogan ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 425-890-3318 Allie Howard ∙ Compass ∙ 206-450-0115 Veronique M. Hval ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 206-324-0000 Dave Janssens ∙ Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty ∙ 425-785-7432 Jimmy Katsafanas ∙ Skyline Properties, Inc. ∙ 206-234-1196 Tara McCaulley ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 206-234-8272 Lilly Milic ∙ Windermere Real Estate Midtown ∙ 206-527-5445
Kristine Milkovich ∙ John L. Scott Real Estate/The Milkovich Team ∙ 425-243-7880 Lisa Milkovich ∙ John L. Scott Real Estate/ The Milkovich Team ∙ 425-243-7880 George Moorhead ∙ Bentley Properties ∙ 425-747-1901 Codi Nelson ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 206-498-4148 Ann Nordling ∙ RE/MAX Northwest Realtors/TRI STAR Team ∙ 206-779-4404 Kim Reidy ∙ Pointe3 Real Estate ∙ 206-579-2667 Judie Sanders ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 206-459-1374 Mary Schile ∙ RE/MAX Metro ∙ 206-601-4377 Robert Slattery ∙ Blackwell Real Estate ∙ 800-917-7155
Yvonne Svasand ∙ Pointe3 Real Estate ∙ 206-669-4628 Natalya Tkach ∙ Sterling Johnston Real Estate ∙ 425-785-1080 Jennie Wetter ∙ Infinity Real Estate ∙ 253-225-5602 Brian Wilson ∙ John L. Scott Real Estate ∙ 360-689-2466 Donna Wood ∙ Cornerstone Assoc Real Estate ∙ 206-361-2200 Kathy Woodman ∙ Coldwell Banker Bain ∙ 425-417-1811
Rising Star Real Estate Agents Merna Elaggar ∙ Windermere Real Estate ∙ 425-455-5300
Southwest Florida Real Estate Agents Edward B. Blackburn III ∙ Collier Realty & Management Services ∙ 239-263-0349 Sandra Carano ∙ Premiere Plus Realty ∙ 239-200-0531 Erica Eister ∙ Eister & Company, Inc. ∙ 239-898-4077 Alicia Galante ∙ Cornerstone Coastal Properties ∙ 239-850-7653 Brian Giacomello ∙ LUX International Properties ∙ 239-281-5269 Garren Everett Grup ∙ John R. Wood Properties ∙ 239-289-8619 Cindy Kruesi ∙ John R. Wood Properties ∙ 239-495-4113 Rebecca Levitan ∙ Downing Frye Realty ∙ 239-292-6860
Linda C. Loomis, P.A. ∙ John R. Wood Properties ∙ 239-451-0769 Sally Masters ∙ Signature International Premier Properties ∙ 239-253-1579 George Messeha ∙ MVP Realty ∙ 239-404-7428 Sheila Peterson ∙ RE/MAX Realty Group ∙ 239-218-7764 Rosemary Scheetz-Bruce ∙ Keller Williams Elite ∙ 239-633-5987 Jennifer Shoots ∙ John R. Wood Properties ∙ 239-571-4444 Chris Sullivan ∙ RE/MAX Affinity Plus ∙ 239-404-5548 Kyle Thompson ∙ Keller Williams Elite Thompson Group ∙ 239-470-4718 Dorenda E. Wentworth ∙ Wentworth Realty ∙ 239-437-6577
MARKET LEADERS — THE 100 LIST Award-winning mortgage professionals from across the nation Five Star Professional partners with premier publications across the country to identify mortgage professionals who provide outstanding service to their clients. Using a proprietary research process, we contact recent homebuyers every year, soliciting feedback online regarding their experience with their mortgage professional.
Atlanta
Charlotte
Mortgage Professionals
Mortgage Professionals
Dianne Ayala Steffey ∙ Guaranteed Rate ∙ 210-831-8749 Joan Dumais ∙ BancorpSouth Mortgage ∙ 512-687-2108 Stefanie Sprohge Hernandez ∙ BancorpSouth Mortgage ∙ 512-687-2107 Nan Kirkpatrick ∙ Abundance Home Mortgage ∙ 512-335-7800
Chris Reshetar ∙ NFM Lending ∙ 704-277-4463
Boston Mortgage Professionals Ted Malkhasian ∙ Guaranteed Rate ∙ 617-286-8907 Andrew Marquis ∙ Guaranteed Rate ∙ 781-897-5213
Each year, in markets across the country we name hundreds of mortgage professionals as winners, recognizing no more than 7% of all mortgage professionals in any market. We believe this process results in a list of Five Star award winners who are focused on the needs of their clients and stand out from their competition. More exclusive yet? Our Five Star Market Leaders selection — this year’s 100 List. See below for a short list of outstanding mortgage professionals in markets across the country.
Ridhi Raheja ∙ Movement Mortgage ∙ 630-660-6376 Brian Sewell ∙ Cherry Creek Mortgage ∙ 630-352-0629 Neena Vlamis ∙ A and N Mortgage Services ∙ 773-305-5626
Chicago Mortgage Professionals
Cincinnati
Brad Boden ∙ A and N Mortgage Services ∙ 773-305-5626 Shimmy Braun ∙ Guaranteed Rate ∙ 844-744-6692 Kiki Calumet ∙ A and N Mortgage Services ∙ 773-305-7010 Todd Fisher ∙ Fisher Mortgage ∙ 312-315-9321 Doil Kim ∙ The Mortgage Marketplace, Inc. ∙ 847-737-4747 James Pierson ∙ Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group ∙ 630-916-0507
Mortgage Professionals Joe Erdman ∙ People’s Bank ∙ 513-608-8962 Stephanie McCready ∙ First Financial Bank ∙ 513-871-3491
Connecticut Mortgage Professionals Jonathan Sadler ∙ Bank of America ∙ 614-987-0128 Kirk Hagert ∙ Allied Mortgage Group, Inc. ∙ 860-966-6056
Penn Johnson ∙ Stamford Mortgage Company ∙ 203-323-6588 Paula L. Mercier ∙ Sojourn Mortgage Company ∙ 860-306-1666 Anita Visconti ∙ Norcom Mortgage ∙ 203-206-2852 Beth G. Williams ∙ Contour Mortgage Corporation ∙ 203-915-3270
Dallas/Fort Worth Mortgage Professionals Brad Boswell ∙ Town Square Mortgage ∙ 972-333-3232 Anna DeCamp ∙ First United Bank Mortgage ∙ 214-662-6719 Ines Hermoso ∙ First United Bank ∙ 214-906-6787 Summer Kim-Davis ∙ IKON Mortgage, Inc. ∙ 214-843-5837 Matthew McGuire ∙ Supreme Lending ∙ 214-929-7100
Chuck Murphy ∙ Caltex Funding ∙ 214-680-5243
Denver Mortgage Professionals Jeffrey Beattie ∙ Alliance Mortgage Group, Inc. ∙ 720-598-0506 Brian “Craig� Clark ∙ Nations Lending ∙ 720-244-1554 Peyton Fullerton ∙ Fairway Independent Mortgage ∙ 303-884-7924 Dijana P. Jugovic ∙ Unibell Financial, Inc. ∙ 720-771-1515 Jimmy Kinley ∙ Cherry Creek Mortgage ∙ 720-261-1410 Hank M. Leines Jr. ∙ First Western Trust ∙ 303-414-6807 David Lesjak ∙ Security First Financial ∙ 303-740-8300 Joseph Massey ∙ Castle & Cooke Mortgage, LLC ∙ 303-809-7769
REALTORÂŽ is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÂŽ and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. 4 #ďŹ vestarprofessionalaward F I V E S T A R P R O F E S S I O N A L . C O M
MARCH 2020
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PROMOTION
FIVE STAR AWARD WINNERS To see the full list of winners, visit www.ďŹ vestarprofessional.com Patrick Wilkins ∙ RE/MAX Affinity Plus ∙ 239-260-3550
St. Louis Real Estate Agents Cris A. Atchison ∙ Coldwell Banker Gundaker ∙ 314-703-5600 Jean Burkemper ∙ Jungermann Realty, Inc. ∙ 636-299-3078 Ted D. Disabato ∙ TDD Premier Real Estate ∙ 314-276-1318 Christopher Grus ∙ Premier Realty Exclusive ∙ 314-518-9003 Kathy Helbig-Strick ∙ Experience Realty Partners ∙ 636-385-5095 Riahna Kastner ∙ St. Louis Real Estate Society ∙ 314-332-1044 Glenn Miller ∙ Coldwell Banker Gundaker Town and Country Office ∙ 636-394-9300
Karen Ratteree ∙ Realty Executives ∙ 314-614-4348 Mary Jane “Janie� Schriewer ∙ RE/MAX Results ∙ 314-805-9359 Catherine Shaw-Connely ∙ Tom Shaw Realtors ∙ 636-532-1922
Washington, D.C. Real Estate Agents Cheryl Abrams ∙ RE/MAX United Real Estate ∙ 301-702-4226 Mary J. Anthony ∙ Keller Williams Realty ∙ 703-636-4998 Joy Deevy ∙ Compass ∙ 703-930-5198 Michael Gailey ∙ Compass Real Estate ∙ 240-393-2717 J.P. Montalvan ∙ Compass/Capital Estate Group ∙ 301-922-3700
Nancy M. Wilson ∙ Long and Foster/Evers & Co. Real Estate ∙ 202-364-1700
Westchester Real Estate Agents Diane Capone ∙ Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices ∙ 914-310-8365 Michele Flood ∙ Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage ∙ 914-420-6468 Rey Hollingsworth-Falu ∙ Hollingsworth Real Estate Group ∙ 914-222-3739 Cindy Kief ∙ William Raveis Legends Realty Group ∙ 914-772-7880 Dawn Dresher Knief ∙ Compass ∙ 914-393-1159 Madelyn Ricciardi ∙ Houlihan Lawrence ∙ 914-391-2288 Cindy M. Schwall ∙ Houlihan Lawrence ∙ 914-672-6424
Recognizing Outstanding Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Professionals Research
How our winners are chosen
K 7D3 'B/@ &3/: AB/B3 53<BA /<2 7D3 'B/@ !=@B5/53 $@=43AA7=</:A 2= not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final lists. K /16 >@=43AA7=</: 7A A1@33<32 /5/7<AB AB/B3 5=D3@<7<5 0=273A B= D3@74G that licenses are current and no disciplinary actions are pending. K (63 7<1:CA7=< =4 / @3/: 3AB/B3 /53<B =@ ;=@B5/53 >@=43AA7=</: =< B63 final lists should not be construed as an endorsement by Five Star Professional or this publication.
Brian G. Murphy â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Front Range Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 303-524-9907 Joshua K. Nielsen-Mayer â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Five Star Financial LLC â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 303-910-2240 Chris Pasquinzo â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Excel Mortgage Group â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 970-682-9263 Ashley Pratt â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 303-570-6677 Don S. Riggs â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Nations Lending â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 303-429-7121 Paul Rockwood â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Mac 5 Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 303-667-0313 Bill Rodriguez â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Cornerstone Home Lending â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 303-877-6323 Zachary Smith â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Chariot Financial â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 720-502-3278
Houston
Rick Woodruff â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Metropolitan Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 913-871-5370
Mortgage Professionals Robyn Rosenbach â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Mortgage Capital Partners â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 310-295-6236 Henry Wilkes â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Wilkes Mortgage Group â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 323-332-6683
Mortgage Professionals Nichole Stern â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Associated Bank â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 262-224-6317
Mortgage Professionals Barbara Gallagher â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Almost Home Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 856-581-4050 Terry Kravaris â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Movement Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 267-419-7707 Connie Lindenmuth â&#x2C6;&#x2122; QNB Bank â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 215-538-5600 Christopher Swartz â&#x2C6;&#x2122; First Choice Mortgage Advisors, LLC â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 610-766-7060 Michael Walsh â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Trident Mortgage Company, LP â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 484-595-1674
Joshua Goldberg â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Barrett Financial Group â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 480-459-4516 Matt Oliver â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Lund Mortgage Team, Inc. â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 623-875-9940 Andy Price â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Price Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 480-428-5220
Diana Rice-Wilkerson â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Fairway Independent Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 317-402-5555 Austin P. Smith â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Fairway Independent Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 317-508-7007
Joseph Bonaduce â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Movement Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 908-507-6839 Phyllis A. Byrne â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Wells Fargo â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 973-224-2454 Marc Demetriou â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Guaranteed Rate â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 973-521-8345 Scott Forman â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Cross Country Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 201-930-0300 Cathy Haddad â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Atlantic Home Loans â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 848-203-2272 Anthony Marone â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Embrace Home Loans â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 732-289-5600 Anthony Muscarella â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Advisors Mortgage Group, LLC â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 732-749-3333 Keith Tatum â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Movement Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 973-219-8383
Kansas City
Orange County
Mortgage Professionals
Mortgage Professionals
Mortgage Professionals
Cody Bellah â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Community Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 816-595-0656
Vickie Carlson â&#x2C6;&#x2122; US Bank â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 949-370-7008 JJ Mazzo â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Cross Country Mortgage, Inc. â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 877-556-2996
Stephen Tetzner â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Homestar Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 401-454-3300
Mortgage Professionals Denise Tomasini â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Supreme Lending â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 713-829-8981
Hudson Mortgage Professionals Anthony â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tonyâ&#x20AC;? Urciuoli â&#x2C6;&#x2122; TD Bank â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 845-489-6700
Indianapolis Mortgage Professionals
Mortgage Professionals Ed Fontes â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Amerifirst Financial, Inc. â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 916-712-8509 Mark Teran â&#x2C6;&#x2122; American Pacific Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 916-768-6530
Mortgage Professionals Mortgage Professionals
Mortgage Professionals
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Portland Mortgage Professionals Angelique Arnason â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Synergy One Lending, Inc â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 503-816-2800 Chad Krober â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Academy Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 503-720-3357 Mindy Mathers â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Wells Fargo Home Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 503-726-9349 Dawn Robbins â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Caliber Home Loans â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 503-805-7878
Rhode Island
John F. Gillis â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Benchmark Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 760-505-1351 Michelle Limon â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Wallick & Volk â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 619-869-0548 Sarah Lindsey â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Synergy One Lending â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 619-867-0975 Dave Pennington â&#x2C6;&#x2122; RPM Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 619-994-9723
Cameron McCully â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Home Trust Financial â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-512-5242 Amber Page â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Evergreen Home Loans â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 360-698-6495 Gregory Phillips â&#x2C6;&#x2122; PNC Bank â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 206-484-7287 Saul Schiffner â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Wallick & Volk â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-422-6333 Michelle Swanson â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Northshore Capital Funding â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-344-8100
Southwest Florida Mortgage Professionals Kathleen M. Doll â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Paramount Residential Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 239-565-3538 Tracy Vanlandschoot â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Mortgage 1 â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 239-471-3696
San Francisco East Bay
Mortgage Professionals
Mortgage Professionals
Mark Zajac â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Peoples National Bank â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 314-503-4918
Julie M. Martinez â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Prominent Mortgage Lending â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 209-785-7283
Washington, D.C. Mortgage Professionals
Seattle Mortgage Professionals Jovelyn Agbalog â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Procura Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-649-5541 Michelle Bruto da Costa â&#x2C6;&#x2122; HomeBridge Financial â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-967-8199 Gabe Chavez â&#x2C6;&#x2122; loanDepot â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-898-5147 David W. Lee â&#x2C6;&#x2122; New American Funding â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 425-765-9174
Chris Cox â&#x2C6;&#x2122; First Savings Mortgage â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 202-543-6830 Lindsay Simmons Beale â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Caliber Home Loans â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 703-969-0793
Westchester Mortgage Professionals Douglas C. Petri â&#x2C6;&#x2122; ASAP Mortgage Corp. â&#x2C6;&#x2122; 914-930-1110
REALTORÂŽ is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÂŽ and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. FIVESTARPROFESSIONAL.COM
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VAULT CODE:
FOR15
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THOUGHTS ON
Morale
“Keep buggering on.” Winston Churchill
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“The term ‘morale’ is never used except in reference to soldiers or people in analogous positions, such as employees of large corporations or prison inmates. No one ever talks about the morale of participants in a passionate love affair.” P.J. O’Rourke
“Military power wins battles, but spiritual power wins wars.” George C. Marshall “We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” Carlos Castaneda
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances.” Martha Washington
“No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.” Erich Maria Remarque
“About a third of my cases are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives. This can be defined as the general neurosis of our times.” Carl Jung “The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy.” Dwight Eisenhower “Phrases like ‘the team spirit’ are always employed to cut across individualism, love and personal loyalties.” Muriel Spark “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” Marcus Aurelius “Morale is good; troops are confident; leaders are capable.” John Abizaid
FORBES.COM
“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.” Stephen Hawking
“Happiness in intelligent people is just about the rarest thing I know.” Ernest Hemingway
Gimbel’s Gambit
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22
January 1, 1948 GOOD BOSS has to know how to handle people considerately to get maximum results,” boomed Bernard F. Gimbel, 62, the 6-foot, 210-pound president of Gimbel Bros. department stores. Gimbel, a former Penn fullback and wrestler, had guided his family’s chain from its humble roots in Philadelphia to a preeminent spot in New York City retail, fighting neighborhood rival Macy’s every step of the way. His management theory: “As Gimbel’s head man, it’s my job to be a builder-upper, to strengthen the morale of my team, never to reprimand anyone in public, to give everyone a clearheaded, followable conception of what has to be done.” Gimbel would retire five years later with his stores’ sales having grown 40 times over, to $600 million (nearly $6 billion in today’s money), during his tenure.
A
SOURCES: GIVE WAR A CHANCE, BY P.J. O’ROURKE; MEDITATIONS, BY MARCUS AURELIUS; THE SCIENCE OF SECOND GUESSING, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 12, 2004; THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, BY MURIEL SPARK; ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE; THE GARDEN OF EDEN, BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY.
FINAL THOUGHT
“Into which path shall workers be turned—the one that leads to constructive effort, ambition and contentment, or the one that leads to mental idleness, dissatisfaction and Bolshevism?” —B.C. Forbes
MARCH 2020
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