Donald L. Luskin - Curriculum Vitae

Professional accomplishments
 

2001 to present
Trend Macrolytics

Founder, Chief Investment Officer
Chicago IL
An investment strategy firm serving institutional investors, focusing on macroeconomic analysis and forecasting.

1999 to 2001
MetaMarkets.com

Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer
San Francisco CA
Led a venture-backed start-up that developed the world's first "interactive mutual funds." OpenFund and the IPO & New Era Fund were the first mutual funds to show all their trades and holdings updated live and in real-time on the web, and permit interaction between fund managers and fund shareholders. The MetaMarkets.com website pioneered a new kind of on-line financial journalism built around the real-time operations of a professional investment management process. The site developed a cult-like following thanks to its live portfolio manager commentary by Luskin and co-founder Dave Nadig, as well as discussion boards featuring interaction with the MetaMarkets Think Tank, a roster of New Economy luminaries including Nicholas Negroponte, David Isenberg, Lori Andrews, Reuven Brenner, Nolan Bushnell, Peter Leyden and Peter Sprague.

MetaMarkets.com triggered an avalanche of public interest in increased transparency and disclosure for mutual funds. Goaded by MetaMarkets.com's crusade, the Securities and Exchange Commission considered new rules that would increase the frequency with which funds must disclose their holdings the shareholders. This was vigorously opposed by the Investment Company Institute, the lobbying organization of the mutual fund industry.

MetaMarkets.com has received innumerable mentions in the media, and has been honored with the following awards:

• Fortune Magazine Cool Company 2000

• Forbes Magazine Best of the Web 2001

• Worth Magazine Best of the Web 2001

• Webby nominated for Best Financial Web Site

• Mutual Fund Education Alliance Best Online Innovation

• Kasina Top 20 Mutual Fund Web Sites

1987 to 1998
Barclays Global Investors (now acquired by Blackrock)

Served as a member of the three-person management team that built Wells Fargo Investment Advisors into one of the largest investment management firms in the world -- building assets under management from $69 billion to over $500 billion, and profits from $12 million to $160 million -- and culminating in the firm’s acquisition by Barclays Group PLC in 1995 for $442 million. Key leadership dimensions were corporate strategy, product innovation and investment strategy development, strategic client sales and relationship management, professional staff recruitment and development, and zero-defect process management.

Created the innovative LifePath funds for 401(k) investors, which have been adopted as investment options under the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan serving over 3 million government employees; awarded US Patent 5,812,987 as inventor. Developed with Morgan Stanley the "Webs" family of exchange-traded funds, the first sector ETFs, (now called "iShares"). Developed Automated Net Answerline (ANA), the first online 401(k)participant service environment including account information access and trading.

Re-engineered Securities Lending business as a profit-center based on customer satisfaction and prudent use of derivatives. Sponsored aggressive research into quantitative active investment strategies, and began transformation of the firm’s strategic direction away from purely passive investing

1984 to 1987
Jefferies & Company

Senior Vice President, Director
Chicago IL
Conceived, developed, and built strategic client constituency for the POSIT crossing network. Founded Investment Technology Group (spun off from Jefferies in 1991 as an independent public company; POSIT remains flagship product).

1979 to 1984
Hedge fund management

Profitably managed complex and highly leveraged partnerships for high net worth individuals. Created integrated software for real-time valuation of derivative securities and risk-management of positions. Market-maker on floor of Chicago Board Options Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, and Pacific Stock Exchange

1983 to 1984
General Partner: Luskin, Carlyle & Gray
Member, Chicago Board Options Exchange
Permitee, New York Stock Exchange
Chicago IL

1982 to 1983
President: HGF Corporation
Member, Chicago Board Options Exchange
Chicago IL

1979 to 1982
General Partner: X-3 Limited
Member, Pacific Stock Exchange
San Francisco CA

1974 to 1979
Don Luskin & Associates

Creative Director
Los Angeles CA
Independent studio offering specialized creative services for advertising including graphic design, copywriting, multimedia, promotions and production services. Clients included Warner Brothers, LucasFilm, Teledyne, and Mattel. Created game concepts for Disney film "Midnight Madness" and launched the worldwide cult of "pervasive games."

Media
 

Television

CNBC: Kudlow Report, Taking Stock, Power Lunch,The Call

Fox News, Fox Business Network

Bloomberg TV

CNN

Print and online

Op-eds
Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Pensions & Investments, The Detroit News

SmartMoney.com
Contributing editor: Weekly Ahead of the Curve column, August 2001 to October 2010

National Review Online
Contributing editor: economic commentaries and Krugman Truth Squad column

Commentaries
National Review, Reason, National Post, American Spectator, Harvard Business Review, CapitalismMagazine.com

TheStandard.com
Daily commentaries syndicated from September 2000 to September 2001

TheStreet.com
Daily Open Book column from June 2000 to June 2001

Business 2.0 (now Fast Company)
Monthly Investing column from March 2000 to May 2001

Books and Publications
 

Books (author)

I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World, and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987.  English and Japanese language editions

Index Options and Futures: The Complete Guide, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987.  English and Japanese language editions

Books (editor)

Portfolio Insurance: A Guide to Dynamic Hedging, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1988. Contributors include Fischer Black, Myron Scholes, Mark Rubinstein, Hayne Leland, John Cox, Stephen Ross and 20 others.

Books (contributor)

"Investing Out Loud," in Adam Leitzes and Joshua Solan (editors), Bulls, Bears, & Brains, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002, 27-42

"The Revolution in Composite Assets," in Frank J. Fabozzi (editor), Institutional Investor Focus on Investment Management, Cambridge: Ballinger, 1989, 95-100

"Equity Indexing," in Frank J. Fabozzi (editor), Portfolio and Investment Management, Chicago: Probus, 1989, 177-182

"Upstairs, Downstairs: The Block Traders and the Specialists," in Wayne H. Wagner (editor), The Complete Guide to Securities Transactions, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1989, 153-160

"Mechanics of Trading for Index Arbitrage," in Frank J. Fabozzi and Gregory M. Kipnis (editors), Handbook of Stock Index Futures and Options, Homewood, Illinois: Dow Jones Irwin, 1989, 238-243

"Block, Programme and Off-Exchange Trading," in Chris Stoakes and Andrew Freeman (editors), Managing Global Portfolios, London: Euromoney Publications, 1989, 135-142

Policy Analysis

"The Levin-McCain Stock Option Tax Hike: An Option Americans Can’t Afford," Policy Brief for the National Taxpayers Union, April 16 2002

Journal Articles

"The Marketplace for Composite Assets," in The Journal of Portfolio Management 14:1, Spring 1987, 12-19

"The Marketplace for Composite Assets," in The Japan Financial Analysts Journal 27:10, October 1989, 53-59

Proceedings

"If Derivatives Are So Great, Why Don't More People Use Them?" in proceedings of Derivative Strategies for Managing Portfolio Risk, April 13-14, 1993 (Marina Del Rey, California), Charlottesville: Association for Investment Management and Research, 10-13

Education
 

1973 to 1974
Yale University
New Haven CT

Personal
 

Residence: Chicago
Member: Arts Club of Chicago, The Palo Alto Club

Metaphysics: objective reality
Epistemology: reason
Ethics: self-interest
Politics: libertarian capitalism