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Russ Ramsey

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Nationality
  
American

Occupation
  
CEO

Name
  
Russ Ramsey


Russ Ramsey

Known for
  
Cofounding Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group; founding Ramsey Asset Management

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W. Russell (Russ) Ramsey is an American financier and philanthropist, and the founder, chairman and CEO of hedge fund management firm Ramsey Asset Management. He previously cofounded the Washington, D.C., investment firm Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group in 1989, where he served as president, secretary and co-CEO until 2001. He is also a founding investor in the non-profit investment organization Venture Philanthropy Partners.

Contents

In 2014, Ramsey led an attempt to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to his native Washington, D.C., serving as chairman and CEO of Washington 2024.

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Early life and education

Russ Ramsey grew up in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Suitland High School in 1977. As a member of George Washington University's Class of 1981, he studied business administration and graduated with a bachelor's degree. Ramsey received a baseball scholarship and became senior-year team captain of the George Washington Colonials. He is a GW Athletic Hall of Famer and member of the All-Century Baseball Team.

Career

Ramsey began working in the early 1980s as a salesman for business equipment company Pitney Bowes. Following his time there, he joined brokerage firm Johnston, Lemon & Co.'s sales and trading group in 1986. At Johnston, Lemon, he met Emmanuel Joseph Friedman and Eric Francis Billings, who would later become his business partners. In 1989, all three left the firm and formed a new venture called Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group (FBR), where Ramsey served as president and co-CEO.

In 1997, the firm held its initial public offering, raising $206 million. The same year, the Northern Virginia Technology Council named Ramsey its "Financier of the Year".

Within its first seven years, FBR raised $7 billion in capital for clients and had become the largest trading firm in Washington, D.C. The firm invested in emerging tech companies. After the IPO, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group's stock price increased 50 percent.

In 2001, Ramsey left FBR to form the hedge fund management firm Ramsey Asset Management, based in Reston, Virginia. As of May 2015, Ramsey is the firm's chairman and CEO.

Newsweek magazine named Ramsey as one of its four "people to see" in Washington's finance community.

Other activities and philanthropy

Ramsey served on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater George Washington University for 15 years from 1998 to 2013. He chaired the board during his last six years as trustee. During his tenure on the board, Ramsey chaired the committee that lead to Steven Knapp's hiring as the 16th president of George Washington University. He also oversaw a 20-year plan to develop the university's campus site at Foggy Bottom and its strategic plan development. Additionally, in 2005, the Ramsey family donated $1 million to the university to create an investment portfolio to be run by Master of Business Administration students, so that they could build real world finance expertise.

Ramsey has served on a number of boards and councils, including JER Investors Trust's board, the National Geographic Society's Council of Advisors, the Virginia Governor's Advisory Council, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges board.

Together with his wife, Norma, Ramsey established the W. Russell and Norma G. Ramsey Foundation, which provides funds to help at-risk families. The foundation has funded scholarships to the D.C. area's Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Additionally, he and his wife were early investors in Venture Philanthropy Partners, which invests in D.C.-area nonprofits. Ramsey has also made individual contributions to events and causes including Fight for Children's annual Fight Night fundraiser, Make A Wish Foundation, Potomac School, and Inova Fairfax Hospital System.

Washington 2024

In 2013, Washington, D.C., businessman Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, recruited Ramsey for an effort to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the city. Ramsey was selected in March 2014 as chairman and CEO of the nonprofit Washington 2024, founded to run the city's effort to host the games. Washington 2024 also included former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and former Mayor Anthony Williams. The group publicly announced its board, logo, website and theme, "Unity", six months later. On behalf of the organization, Ramsey and Leonsis, its vice chairman, lobbied for support around the Capital Beltway.

Ramsey and the others on the Washington 2024 panel competed against committees in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to be the first U.S. city to host the Summer Olympics since the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. During the campaign, Ramsey proposed development along the Anacostia River, which includes some of D.C.'s poorer communities, a move similar to how officials in London sought use the 2012 Summer Olympics to economically boost East London. Ramsey led a five-person group to pitch Washington, D.C., to the 16-member U.S. Olympic Committee in December 2014. On January 8, 2015, the committee selected to submit Boston to the International Olympic Committee as America's candidate for the games. Following the announcement, Ramsey released a statement that he would continue working with leaders in the D.C. area to develop opportunities for young people in sport.

Personal life

Ramsey lives with his wife, Norma, who directs the Ramsey Foundation, in Great Falls, Virginia. The couple has four children.

References

Russ Ramsey Wikipedia


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