Private equity is no longer just a business to cap off a successful career on Wall Street.
PE firms now attract the best and the brightest at the beginning of their careers. And, as the leaders of many of the most powerful PE firms age and retire, succession issues have underscored the importance of nurturing and retaining talent. As a result, PE firms have paid more and more attention to growing their own. But it wasn't always the case.
Look at the top ranks of private equity firms today, and you'll find many people who can trace their career roots back to investment bank training programs. The analysts who began their training 20 years ago at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) offer a good case in point. Entering the New York bank's training program in August of 1993 under the tutelage of industry-changing figures, such as tech investors Mary Meeker and Frank Quattrone, some of them are leading PE groups today.
Here's a look at what a handful of them are doing today:
- Joseph Baratta, the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX)
- Gregory Ernst, Elevator Consulting Services Inc.
- Hollie Haynes, Silver Lake Sumeru
- Kenneth Kloner, UBS
- Rich Lawson, HGGC
- Todd Sisitsky, TPG Capital LP
- Quincy Smith, Code Advisors
