Diane Garnick

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Diane Garnick

Born January 19, 1967 (1967-01-19) (age 41)
Long Island, New York, USA
Occupation Founder, Ladies in Red & Investment Strategist, Invesco

Diane Garnick (19 January 1967) is an American investment manager and the investment strategist at Invesco. She is also the founder of the Ladies in Red, an organization formed to raise the profile of single women at charity events. [1],

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[edit] Biography

Garnick was born in New York. She was identified as a top scholar in elementary school and competed throughout the United States as a math and science champion in the early 1970s. After winning the Presidential Environmental Award for Excellence, she was forced to leave high school when it became known that she was pregnant. Garnick had just started 9th grade.

[edit] Teenage Pregnancy

Garnick became a Mother at the age of 15. When she turned 17 she returned to high school and completed grades 9-12 over a two year period. During this time she continued to raise her daughter, working part time after school. Garnick graduated from Wellington C. Mempham High School in Bellmore, NY in 1985. Garnick's academic performance enabled her to win multiple scholarships, however, none of the universities were willing to allow her to bring her daughter with her.

[edit] Anchor Banker

Immediately following her high school graduation she went to work at Anchor Bancorp, Inc. Garnick rose up the ranks quickly, but without a college degree she was unable to reach the management level. In an effort to keep her at the bank they made her their spokesperson in 1989. When they launched a new campaign entitled 'We're Your Anchor Bankers ... Here For You' Garnick starred in their commercials. In 1992 Garnick left the bank to persue a degree.

[edit] Education

Garnick attended Suffolk Community College in NY. During her second year there she was named to the USA Today All Star Academics Team. She donated her medal to the community college where they now have that medal and several other awards she received on display. Garnick later went on to earn her bachelors degree at Hofstra University, '96 and begin her Wall Street career. After completing her degree Garnick became a CPA.

[edit] Wall Street Career

Garnick specializes in equity derivatives and quantitative research. She and her team are consistently named to the Institutional Investor All Star Team. Garnick was one of the youngest people ever to be named Managing Director at Merrill Lynch and appeared on the cover of their annual report in 1999. Garnick is instrumental in bridging the gap between accounting and quantitative finance.

Garnick is now the Investment Strategist at Invesco, one of the world's largest asset management companies.

Her Wall Street research focuses on all areas of portfolio construction that impact pension plans, foundations and endowments. She has published reports focusing on equity derivatives, index investing, exchange traded funds, taxation, corporate actions, and quantitative investing as a whole. [2],

Garnick was an early supporter of requiring companies to include all of their derivatives on the face of their financial statements. In 1998 Garnick was named to the Derivatives Implementation Group 'DIG' at the Financial Accounting Standards Board. In early 2001 Garnick again became involved in FASB meetings where she actively supported option expensing. In 2002 she was nominated as a practioner representative to replace Gary Schieneman on the FASB Board, but declined the nomination to pursue her Wall Street career.

Garnick is a plan sponsor advocate focusing most of her research on issues surrounding how companies and public entities can fulfill the retirement promises made to employees during their work lives. Her work on hedging risks in the portfolios of plan sponsors is used throughout the world.[3],


[edit] Philanthropy

Diane is the founder of the "Ladies in Red", a group dedicated to raising the profile of single women at charity events, which are often organized around couples. There are branches in several cities, and the group tries to focus on women's and children's issues.

Diane has a personal depth and breadth of experience working with charities and not for profit organizations that is simply unparalled. Unlike many of the major contributors to today’s charities, Diane began to understand the importance of their role in our society by first accepting help from the charities themselves when she was a child and teenage mother.

She gives credit of her fast ascent on Wall Street to the Literacy Program first developed by Barbara Bush. That program provided books and tutors to underprivileged communities, including Diane’s. Her ferocious desire to learn coupled with the Literacy Program created an atmosphere that she says inspired her to read, understand, and eventually write some of the most complex theories, particularly in the area of finance. To date Diane has written and published over 100 pieces, many of which are in the area of finance.

Garnick served on the State University of New York (SUNY) Scholarship Committee representing the community. In that role she helps to ensure that the funds she received as a student will be available to help future students.

Garnick serves on the Investment Committee of CHRISTUS Health, a foundation focused on providing medical care to impoverished people throughout the United States and Mexico.

Garnick is highly supportive of charities that advance the welfare of children, especially direct support to children who are physically ill and/or socially challenged. She supports the Red Sox Foundation, which builds baseball fields in greater Boston for underprivlidged children. She is also involved in the Robin Hood Foundation.

In 2008 Garnick was named A Champion for Children by the Council for Unity. [4]

In 2008 Garnick was honored for her work with domestic abuse survivors by Take Higher Ground. [5]


[edit] Boston Red Sox

Garnick began analyzing baseball statistics in 2002. With almost no background in baseball, she immersed herself in the rules of the game and began developing and applying statistical analysis to the potential strategies involved in baseball. In 2004 Garnick traveled throughout the United States following the Boston Red Sox to more than 60 regular season games and every post season game to better understand the mechanics of the game.

[edit] Personal

Garnick is divorced and living in New York City. She has two daughters. She had the first daughter when she was 15 years old. When she reached the age of 21 she finally married a toilet salesman. 13 years later, when she was the Global Derivatives Strategist at Merrill Lynch, she divorced her husband. She became one of a growing number of successful business women who were required to pay alimony to their ex-husbands. [6]


[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Diane Garnick. DianeGarnick.com.
  2. ^ Morning Call Videos and Learning Center. Bloomberg TV.
  3. ^ Trends in Fund Management for Plan Sponsors. CFA Society.
  4. ^ 2008 Champion For Children Announced. Council For Unity.
  5. ^ Garnick Named 2008 Honoree. Take Higher Ground.
  6. ^ Men Receiving Alimony Want A Little Respect. Wall Street Journal.