Jonathan Lavine

Jonathan Scott Lavine (born May 9, 1966) is an American business executive and philanthropist. Lavine currently serves as managing partner and chief investment officer of Sankaty Advisors. He founded Sankaty in 1997 as a division of Bain Capital. His philanthropy has extended to several organizations in the form of contributions and board memberships.

Early life, education and family

Jonathan Lavine was born in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Classical High School in 1984. Lavine then attended Columbia College where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa and earned a BA Magna Cum Laude in 1988.^[1] Columbia also awarded him the David Truman Award for outstanding contribution to the academic affairs of the college.^[2]

From 1990-1992, Lavine attended Harvard Business School earning an MBA with distinction.^[2]

Lavine married Jeannie Diane Bachelor in June 1992 at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, New Jersey.^[3] They have two children, Allie and Emily and currently reside in Weston, Massachusetts.^[4]

Career

Lavine began his career as an analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert upon his graduation in 1988. From 1991-1993 he worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company^[5] until moving on to Bain Capital. Today, Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private, alternative asset management firms with approximately $70 billion in assets under management.^[6] In 1997, Lavine founded Sankaty Advisors, LLC as the credit affiliate of Bain Capital. Serving as managing partner and chief investment officer since 1997, Lavine also is chair of the Credit Committee and the Risk & Oversight Committee. Sankaty has over $25 billion in assets under management, investing in a wide variety of securities and investments. The firm employs over 200 people in offices in Boston, London, Chicago and New York.^[7]

Lavine is also a member of the Boston Celtics ownership group,^[8] Boston Basketball Partners LLC.

Philanthropy

City Year

Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine began their support of City Year in 1991. Their $18 donation began a relationship between the Lavines and City Year that still exists present day.^[9] Lavine joined the board in 2006. He has also chaired the City Year Headquarters for Idealism Campaign^[10] and the Development Committee.^[11] In 2012 he provided a pledge of $10 million that allowed City Year to “build the capacities needed for achieving the impact and scale goals of City Year’s Long-Term Impact strategy.”^[12] In 2013, he was elected Chair of the National Board of Trustees^[13] and in 2014, he served as the National Chair for City Year’s 25th Anniversary.^[14]

Columbia

Jonathan Lavine serves as a trustee of Columbia University,^[1] is a former chair of the Columbia College Board of Visitors^[15] and was co-chair of the Columbia Campaign. In 2011, he worked with Gerry Lenfest in establishing a $5 million match for Core Curriculum. The gifts endowed positions for “five Core instructors providing ongoing support for four-year appointments for nontenured Arts and Sciences faculty who teach Literature Humanities or Contemporary Civilization.”^[16] Lavine has also served on the dean search committee.^[17]

Harvard

In addition to Columbia, Lavine has helped support initiatives at Harvard. In 2012, Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine provided a $5 million grant^[18] to the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), a program directed by Dr. Mike VanRooyen^[19] that trains the humanitarian leaders. The expansion of HHI established one of the main pillars of the academy, the “Lavine Family Humanitarian Studies Initiative.” Dr. VanRooyen said, “The Lavine gift will help HSI extend the reach of humanitarian education to an international scale and boost the impact of humanitarian relief by focusing on professional skill building and evidence-based research on best practices.”^[20] The gift also makes HSI the largest program in humanitarian studies in the world.^[20]

Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Lavine joined the Boston Children’s Hospital Trust Board of Trustees^[21] in 2005, and in 2007, established The Lavine Challenge, which matches permanent named endowed funds.^[22] Lavine also contributes to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a member of the board of trustees^[23] and has established the Lavine Family Fund for Lymphoma Research and the Lavine Family Central Registration in the Yawkey Center.^[24]

Board memberships and support

Jonathan Lavine also sits on the Boards of Dana Hall School,^[25] Horizons for Homeless Children,^[26] Be The Change, Inc.,^[27] Service Nation,^[28] and Opportunity Nation.^[29] He is on the advisory board of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.^[30]

Additionally, Lavine is an active supporter of several other organizations that include the USO,^[31] Cradles to Crayons,^[32] Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston,^[33] uAspire,^[34] Best Buddies International,^[35] American Jewish World Service.^[36]

Crimson Lion Foundation

In 2007, the Lavines formed the Crimson Lion Foundation, a private family foundation through which they concentrate their philanthropic activities.^[37]

Honors and awards

The Boston Business Journal listed Jonathan Lavine as one of the 40 outstanding Bostonians under the age of 40 in 2004.^[2]

In March 2008, Lavine was given the John Jay Award from Columbia College for distinguished professional achievement. He was among five alumni honored and the event was the most successful in the 30-year history of the John Jay Awards Dinner. The dinner raised $2.2 million for the college.^[38]

Lavine was a recipient of the Champion of the American Dream Award from Opportunity Nation in September 2012. Opportunity Nation Executive Director Mark Edwards wrote, “Through his position on our Board of Directors and leadership of the Opportunity Nation Committee, he has helped us think through specific challenges faced by the campaign early-on; connected us to other leaders at key non-profit organizations and partners; leveraged his impressive business connections to advance the goals of the campaign; and advised the entire Opportunity Nation team on how to best infuse the issue of opportunity into the public debate.”^[39]

In December 2012, The Anti-Defamation League commemorated their 100th year with an event that included honoring Lavine with the Distinguished Community Service Award. ADL said it was honoring Lavine for his “immense civic leadership and influence to affect positive change in our community.”^[40]

In June 2013, Lavine was an inaugural recipient of the Columbia College Dean’s Leadership Award.^[41] In 2014, Columbia-Barnard Hillel awarded Lavine with the 14th Annual Gershom Mendel Seixas Award for out standing contributions to Jewish life at Columbia University.^[42]

References