Charles J. Gradante

Charles J. Gradante is an American businessman.

Charles J. Gradante

Early life and education

Gradante was born in 1945 in New York City to Sebastian and Mildred Gradante. His father was the founder and president of the RCB Transportation Company in New York.^[1] Gradante graduated from Lindenhurst Senior High School in 1963. Afterwards, he went to LIU C.W. Post on an athletic scholarship for baseball, where he earned a B.S in engineering sciences in 1967 and a M.S in management in 1970. He was employed by Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Corp. in Bethpage, NY, where he joined a legion of engineers building the first lunar landing module. He then joined the Pan American World Airways Space Shuttle Design Team.^[2]

Business career

Gradante was hired by the John Diebold Venture Capital Corporation in 1971.^[3] Afterwards, Gradante moved onto Citibank from 1976 to 1986, where he rose to the rank of vice president. In 1986, Gradante left Citibank and became the assistant to the chairman of Drexel Burnham Lambert in London. During his time there, Gradante was responsible for the proprietary trading administration and risk management committee of the company. On October 10, 1990, Gradante became the president and CEO of Union Chelsea National Bank where he remained until 1995.^[4][5] At the beginning of his time as CEO, the Union Chelsea National Bank ranked 156 out of 158 banks in the New York area and was on the verge of failure.^[6][7] By 1992, Union Chelsea Bank ranked 23rd out of 158 banks in the New York area, ranked as one of the ten most profitable small banks in New York, and was saved from bankruptcy.^[8]

Hennessee Group LLC

In 1995, Charles Gradante became the co-director at the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group which was formed by Elizabeth “Lee” Hennessee-Gradante in 1987 as a division of E. F. Hutton. In 1995, with a team of four people and $200 million in assets under advisory, Gradante negotiated the acquisition of Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group by Weiss, Peck & Greer. The vision of WPG paralleled that of Charles Gradante and the Hennessee team in that the future growth of hedge fund investment advisory services for high net worth individuals and institutions would grow to an entire industry. Since its start in 1987, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group provided unique and ubiquitous hedge fund investment research as well as hedge fund performance indexes that have been continuously cited by institutions, hedge fund managers and investors. Additionally, the group published the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review since 1993, which provided monthly outlooks into hedge fund performance and the markets.^[9]

In 1997, Gradante and his wife, Elizabeth “Lee” Hennessee-Gradante, took the firm private and co-founded the Hennessee Group LLC. At its peak, this hedge fund managed more than $1.6 billion in investments for clients. In December 2012, Hennessee Group LLC sold its hedge fund division to Terrapin Asset Management.^[10] However, the group maintained ownership of the Hennessee Hedge Fund Indexes as well as other research services. In 2006, Gradante predicted the looming CDS-CDO home mortgage crisis.^[11] The group’s research has been frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Financial Times.^[12]

By 2007, Gradante and his wife co-founded SandDollar Capital LLC , a private equity firm. By July 31, 2007, SandDollar Capital LLC formed an alliance with Barbarian Films LLC.^[13][14] Some of the films created through this alliance include “13”, “Spread”, “The Greatest”, and “Powder Blue”.

Awards and honors

Gradante is considered one of Wall Street’s most sought after experts on matters of the stock market, the global economy, hedge fund strategy, and asset allocation.^[15][16][17] He has testified before the House of Representatives as a hedge fund industry expert discussing the systemic risk in the wake of long-term capital management.^[18][19] He also participated in a SEC Roundtable on hedge funds and a CFTC Roundtable on CPO and Commodity Pool Industry Issues.^[20][21][22] The Senate Banking Committee sought Gradante’s opinion on the issue of hedge fund regulations, the role of hedge funds in providing liquidity to markets and potential systemic risks associated with hedge funds.^[23][24][25] Gradante is the only hedge fund industry professional to have testified before all four of these institutions regarding the hedge fund industry.^[26] Gradante has co-hosted and made guest appearances on Bloomberg Television, CNN Financial News, CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and “Desktop".^[27]

From 2002 to 2005, Gradante was a member of the Board of Trustees of Regent University.^[28] On May 8, 2005, Gradante was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.^[29] On May 26, 2015, Gradante was inducted into the Lindenhurst Senior High School Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Gradante met Elizabeth Lee Hennessee in 1991 and they married on October 31, 1992 at the St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York. Gradante has three children and two grandchildren. He resides with his wife in Florida and New York.^{[30] [31]}

References

External links

• Hennessee Group website