Home > Gazette > November 2006

Investment Managers Named Distinguished Business Alumni

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business presented its Distinguished Business Alumnus Award to Phill Gross and Paul Leff Oct. 27 at the Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP) Fall Investment Conference. Both Gross and Leff earned Bachelor of Business Administration degrees in finance and economics and Master of Science degrees in finance from the School of Business.

Phill Gross is a co-founder and managing director of Adage Capital Management, a Boston-based $8.7 billion money management firm focused on managing S&P 500 assets predominantly for endowments and foundations such as Harvard University, Northwestern University, Dartmouth College, the American Red Cross and the Getty Foundation. Gross has served on several boards within the University of Wisconsin-Madison, including the Chancellor’s Board of Advisors, the UW Foundation board as a member of the UW Foundation Investment Committee, and the Applied Security Analysis and Applied Corporate Finance advisory boards at the School of Business. Gross serves as chair of the Strategic Advisory Council and was a member of the board of directors for Shelter, Inc, one of the oldest homeless-serving agencies in Massachusetts.

Paul Leff is co-founder and chief investment officer of Perry Partners, Ltd., a widely respected money management firm in New York. Founded in 1988, Perry Capital is an investment fund with approximately $12 billion under management and offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. Leff is actively involved with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, serving on the board of the UW Foundation, the School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board and the Applied Security Analysis Board. He runs the Wisconsin Eastern Alumni Scholarship Fund (WEASF) in New York and also mentors UW students and alumni who are interested in working on Wall Street.