Arthur J. Samberg

Samberg was born to an American Jewish family in 1941.[2] The son of an electrician, Samberg grew up in the Bronx, four blocks of the Yankee Stadium.[3] He studied Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4] Samberg earned his M.S. from Stanford University and M.B.A. from Columbia University. He started working as an engineer in the aeronautics industry before working in finance.[5] Specifically, during the early to mid-1960s, Arthur Samberg worked as an Aerospace Engineer at the Lockheed Missile and Space Company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He primarily focused on developing guidance and control technologies for the Agena missile system.[6]

Samberg began his career in the investment industry as a Security Analyst at Kidder Peabody & Co. in New York City. Subsequently, as the first professional hire at the start-up company Weiss, Peck & Greer, he served as a Security Analyst. He later assumed a Partner role, and he additionally served on the Management Committee during his last five years with the firm. During his 15-year tenure at Weiss, Peck & Greer, the investment management company grew to $8 billion.[7] Between 1985 and 1999, as founder and President of Dawson-Samberg Capital Management, Inc., in Southport, Connecticut, Samberg established the first Pequot hedge fund.[3] In 1999, he spun out his funds into the newly formed Pequot Capital Management.[8] In 2001 Pequot was reported to be the largest hedge fund globally with $15 billion in assets.[9] As of 2008, the firm managed approximately $5 billion in assets and had over 150 employees worldwide, with offices in Connecticut, New York, California, and London.[8] In 2009, Samberg decided to shut down Pequot Capital[10] and now manages his family office though Hawkes Financial, LLC.[7]

He is a Life Member of the MIT Corporation and a Member of MIT Executive Committee. For five years he served as Chairman of the MIT Investment Management Company and currently sits on the Board of Advisor of the MIT Energy Initiative.[4]

In 2006, alongside fellow alumni Russell L. Carson and Henry R. Kravis, he donated a total of $45 million to Columbia Business School; out of the total contribution, $25 million were solely donated by Samberg.[15] In 2012, Samberg and his wife, Rebecca, gave $25 million to New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. The donation made possible the Samberg Scholars in Children's Health Program, an initiative to recruit and train as many as 40 top scholars in pediatric medicine.[16]

Samberg is married to Rebecca Samberg. Their daughter, Laura Samberg Faino, is a director of the Samberg Family Foundation, a charitable trust founded to support Jewish education, health and housing in the New York area.[17]