Buddy Fletcher

This article is about the former fund manager. For the Florida mayor, see Buddy Fletcher (politician).

Buddy Fletcher
Born	Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. (1965-12-19) 19 December 1965 New London, Connecticut, United States
Residence	The Dakota New York City
Other names	Buddy
Citizenship	American
Education	A.B. in applied mathematics Harvard College, 1987 Master's degree in Environmental Management Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 2004
Occupation	Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Fletcher Asset Management Founder of the Fletcher Foundation
Employer	Bear Stearns (1987–??) Kidder Peabody (19??–91) Fletcher Asset Management (1991–present)
Known for	Hedge fund management, fund bankruptcy, Kidder Peabody discrimination lawsuit, Dakota discrimination lawsuit, Philanthropy
Spouse(s)	Ellen Pao (2007–present)
Relatives	Geoffrey S. Fletcher (brother)
Website	http://www.fletcher.com/alphonse.html

Alphonse "Buddy" Fletcher, Jr. (born December 19, 1965) is a former hedge fund manager and founder of the Fletcher Foundation. He began his career as a quantitative equity trader at Bear Stearns and later worked at Kidder, Peabody & Co. Fletcher, who is African American, sued Kidder Peabody for racial discrimination. Although his racial discrimination claims were dismissed, he eventually won an arbitration award of US$1.26 million. Fletcher has also been involved in litigation centered on a dispute with the board of The Dakota apartment building in New York City.

Fletcher founded Fletcher Asset Management in 1991. His main fund, Fletcher International, may have been insolvent since 2008 and was declared bankrupt in 2012.

Early life and education

Fletcher was raised in Waterford, Connecticut. His father, Alphonse, Sr., was a technician at the Electric Boat Corporation in Groton, a company that makes submarines. His mother, Bettye, a long-time teacher and later a social worker, dean, and school principal, received a Ph.D. in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Fletcher has two younger brothers, Todd, and Geoffrey, a screenwriter, film director and Academy Award winner.

He attended Harvard College, where he received an A.B. degree as an applied mathematics major in 1987. He was elected first marshall, a ceremonial position, of the 1987 class. He earned a Master's degree in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2004.

Career

After graduating from Harvard College in 1987, Fletcher began his career at Bear Stearns as a quantitative equity trader who capitalized on dividend-related arbitrage. He was recruited to Kidder Peabody as a trader in the equity trading group.

Fletcher Asset Management

After his tenure at Kidder Peabody, he founded Fletcher Asset Management, which makes private investments in small-capitalization public companies.

During Fletcher Asset Management's first four years, it traded with heavy leverage. His general strategy was trading public instruments for his own account and on behalf of clients, but he also made longer-term equity investments. He used hedges with both types of investments. He has also been involved in PIPE deals. At one time, his firm's trading activity occasionally accounted for 5% of the volume on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1994, Fletcher surrendered his broker-dealer registration and became a registered investment adviser, which made managing money more convenient.

Fund bankruptcy

In July 2011, FIA Leveraged Fund, an investment vehicle managed by Fletcher Asset Management, was unable to meet a redemption request, totaling $144 million, by three Louisiana pension fund investors. In April 2012, the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands ruled that the fund was insolvent and ordered that it be wound up (liquidated).

In June 2012, Fletcher International Ltd., the Bermuda-based "master fund" for the Fletcher funds, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Manhattan.

Litigation

Alphonse Fletcher vs. Kidder Peabody

In 1991, after working as an equity trader at Kidder Peabody, Fletcher filed a lawsuit in New York state court for employment racial discrimination. The New York Court of Appeals ruled that Fletcher's claim must be arbitrated. In a NYSE arbitration, Fletcher was awarded $1.26 million, and in a subsequent arbitration, the racial discrimination claim was dismissed.

Dakota lawsuit

In February 2011, Fletcher filed a lawsuit against the Board of Directors of The Dakota co-op building in Manhattan, where he had lived since 1992 and owned four apartments. Among other things, he alleged defamation and unlawful discrimination. In March 2010, Fletcher had signed a contract to purchase a fifth apartment at The Dakota, intending to combine it with his current home. The Dakota board said it rejected Fletcher's application based on the financial materials he provided in his application. Judge Eileen A. Rakower dismissed the suit in September 2015 and Fletcher announced his intention to appeal.

Fletcher Foundation and philanthropy

In 1993, following the death of friend and advisor Reginald Lewis, Fletcher donated $1 million to the Reginald F. Lewis Memorial Endowment. The endowment had been created by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People after Lewis instructed his wife to bequeath $2 million to the organization.

In 1996, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), Fletcher endowed a University professorship at Harvard College.

In 2004, Fletcher created the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor Fellowship program to financially support professors working to improve race relations at Harvard. Funded as part of the Fletcher Foundation, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard.

Personal life

In 2007, Fletcher married Ellen Pao, then a junior partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Fletcher and Pao met while Aspen Institute fellows. They have a daughter, Matilda Pao Fletcher.

Prior to his marriage to Pao, Fletcher was in a same-sex relationship with Hobart V. "Bo" Fowlkes, Jr. for more than 10 years.

Fletcher and his wife have lived in the St. Regis Residence in San Francisco. Fletcher also owns homes in The Dakota in New York City. He put his Cornwall, Connecticut home up for sale in August 2013.