|
Scott Bessent
Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent (/ˈbɛsənt/ BESS-ənt; born August 1962) is an American investor and hedge fund manager. He was a partner at Soros Fund Management and the founder of Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm.[1][2] Bessent was a major donor, fundraiser, and an economic advisor for the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign. In November 2024, Trump named Bessent as his nominee for United States secretary of the treasury.[3] If confirmed by the United States Senate, he will be the second openly gay man to serve in the Cabinet of the United States (after Pete Buttigieg) and the fourth openly gay man to serve in a cabinet-level office (after Demetrios Marantis, Richard Grenell and Buttigieg).[4] As the secretary of the treasury is fifth in the United States presidential line of succession, he will become the highest-ranking openly LGBT person in American history.[5] Early life and educationScott Kenneth Homer Bessent was born in August 1962[6] in Conway, South Carolina, probably the oldest of three children of Barbara (née McLeod) and Homer Gaston Bessent Jr., a real estate agent.[7][8][9] He is of French Huguenot ancestry. [10] Bessent earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University in 1984.[8][11] While in college, he was an editor for The Yale Daily News, president of Wolf's Head Society, and treasurer for the class of 1984. He was chairman of the 1984 Yale Alumni Fund and assistant to the director of athletics.[8][12] CareerBessent interned with Jim Rogers.[13] After graduation, he worked at Brown Brothers Harriman, Kynikos Associates (Jim Chanos), and others.[14] Bessent joined Soros Fund Management (SFM) in 1991 and was a partner there throughout the 1990s, eventually becoming head of the London office.[7][15][16][17][18] In 1992, Bessent was a leading member of the team whose bet on the Black Wednesday collapse of the British pound garnered over $1 billion for the firm. His bet against the Japanese yen in 2013 brought additional profit.[19][20] After resigning from SFM in 2000, Bessent founded a $1 billion hedge fund.[7][21] The fund closed in 2005. Bessent has said he learned that he should not change his style or the construct of the firm because of investor preferences.[14] He was also a senior investment advisor at fund-of-funds Protégé Partners.[22][15] Bessent returned to Soros Fund Management and was chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015.[16][23] He left in 2015 to begin a new firm, Key Square Group.[17][18] Key Square GroupBessent founded Key Square Group in 2015 with Michael Germino, who had been the global head of capital markets at SFM.[24] Key Square uses geopolitics and economics to make macro investments.[19] Key Square received a $2 billion anchor investment from George Soros.[25] At the end of 2017, Key Square's assets were $5.1 billion.[25][26] Key Square's main fund returns increased by 13% in 2016 but lost money or broke even every year from 2017 to 2021 before making major gains in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The inconsistent track record scared away clients. Assets under management shrank from $5.1 billion in 2017 to $577 million in 2023 and the number of institutional investors declined from 180 to 20 over the same period.[27] As part of a pre-arranged deal, the firm returned in 2018 the Soros capital as it took in other assets.[25] Its investors include Australia's sovereign wealth fund, Future Fund.[26] PoliticsIn 2000, Bessent hosted a fundraiser for Al Gore at his East Hampton, New York, home.[28] He has also donated to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.[29] In 2016, Bessent donated $1 million to Donald Trump's 2017 presidential inaugural committee.[30] In 2023 and 2024, Bessent donated more than $1 million to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.[31] In February 2024, Bessent hosted a fundraiser in Greenville, South Carolina, that raised nearly $7 million for Trump's 2024 campaign.[32] In April 2024, Bessent was a host for a Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser that raised $50 million for the Trump campaign.[33] In July 2024, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Bessent was a key economic advisor to Trump.[34] He proposed a three-point economic plan for Trump modeled on Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's "Three Arrows" economic policy.[35] Bessent praised Trump's proposal to implement broad tariffs.[36] Regarding Trump's pledge to impose blanket 20% tariffs on all imports, Bessent argued that these "were maximalist positions that would probably be watered down in talks with trading partners".[20] On November 22, 2024, president-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Bessent to serve as the United States secretary of the treasury in his second administration.[37][38] If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the first openly gay secretary of the Treasury.[39] Social engagementFrom 2006 to 2011, Bessent was an adjunct professor of economic history at Yale, where he taught three courses.[14][15] Board membershipsBessent sits on the university council at Yale University.[12] Bessent and his sister donated the Bessent Library to Yale University.[40] Bessent has endowed three scholarships at Yale: one for students who are first-generation college matriculants, one for students from South Carolina, and one for students from the Bronx.[40] Bessent chairs the investment committee and is a member of the executive committee on the board of trustees of Rockefeller University.[41] Bessent formerly served on the board of God's Love We Deliver, an organization founded to deliver meals for homebound people with AIDS.[12][42] He is a trustee of Classical American Homes Preservation Trust (renamed the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation),[43] and a former board member of the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.[41][44] Bessent is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[12][41] PhilanthropyBessent opened two foundations in 2022, and created the McLeod Rehabilitation Center at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville, South Carolina.[45][46] He also supports the Prince's Trust in London and the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City.[45] Bessent has supported restoration of the Nathaniel Russell House, a National Historic Landmark in Charleston, South Carolina.[47] Personal life Bessent resides in Charleston, South Carolina,[48] and belongs to the Huguenot Church,[49] which his ancestors helped to build in 1680.[10] Bessent and his husband, former New York City prosecutor John Freeman, have two children.[50] In 2016, Bessent purchased the historic John Ravenel House, owned by John Ravenel and inherited by his son St. Julien Ravenel and his wife Harriott Horry Ravenel. The building restoration project was awarded the Preservation Society of Charleston's Carolopolis Award in 2021. The mansion, known as the "Pink Palace", is located on Battery Street in Charleston.[45][51][52][53] References
Further reading
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
