Reply #58: "what we believe" [View All]

[Claudia Jones]

Too often, our national debates are defined by the rigid or outdated orthodoxies of both the left and right. This polarization leads to ideologically driven policies and political gridlock, and it drowns out the voices of millions of Americans in the forgotten middle.

We believe there is a better way, a "third way" — one that discards the false choices presented by both sides. This third way philosophy is ideal for fostering the most effective and emergent approaches to major problems — ones that can attract the plurality of citizens who represent the political center and whose support is crucial to effective and credible governance.


Here are a few of the people in the organization.


John L. Vogelstein is the Chairman of New Providence Asset Management, LLC and Senior Advisor to Warburg Pincus, LLC.

Bernard L. Schwartz is Chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC.

David Heller lives in New York City and is the Global Head of Equity Trading for Goldman Sachs.

Dwight Anderson is a Principal and Portfolio Manager of Ospraie Management, LLC, an $8 billion investment firm focused on four investment strategies in the basic industry and commodity sectors—hedge fund, private equity, incubation/seeding and long-only.

Joseph Zimlich is the Chief Executive Officer of Bohemian Companies, a group of family-owned real estate and private equity holdings.

Barbara Manfrey Vogelstein has over 24 years of experience in venture capital and specialized equity investing. From 1991 to 2000, she was a Partner of Apax Partners & Co. Ventures, a leading worldwide venture capital firm, where she was responsible for the firm’s media investments and chaired the firm’s international media investment group. Prior to joining Apax, she was a Partner of Warburg Pincus, one of the world’s largest private equity firms.

Howard Rossman is a President and Founder of Mesirow Advanced Strategies, Inc. and a Vice Chairman of its parent, Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. He is responsible for all aspects of fund management, including manager due diligence, strategy analysis and asset allocation.

David Roberts is a Senior Managing Director of Angelo, Gordon & Co. and a member of the firm’s executive committee. He joined Angelo, Gordon in 1993. Mr. Roberts manages the firm’s private equity and special situations area and was the founder of the firm’s opportunistic real estate area.

Andrew Parmentier is a Founding and Managing Partner of Height Analytics. He and fellow Managing Partner John Akridge formed the company in January 2009. He has worked in the financial services industry since 1997 both in Washington, DC and London, England, with a brief tenure on Capitol Hill where he worked on financial services and capital markets issues for Majority Leader Richard Armey and House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach. Most recently, he was Group Head and Managing Director at FBR Capital Markets, where he founded and managed FBR’s Washington Policy Analysis team from 2000 until his December 2008 departure.

Michael Novogratz has been President and Director of Fortress Investment Group LLC since February 2007 and was a principal and a member of the Management Committee since March 2002. Mr. Novogratz is responsible for the liquid markets business which includes running the Drawbridge Global Macro Fund. Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Novogratz spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, where he became a Partner in 1998. Mr. Novogratz held the positions of President of Goldman Sachs Latin America, and the Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Risk in Asia, where he lived from 1992 to 1999.

Herbert Miller, former CEO and Chairman of The Mills Corporation, one of America’s most innovative and successful mall developers and managers, founded Western Development Corporation (WDC) in 1967 and serves as its Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Stockholder.

Derek Kirkland is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Global Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley’s Financial Institutions Group in Investment Banking.

Brian Frank is a Director and Portfolio Manager at MSD Capital, L.P., the private investment firm founded by Michael Dell. Brian manages a fund, MSD Energy Investments, LLC, that is focused on investments in public and private companies in the energy sector. Prior to joining MSD, he was a portfolio manager at Cumberland Associates from 2005 to 2008. Before joining Cumberland, Brian served as a Director of Harman International, a Principal at W.R. Hambrecht + Co, and an Analyst in the merger & acquisitions group at Lazard Freres.