Bruce Kovner

Bruce Stanley Kovner (born 1945 in Bronx, New York) is an American businessman. He is the founder and Chairman of Caxton Associates, a hedge fund that trades a global macro strategy and is considered amongst the worlds top and largest 10 hedge funds with an estimated $14 billion under management .

Described as secretive even by family and friends, the divorcee is perhaps one of the least known New York City billionaires outside of professional circles. His Caxton Associates, despite the large amount of assets under management, is known to be amongst the top 25 most enigmatic and secretive hedge funds globally.

Bruce Kovner grew up in the San Fernando Valley, where his father had moved the family in 1953. Early on, he was a high achiever, becoming a Merit Scholar. He was the student-body president of Van Nuys High School at 16, and an accomplished basketball player.

Philanthropy and politics
A patron of the arts and a particular devotee of opera (he is on the board of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center), Kovner is an avid collector of rare books and classical music manuscripts and has given millions to art projects and art institutions, notably the Juilliard School (of which he is Chairman). Kovner donated $20 million to Juilliard in 2012 to endow the school's graduate program in historical performance. He is a primary funder of the expansion of Lincoln Center and the publisher of many works, including what some consider the finest modern illustrated bible. He is also founder and Chairman of the School Choice Scholarships Foundation, which awards scholarships to financially disadvantaged youth in New York City.

Kovner has contributed extensively to conservative causes. In January of 2012 he donated around $500,000 to Restore our Future, a Super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. He is the former chairman of the board of trustees of the American Enterprise Institute. His close acquaintances include former Vice President Dick Cheney, the founder of Fairchild Publications, now a division of Condé Nast Publications.