Gary Winnick
Encyclopedia
Gary Winnick is an American financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

 with a global investment career spanning three decades. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of Pacific Capital Group, a diversified private investment firm founded in 1985. He is also Chairman of an advanced concrete technology company, Gary Winnick was Chairman of Global Crossing Limited from 1997 to 2002.

Early life

Winnick was born in 1948 and grew up in Queens, New York. He graduated from the C.W. Post University
Long Island University C.W. Post Campus
The C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University is a private institution of higher education located in Brookville in Nassau County, New York, United States...

, part of Long Island University
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...

, in 1969.

Pacific Capital Group

In 1985, Winnick formed Pacific Capital Group, which was initially involved with private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

 and restructuring. Pacific Capital Group has invested in a select group of industries, such as material science, health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

, real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 and telecommunications.

Global Crossing Limited

In 1997, Winnick founded Global Crossing Limited. Global Crossing laid the first privately financed underwater fiber optic cable network across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 and partnered with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 and Softbank Corp. to build a high capacity telecommunications network in Asia. The company, which Winnick served as Chairman, went public in 1998.

In January 2002, Global Crossing reorganized under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced that Singapore Technologies Telemedia would take a controlling interest in the company. Winnick resigned as Chairman of Global Crossing in December 2002. Winnick made approximately $734 million by selling his shares in the company shortly before it collapsed, and donated $25 million to Global Crossing employees who lost money in the company’s 401k retirement plan.

In March 2004, Winnick and other former company executives agreed to pay a combined $325 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

 brought by shareholders. They did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement. Winnick agreed to pay $55 million under the deal.

iCrete

In 2006, Winnick founded a new company, iCrete. iCrete advanced concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

 technology is being used to build the Freedom Tower
Freedom Tower
One World Trade Center , more simply known as 1 WTC and formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is the lead building of the new World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City...

 at One World Trade Center in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Additional projects include Beekman Tower
Beekman Tower
Beekman Tower may refer to two different buildings in Manhattan, New York City:*Beekman Tower, at First Avenue and 49th Street, designed by John Mead Howells*Beekman Tower , at 8 Spruce Street , designed by Frank Gehry...

, designed by Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...

, and Eleven Times Square.

Philanthropy

Winnick founded The Winnick Family Foundation in 1983. As Chairman, he funds such initiatives as The Winnick Family Clinical Research Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...

 and The Winnick International Conference Center of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...

, Jerusalem. He has endowed a Winnick Faculty Scholar at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. Winnick serves on several boards, including The Museum of Modern Art, The Simon Wiesenthal Center and Hillel International.

Winnick has funded student scholarships at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

 and the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...

. At Long Island University, he restored the Post Mansion and transformed the main cafeteria into the Arnold S Winnick Student Center, named in memory of his late father. Among the many grantees the foundation supports are the Winnick Popular Library at the Los Angeles Central Library, Teach for America
Teach For America
Teach For America is an American non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States...

, the Winnick Family Children's Zoo in Los Angeles Zoo
Los Angeles Zoo
The Los Angeles Zoo , is a zoo founded in 1966 and located in Los Angeles, California. The City of Los Angeles owns the entire zoo, its land and facilities, and the animals...

, Skirball Cultural Center
Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center is an educational institution in Los Angeles, California devoted to sustaining Jewish heritage and American democratic ideals. Open to the public since 1996, the Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage...

's Winnick Hall, and the Los Angeles Police Foundation.

Personal life

He received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

, C.W. Post University
Long Island University C.W. Post Campus
The C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University is a private institution of higher education located in Brookville in Nassau County, New York, United States...

, in 2004.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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