Thane Ritchie

Raised in the Chicago area, Thane entered the business world at an unusually young age (10) apprenticing daily for several years with his uncles and his stepfather, options and commodities pioneer Joe Ritchie, at the Chicago Board of Trade in the late 1970s. Exposed to the nuances of finance and the Chicago trading floors in lieu of junior high school, Thane built a foundation for his career that remains to this day. Thane attended Duke University, where he made the Duke football team as a walk-on. Seeking an opportunity to gain more playing time and visibility at the professional level, Thane returned to Chicago to finish his college career at Wheaton College. A standout tight end and linebacker for the Division III school, he won selection as an All American and was voted onto the CCIW All-Conference Football Team two years in a row. After graduation, he became a free agent in the NFL, playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears pre-season rosters. He was later inducted into the Wheaton Thunder Hall of Fame. In the early 1990s, Thane resumed working at the Chicago Board of Trade, followed by a stint at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He would later form his own options trading firm in 1994 (Ritchie Capital Markets) which he later transformed into the platform for his own hedge fund (Ritchie Capital Management). Through reinvestment of returns and new investments, Assets Under Management grew from 50MM in 1997 to over 4 Billion within 7 years. Mr. Ritchie entrepreneurial activity outside of fund management in subsequent years has focused on investments through his family office across a range of sectors, including energy, media, education and health care. His charitable activities have also been particularly focused on these latter sectors as well.