Donald Phillips
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Officer: Chicago
Mr. Phillips has more than 25 years of investment management experience managing large pools of pension assets in the capacity of both a limited and a general partner. He is Founder and Chief Executive Officer, WP Global Partners, a private equity company in Chicago managing over $2 billion in funds-of-funds and direct investments. Mr. Phillips is also Managing Partner of Ranieri Partners in New York City which is an institutional investment firm managing in excess of $3 billion in residential and commercial real estate assets which also invests in distressed operating companies.
From 1997 until 2005, Mr. Phillips was President of Forstmann-Leff International, Inc. where he was responsible for the strategic process of building and managing the global investment management firm. Forstmann-Leff International is a multi-asset class institutional investment management firm with offices in Chicago, New York and Liverpool, England. The firm has been managing assets for high net worth individuals, pension funds and other institutions for almost 30 years with assets under management that exceed $8.5 billion. The styles of managing assets include U.S. mid-cap value oriented equities, fixed income that includes core U.S., high yield and global portfolio management in addition to the management of private placement or alternative asset classes for large institutions. He subsequently left Forstmann-Leff by selling the private equity business to WestLB, a large German Bank. He was the Chief Investment Officer and CEO for WestAM (U.S.) where he directed the investment strategy and oversaw WestAM’s approximately $3 billion portfolio in commitments to private equity funds, real estate, and direct investments. In addition, he was a member of WestAM’s Board of Directors.
From 1990 until 1997, Mr. Phillips was Chairman of Equity Institutional Investors where he was responsible for the formation of four real estate funds with equity commitments of over $2.5 billion. These funds have been subsequently consolidated into a public company, Equity Office Properties that was sold to Blackstone for $50 billion in 2007. During the same time period at the Equity Group Investments, he was instrumental in establishing the $1.1 billion Zell/Chilmark Fund to buy good companies with bad balance sheets. This fund acquired seven public and private companies that have combined sales of $8 billion and over 50,000 employees. Also, Mr. Phillips was President of Capstone Holdings Corp., a publicly traded insurance holding company and a board member of other publicly traded companies within the Equity Group.
His previous positions include eight years as the Chief Investment Officer for Ameritech Corporation, where he managed all asset classes of Ameritech’s $15 billion pension fund. The Ameritech fund was an early investor in private equity, venture capital and commercial real estate. His efforts at Ameritech were recognized by Institutional Investor Magazine, which selected him as one of the country’s top 10 pension fund managers. Recently, he was awarded the Richard J. Daley Medal by the Illinois Venture Capital Association which recognizes “extraordinary contributions to the Illinois Economy resulting from private equity investing.” He has an M.B.A. in finance from Northern Illinois University and a B.A. in business from Western Illinois University.
From 1997 until 2005, Mr. Phillips was President of Forstmann-Leff International, Inc. where he was responsible for the strategic process of building and managing the global investment management firm. Forstmann-Leff International is a multi-asset class institutional investment management firm with offices in Chicago, New York and Liverpool, England. The firm has been managing assets for high net worth individuals, pension funds and other institutions for almost 30 years with assets under management that exceed $8.5 billion. The styles of managing assets include U.S. mid-cap value oriented equities, fixed income that includes core U.S., high yield and global portfolio management in addition to the management of private placement or alternative asset classes for large institutions. He subsequently left Forstmann-Leff by selling the private equity business to WestLB, a large German Bank. He was the Chief Investment Officer and CEO for WestAM (U.S.) where he directed the investment strategy and oversaw WestAM’s approximately $3 billion portfolio in commitments to private equity funds, real estate, and direct investments. In addition, he was a member of WestAM’s Board of Directors.
From 1990 until 1997, Mr. Phillips was Chairman of Equity Institutional Investors where he was responsible for the formation of four real estate funds with equity commitments of over $2.5 billion. These funds have been subsequently consolidated into a public company, Equity Office Properties that was sold to Blackstone for $50 billion in 2007. During the same time period at the Equity Group Investments, he was instrumental in establishing the $1.1 billion Zell/Chilmark Fund to buy good companies with bad balance sheets. This fund acquired seven public and private companies that have combined sales of $8 billion and over 50,000 employees. Also, Mr. Phillips was President of Capstone Holdings Corp., a publicly traded insurance holding company and a board member of other publicly traded companies within the Equity Group.
His previous positions include eight years as the Chief Investment Officer for Ameritech Corporation, where he managed all asset classes of Ameritech’s $15 billion pension fund. The Ameritech fund was an early investor in private equity, venture capital and commercial real estate. His efforts at Ameritech were recognized by Institutional Investor Magazine, which selected him as one of the country’s top 10 pension fund managers. Recently, he was awarded the Richard J. Daley Medal by the Illinois Venture Capital Association which recognizes “extraordinary contributions to the Illinois Economy resulting from private equity investing.” He has an M.B.A. in finance from Northern Illinois University and a B.A. in business from Western Illinois University.
