User:Agrais/sandbox

Early Life and Education
In 1945, Charles J. Gradante was born in New York City to Sebastian and Mildred Gradante. His father was the founder and president of the RCB Transportation Company in New York. Charles graduated from Lindenhurst Senior High School in 1963 with All County and All League honors in football. Afterwards, Gradante went to LIU C.W. Post on an athletic scholarship for baseball, where he earned a B.S in engineering sciences in 1967 and a M.S in management in 1970. Gradante first became employed by Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Corp. in Bethpage, NY, where he joined a legion of engineers building the first lunar landing module. He would then join the Pan American World Airways Space Shuttle Design Team.

Business Career
Gradante’s recognized the future impact of computers on business and was hired by the John Diebold Venture Capital Corporation in 1971. John Diebold was a visionary of the computer age and a mentor to Charles Gradante. Afterwards, Gradante moved onto Citibank from 1976 to 1986, where he rose all the way to the rank of vice president. In 1986, Gradante left Citibank and became the assistant to the chairman of Drexel Burnham Lambert Ltd. in London. During his time there, Gradante was responsible for the proprietary trading administration and risk management committee of the company. On October 10th,1990, Mr. Gradante became the president and CEO of Union Chelsea National Bank where he remained until 1995. At the beginning of his time as CEO, the Union Chelsea National Bank ranked 156th out of 158 banks in the New York area and was on the verge of failure. By 1992, under his leadership, Union Chelsea Bank ranked 23rd out of 158 banks in the New York area, ranked as one of the ten most profitable small banks in New York, and was saved from bankruptcy. Union Chelsea also became the first United States bank to provide letters of credit to small businesses in Venezuela.

Hennessee Group LLC
In 1995, Charles Gradante became the co-director at the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group which was formed by Elizabeth “Lee” Hennessee-Gradante in 1987 as a division of E. F. Hutton Performing. In 1995, with a team of four people and $200 million in assets under advisory, Gradante negotiated the acquisition of Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group by Weiss, Peck & Greer. The vision of WPG paralleled that of Charles Gradante and the Hennessee team in that the future growth of hedge fund investment advisory services for high net worth individuals and institutions would grow to an entire industry. Since its start in 1987, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group provided unique and ubiquitous hedge fund investment research as well as hedge fund performance indexes that have been continuously cited by institutions, hedge fund managers and investors. Additionally, the group published the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review since 1993, which provided monthly outlooks into hedge fund performance and the markets.

In 1997, Gradante and his wife, Elizabeth “Lee” Hennessee-Gradante, took the firm private and co-founded the Hennessee Group LLC. At its peak, this hedge fund managed more than $1.6 billion in investments for clients. In December of 2012, Hennessee Group LLC sold its hedge fund division to Terrapin Asset Management. However, the group maintained ownership of the Hennessee Hedge Fund Indexes as well as other research services. In 2007, Gradante predicted the looming CDS-CDO home mortgage crisis. The group’s research has been frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Financial Times.

SandDollar Capital
By 2007, Charles Gradante realized the potential in creating low-budget films for hedge fund diversification. As a result, Charles Gradante and his wife co-founded SandDollar Capital LLC, a private equity firm. By July 31, 2007, SandDollar Capital LLC formed an alliance with Barbarian Films LLC. Some of the films created through this alliance include “13”, “Spread” , “The Greatest” , and “Powder Blue”. Up until “Powder Blue”, Jessica Biel acted in romantic comedy. This independent film was her breakout leading role as a dramatic actor able to take on a complex and multilevel character. Her striptease scene is rated among the top ten in film.

Notable Mentions
Charles Gradante is considered one of Wall Street’s most sought after experts on matters of the stock market, the global economy, hedge fund strategy, and asset allocation. He has testified before the House of Representatives as a hedge fund industry expert discussing the systemic risk in the wake of long-term capital management. In addition, he also participated in a SEC Roundtable on hedge funds and a CFTC Roundtable on CPO and Commodity Pool Industry Issues. Furthermore, the Senate Banking Committee also sought Charles Gradante’s opinion on the issue of hedge fund regulations, the role of hedge funds in providing liquidity to markets and potential systemic risks associated with hedge funds. Gradante is the only hedge fund industry professional to have testified before all four of these institutions regarding the hedge fund industry. Gradante has regularly co-hosted and made guest appearances on Bloomberg Television, CNN Financial News, CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and “Desktop".

From 2002 to 2005, Charles Gradante was a member of the Board of Trustees of Regent University.

On May 8th, 2005, Gradante was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

On May 26th, 2015, Charles Gradante was inducted into the Lindenhurst Senior High School Hall of Fame.

Personal Life
Charles J. Gradante met Elizabeth Lee Hennessee in 1991 through a business proposal to be the first U.S. national bank to offer hedge funds to wealthy bank clients at Union Chelsea Bank Where he was president and CEO. Charles J. Gradante married Elizabeth Lee Hennessee on October 31st, 1992 at the St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York. Charles has three children and two grandchildren. He currently resides with his wife in Florida and New York.

TV & Radio Appearances

 * PBS (3-23-2009) - Charles Gradante interviews on PBS Nightly Business Report discussesing TARP deals and hedge funds


 * Bloomberg TV (12-15-2008) – Charles Gradante on Bloomberg with Matt Miller Discussing the Bernard Madoff scandal


 * Forbes (5-2008) - Charles Gradante interviews with Camilla Webster on Forbes TV regarding hedge fund performance


 * Bloomberg TV (1-18-2008) – Charles Gradante interviews with Bloomberg on credit default swaps and chart analysis. The next big shoe to drop is credit default swaps


 * Bloomberg TV (8-14-2007) – Charles Gradante interviews with Bloomberg's Taking Stock on "stock reversion to the mean"


 * CNBC TV (7-30-2007) – Charles Gradante is quoted on CNBC on the hedge fund trends


 * Bloomberg TV (10-12-2007) – Charles Gradante discusses the hedge fund industry and ownership in hedge funds by financial institutions with Michael McKee on Bloomberg


 * Bloomberg TV (3-13-2007) – Charles Gradante interviews with Bloomberg on the potential for stagflation and predicting global turmoil in the financial markets. Subprime CDOs are a potential Achilles heel to the equity markets. The Dow will retest 11,800. If that technical support level is broken, we can see a big drop in stocks


 * Bloomberg TV (12-12-2006) – Charles Gradante interviews on Bloomberg's "Market Movers" discussing hedge fund investment sizes


 * Bloomberg TV (11-15-2006) – Charles Gradante interviews on Bloomberg's "Market Movers" reviewing hedge fund performance for 2006 and give his outlook for 2007. The biggest risk to equity markets is credit default swaps widening. Credit spreads are at 8 year lows. Sellers of credit default swaps (banks and insurers) will take a hit. Hedge funds are buying credit default swaps


 * CNBC TV (11-2-2006) – Charles Gradante interviews with Erin Burnett on CNBC's Street Signs about hedge fund risk and regulation


 * CNBC TV' (9-18-2006) – Charles Gradante interviews with on CNBC's Closing Bell discussing market pessimism, portfolio size relative to management strategy and how the Credit Default (CDS) market could pose a systemic risk


 * Bloomberg TV (8-23-2006) – Charles Gradante interviews with Bloomberg on hedge fund film finance


 * PBS Nightly Business News TV (8-23-2006) – In an additional interview, Charles sat down with PBS's Nightly Business News to talk about hedge fund film finance


 * Bloomberg TV (8-8-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Bloomberg on hedge fund performance and trends


 * Fox News TV (7-28-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Neil Cavuto of Fox News on hedge funds in mainstream media and talks about general industry trends


 * Bloomberg TV (7-27-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Monica Bertran on Bloomberg's Market Movers on equity markets and hedge funds


 * Bloomberg TV (7-13-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Monica Bertran on Bloomberg's Market Movers on China and hedge fund money flows


 * Bloomberg TV (6-8-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Erin Burnett on Bloomberg on hedge fund performance


 * CNBC TV (6-7-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's Final Call on if hedge funds pose a risk on the financial markets


 * Bloomberg TV (5-23-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with Monica Bertran on Bloomberg TV regarding hedge fund losses and market environment


 * Bloomberg TV (5-13-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews on Matt Nesto of Bloomberg on the impact of credit default swaps and the "elephant in the swimming pool"


 * CNBC TV (5-10-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews with on CNBC's Kudlow & Company discussing the outlook for hedge funds, banks holding excessive risk on balance sheets, and the use of credit default swaps


 * Bloomberg TV (4-8-2005) – Charles Gradante interviews on Bloomberg's Carol Masser on hedge fund performance


 * CNN TV (8-27-2002) – Charles Gradante interviews with Ali Velshi on CNN about investing in hedge funds


 * CNN TV (8-24-2002) – Charles Gradante interviews with Rhonda Schaffler on CNN Moneyline on hedge funds impact on markets with panelists Bob Doll and Vince Farrell


 * CNBC TV (7-10-2002) – Charles Gradante interviews with on CNBC's Business Center discussing [Bill Gross |Bill Gross]]'s criticism of hedge funds shorting in the bond market


 * CNBC (3-22-2001) - Charles Gradante interviews on CNBC's Business Center with Sue Herera and Bob Pisani on hedge fund influence on the stock markets


 * CNN (10-26-1998) - Charles Gradante interviews with CNN on Trading Places to discuss Long Term Capital Management, the economy, hedge fund transparency and regulation


 * CSPAN 2 (10-1-1998) - Charles Gradante's testimony before the House of Representatives on hedge funds and Long Term Capital Management


 * CNNfn (9-29-1998) - Charles Gradante discusses Long Term Capital Management and the impact of hedge funds on the financial markets on CNNfn's Street Sweep with Terry Keenan


 * CNBC TV (9-29-1998) - Charles Gradante discusses Long Term Capital Management, other hedge funds and their impact on the financial markets on CNBC's Power Lunch with Bill Griffeth


 * PBS Nightly News (9-24-1998) - Charles Gradante interviews with Suzy Garib on Long-Term Capital bailout


 * Bloomberg TV (9-18-1998) - Charles Gradante interviews with Doug Crizer on global investing in hedge funds


 * CNBC (2-3-1997) - Charles Gradante and Lee Hennessee interview with Mark Haines on CNBC's Squawk Box to discuss the outlook for hedge funds


 * CNBC (8-16-1996) - Charles Gradante and Lee Hennessee interview with Hillary Lane on CNBC's Desktop to discuss macro hedge funds and hedge funds in general


 * CNBC (4-22-1996) - Charles Gradante as the first hedge fund industry professional to co-hosts CNBC's Squawk Box with Ron Insana

Publications

 * The Prudent Investor’s Guide to Hedge Funds: Profiting From Uncertainty & Volatility by James P. Owen

-In 2000, Charles Gradante became the first person in the hedge fund industry to be quoted in a published book, criticizing the hedge fund strategy.
 * Expert Financial Planning: Investment Strategies From Industry Leaders by Robert C. Arffa, M.D.

Referenced Quotations

 * http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB950316346168275432


 * http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB954552106441318113


 * http://www.businessweek.com/2001/01_09/b3721013.htm


 * http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2001-09-16/hedge-fund-follies


 * http://www.pionline.com/article/20020722/PRINT/207220709/funds-of-hedge-funds-imprudent-for-fiduciaries


 * https://hfm.global/hfmweek/news/market-crash-brings-mixed-fortunes-for-hfs/

Hennessee Group LLC References

 * http://business.highbeam.com/4875/article-1G1-53935278/viewing-hedge-fund-investing-separate-asset-class


 * http://www.pionline.com/article/20010917/PRINT/109170720/questions-abound-investibility-of-hedge-fund-indexes-debated


 * http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB975360781920681695


 * http://bi.galegroup.com/essentials/article/GALE%7CA61954971?u=nysl_sc_cornl&sid=summon&userGroup=nysl_sc_cornl