Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher, Jr. (born 1966) is an African-American philanthropist who had previously been a successful money manager. Fletcher first became notable when employed by Kidder, Peabody & Co. During this time, he had an agreement entitling him to 25% of the profits he earned for the firm. However, when he generated $25 million one year, the firm did not uphold its agreement, and Fletcher sued for racial discrimination and US$3 million in back pay. He eventually won an arbitration award of $1.3 million.
Fletcher had worked at Bear Stearns before working for Kidder and founded his own firm, Fletcher Asset Management, after the dispute with Kidder Peabody. Having donated tens of millions of dollars to various charitable causes, Fletcher has become a major philanthropist. He has established several lasting legacies with his charitable efforts; two such efforts include the establishment of the Fletcher Foundation and the endowment of a University Professorship at Harvard University.
Fletcher’s first experience with investment, risk and return occurred when he was in junior high school. He and his father developed a computer program to determine dogs to invest in at the dog racing tracks. His program was able to select dogs that would win place or show, but due to the odds of the dogs it was selecting and the commission that the race track extracted, his work was not profitable.
He attended Harvard College where he received an A.B. degree as an applied mathematics major in 1987. He was elected first marshall (class president) of the 1987 class. He earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.[13] While an undergraduate student, he was enrolled in the United States Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Aerospace Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and served in the United States Air Force Ready Reserve until his honorable discharge in 1997.
One of his college internships was with Pfizer, where through the employee stock ownership program he learned the principal of investing in discounted assets. This was his first experience purchasing stocks.
By age 25, Fletcher was Kidder’s top equity trader, and he was earning $2 million a year.At the time, Kidder was owned by General Electric (GE). As part of his relationship with Kidder, the company agreed to pay him one quarter of the profits that he made for the firm, but when he earned the firm $25 million dollars, they only paid him half of the amount promised. He sued for the other half ($3 million in back pay). In addition to the pay dispute he filed a $5 million dollar (plus punitive damages) discrimination suit. Fletcher claimed the firm had kept their promise to white employees and claimed racial discrimination because white employees were paid more generously for similar work. Alleging a violation of State Human Rights Law, Fletcher filed a discrimination claim in the New York State Courts. The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division ruled that an arbitration panel would hear his case.
Fletcher Asset Management
When Fletcher started Fletcher Asset Management (FAM), he was identified by Fortune in 1994 as the top earning member of their thirty talented individuals under the age of thirty During the firm’s first four years, it traded with heavy leverage. When he founded his firm as chairman and CEO, he located it on the 48th floor of the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue. Fletcher had audited returns of 471% in 1992 and 177% in 1993, and unaudited returns of 267% in 1994 through August 31.During his first five years in business after founding his firm in 1991, the firm’s audited annual returns were 350%. His general strategy was trading public instruments for his own account and on behalf of clients, but he also made longer-term equity investments. He used sophisticated hedges with both types of investments.He has also been involved in PIPE deals. At various times he has been chauffeured to work in a Mercedes-Benz,a Bentley, and a Jaguar.
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