Seth Gardner Goes from Cerberus to the Academy
Every private equity pro has been touched (perhaps punched?) by the financial crisis, but few spent more time at the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue than did Seth Gardner, then a managing director and associate general counsel with onetime Chrysler owner Cerberus Capital Management. As the slog thickened, Gardner realized two things: (1) The next generation of finance professional is in the academy; and (2) The next generation of finance professional is doomed to repeat past mistakes, unless the academy changes its lesson plan. This was the message Gardner brought last summer to Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he had received an MBA in 1994. The result is something Fuqua calls the Center for Financial Excellence, with Gardner serving as executive director.
