A Bronx Tale: Building a Career in the Credit Markets, Fireside Chat with Bob O’Shea, Moderated by Michael Gatto

Bob O’Shea was the quintessential Fordham student. A scrappy kid from New Jersey, his grandmother worked as a maid at the Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan, his father was a New York City cop, and he himself was accepted to Fordham on a track and field scholarship. O’Shea’s success on Wall Street is the epitome of the American dream. Michael Gatto, an adjunct professor at Fordham, will be interviewing O’Shea about his meteoric rise on Wall Street. O’Shea was offered partnership at Goldman Sachs at age 29, making him the second-youngest partner in the firm’s history. Then, as a second act, O’Shea co-founded Silver Point Capital, a credit and special situations hedge fund, in 2002. He subsequently grew the firm from $120 million in assets under management to $15 billion.

Professor Gatto will ask O’Shea to speak about several topics, including his career and the things that made him so successful, his views of the current credit markets, and his advice for students and young professionals on how to build a successful career in credit.

Agenda
12 p.m.: Welcome Remarks: Donna Rapaccioli, dean, Gabelli School of Business

12:05 p.m.: Speaker Introductions: Father Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

12:10 p.m.: Discussion: Bob O’Shea and Michael Gatto

12:45 p.m.: Audience Q&A

1 p.m.: Closing Remarks: Donna Rapaccioli

About the Speakers
O’Shea is co-founder and chairman of Silver Point Capital, a private investment firm, founded in 2002 and focused on credit and special situation investing throughout credit cycles. O’Shea was co-CEO at the firm from 2002 until 2011 at which time he became chairman. Today, Silver Point manages more than $15 billion of assets under management across hedge fund, private equity, and direct lending strategies. Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the firm has approximately 180 employees, including more than 60 investment professionals.

Prior to founding Silver Point, O’Shea worked at Goldman Sachs for 10 years. He joined Goldman in 1990 to found and build the firm’s global bank loan business. During his tenure at Goldman Sachs, in addition to building the global bank loan business, he also became the global head of the high yield business unit, leading the firm’s high-yield bond and bank loan underwriting, trading, sales, capital markets and research, and the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) business. O’Shea was a member of Goldman’s risk committee, which was responsible for managing the firm’s global risk exposure. He was also on the board of Goldman Sachs international bank and senior traders committee. He was elected general partner in 1994. Prior to working at Goldman Sachs, he worked at Bear Stearns in the high yield department and Security Pacific Bank in the Merchant Banking Group. O’Shea graduated from Fordham University with a B.S. in finance.

Gatto was one of the first employees at Silver Point Capital, a credit-focused hedge fund. After joining the firm in April 2002, he became the first non-founding partner in January 2003. He has helped grow the business from $120 million of assets under management in 2002 to approximately $15 billion currently. Today, he is the head of the firm’s private side businesses. Prior to joining Silver Point, Gatto worked at Goldman Sachs as a senior member within the special situations investing business.

Gatto has served on numerous boards, which have included specialty retailer Party City and New Cotai Holdings (a Macau gaming company), and he was chairman of the board of Quinn Industries, an Irish Industrial company. Outside of Silver Point, Gatto is an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, where he teaches courses on credit analysis, and distressed value and special situation investing. Gatto received an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in economics from Cornell University.

This event is co-sponsored with the CFA Society New York, the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, and the Museum of American Finance.

All press and recordings are strictly prohibited.