William Ackman

William Ackman's keynotes focus on finance, business and investment. More commonly known as Bill Ackman, he is a hedge fund manager and an executive. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Harvard College (1988) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1992).

In 1992, Ackman co-founded the investment firm Gotham Partners. In 1995, he partnered with Leucadia National to bid for the Rockefeller Center. Due to the increase in Gotham's visibility after the bid, the firm grew to $500 million in assets by 1988.

In 2003, Ackman founded and became CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. With shares in companies like JC Penney, General Growth Properties, Fortune Bands and Kraft Foods, Ackman advocated "activist investing," which is the practice of influencing management practices using stock shares in publicly-traded companies.