James S. Chanos

Founder and Managing Partner—Kynikos Associates

James S. Chanos is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kynikos Associates. As the world’s largest exclusive short-selling investment firm, Kynikos Associates provides investment-management services for domestic and offshore clients. Through investment funds, partnerships, corporations and managed accounts—both domestic and offshore—Kynikos Associates maintains private portfolios of securities for clients. The Ursus, Kriticos and Kynikos Opportunity funds seek to profit from the unusually high alphas found on the long and short side of US and non-US equity markets. Chanos opened Kynikos Associates in 1985 to implement investment strategies he had uncovered while beginning his Wall Street career as a financial analyst with PaineWebber, Gilford Securities and Deutsche Bank. He is currently a lecturer in finance and a Becton Fellow at the Yale School of Management, where he teaches a class on the history of financial fraud. Chanos also serves on the Board of Trustees of the New-York Historical Society and The National WWII Museum. He holds a BA in economics and political science from Yale University. Location: New York