Charles T. Akre

Charles T. "Chuck" Akre (born 1942 or 1943) is an American investor, financier and businessman. He is on the board of directors of Enstar Group, Ltd., a Bermuda run-off reinsurance company. He is also the founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Akre Capital Management, FBR Focus, and other funds. Akre Capital Management is based in Middleburg, Virginia.

Early life Akre grew up in Washington D.C., graduated from Blair Academy and matriculated to American University, where he started out as a premed student but later switched to BA in English literature. After deciding against going to medical school, Akre started in the securities business in 1968.

Career Akre held positions as shareholder, director, CEO of the Asset Management Division and director of Research at Johnston, Lemon & Co. (a NYSE member firm). Akre established his own firm, Akre Capital Management, in 1989 and operated it as part of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. until 1999. In 2000, ACM became independent again.

Akre established its current location in Middleburg, Virginia in early 2002 while running the FBR Focus Fund, a small- and mid-cap value mutual fund. While Akre was managing the FBR Focus, it performed in the top 1% of small/mid-cap growth funds in 2002, 2004, and 2006, as well as the 2nd percentile in 2001 and the 6th percentile in 2008. In 2008, Akre's FBR Small Cap Value fund consisted of $55 million; in total in 2003 Akre managed about $135 million. After breaking from FBR, Akre started the Akre Focus Fund in 2009. As of 2009 the fund had about $800 million in assets, while Akre had a seven figure stake in the fund. The stool is a reference to a three-legged milking stool he keeps in his office – because it is low to the ground, a farmer sitting on it would not fall far if it flipped over. The implication for investing is that if the economy is rattled, fund investors won't be hit with serious damage.

Notable investments Akre has made significant long-term investments in several public companies, including American Tower, Bandag (now Bridgestone), International Speedway, O'Reilly Automotive (the biggest independent retailer of aftermarket car parts), Ross Stores, Dollar Tree, MasterCard, Markel Corporation, Aeropostale and Penn National Gaming. In these investments, he has tended to focus on the long-term compounding results rather than short-term gyrations in stock price.