Gary P. Brinson

Gary P. Brinson is a former investor and money manager. He is the founder of Brinson Partners a Chicago-based asset management firm acquired in 1994 by Swiss Bank Corporation, the predecessor of UBS, and Adams Street Partners. Prior to retiring in 2000, Brinson would run the asset management division of Swiss Bank Corporation and later UBS Global Asset Management.

He is the co-author of two books on global investing and has authored numerous articles on an array of investment topics. Brinson has been called one of the investment field's "Living Legends" alongside investors such as George Russell, Jr., Warren Buffett, and Bill Gross.

Career Brinson was born in Seattle, Washington in 1943. His father worked as a bus driver and his mother worked at Sears as a clerk. He graduated from Seattle University in 1966 and would go on to receive an MBA from Washington State University in 1968.

First Chicago Investment Advisors became a separate money management company in 1983. Through the 1980s, Brinson established himself as a pioneer in the development of the theory of asset allocation. Brinson pushed for allocation across stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, venture capital and other alternative asset classes using simple cost effective investment strategies. This would largely become conventional wisdom among money managers in the 1990s.

In 1994, Swiss Bank Corporation was in the midst of a series of acquisitions that included O'Connor & Associates, S.G. Warburg & Co., Dillon Read & Co. and culminated in the bank's merger with the Union Bank of Switzerland in 1998. Swiss Bank announced the acquisition of Brinson Partners and brought in Brinson to run the bank's asset management unit. Swiss Bank Corporation paid US$750 million to acquire Brinson Partners, resulting in a profit to Brinson and his partners of US$460 million on the sale of their 75% stake in the company.

Brinson retired from UBS in early 2000 just prior to the crash of the dot-com bubble. Brinson had grown disenfranchised over the previous years with the runaway internet bubble and its detachment from fundamentals and value investing.

Influence on investment and finance Brison is acknowledged for helping to establish the foundations of investment portfolio Performance Attribution by introducing the Brinson model, through two articles written by Brinson and Fachler (1985) and Brinson, Hood, and Beebower (1986).

Other affiliations Brinson established the Brinson Foundation as non-profit organization focused on supporting educational, public health, and scientific research programs.