Michael Rapps
One of the first big decisions Michael Rapps made when launching his investing career was to grow a beard. He had just joined the family office of Geosam Capital, and though he already had several years of experience by that point at a top Canadian law firm, he was still just a rookie twentysomething who wanted to be taken more seriously at his new analyst job. Fast-forward seven years and this Montreal native no longer needs a beard to command respect—Michael’s record of spotting and building value speaks for itself. He has navigated take-private transactions and mergers, steered a quarter-billion dollar hotel operator back from the brink of bankruptcy, and helmed a series of once-in-a-generation investments in distressed U.S. residential property that have delivered triple- and quadruple-digit returns. Successes like these fueled his rapid rise at Geosam and have since propelled him on to the publicly traded investment firm Clarke Inc., where today he seeks out value as its president and CEO. Michael epitomizes the power of patient and precise investment strategies, and at the 2017 Santangel’s Investor Forum, he will share a current idea and speak about capital allocation within a publicly traded entity.