Will Thorndike
Will Thorndike was 23 years old when he first read about Warren Buffett in John Train’s seminal work, Money Masters of Our Time, and took from that book a simple yet important insight that would shape the rest of his career: It was far better to be invested in good businesses than poor ones. The precept is one that Will held close over the years as he moved from Stanford Graduate School of Business to T. Rowe Price to his own private equity firm, Housatonic Partners, which he founded in 1994 to focus on companies with enduring growth and profitability. By 2012, investing in good businesses had propelled Housatonic to grow to more than $1 billion in assets under management. The firm was operating quietly under the radar until Will wrote a book that spread like wildfire in the value investing community. The Outsiders, published in 2012, features eight CEOs who excelled at capital allocation using unconventional methods. Warren Buffett recommended The Outsiders in his 2012 Letter to Shareholders and, more recently, Bill Ackman cited the book as inspiration for his proposed Valeant/Allergan deal. At the 2014 Santangel’s Investor Forum, Will Thorndike will speak about finding and recognizing the next generation of “Outsider” CEOs.