Brad K. Heppner
Brad K. Heppner[edit]
Brad K. Heppner (born 1966) is an American financial services business executive. He is a successful private equity investor and is distinguished for devising unique vehicles to unlock liquidity for investors in alternative assets. Over his career, he has formed 10 operating companies, principally in the financial services, investment and insurance sectors. He is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Beneficient Company Group, LP, based in Dallas, Texas.
Biography[edit]
Early life and education[edit]
Heppner was born and raised in Hesston, KS, the hometown of his mother's multigenerational farming family in the central plains of Kansas. He maintained ties with the hometown rural community by serving for seven years as a founding board member of the Hesston Community Foundation.[1] At 18, Heppner moved to Dallas, Texas, to attend Southern Methodist University, where in four years he earned three bachelor’s degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and General Studies, a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. He is a magna cum laude honors graduate. He subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration in Management and International Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Career[edit]
Heppner began his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York as an analyst. From 1989 to 1993, he served as director of investments for the $3.3 billion John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. He moved on to become a senior consultant at Bain & Company, where he focused on private equity financed companies from 1994 to 1996.
In the mid 1990s, Heppner bought The Crossroads Group, a Connecticut-based fund of funds firm and moved it to Dallas. He also founded Capital Analytics, an alternative asset administration company. In 1999, Heppner oversaw Crossroads’ $340 million purchase of a secondary private equity portfolio from Electronic Data Systems, believed to be the largest ever transaction of its kind.[2] In 2003, the Crossroads Group was purchased by the New York investment bank Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. At the time of the Lehman purchase, Crossroads had invested approximately $2 billion in more than 200 private equity partnerships involving approximately 5,200 private companies.[3] The Crossroads Group is now a part of Neuberger Berman. Capital Analytics is now owned by Mitsubishi Union Financial Group.
In 2013, Heppner established Beneficient Company Group, LP, known as BEN. Among its services, BEN offers unique private trust vehicles devised by Heppner to enable investors in alternative assets to quickly realize liquidity from typically hard-to-liquidate assets such as private equity, venture capital, leveraged buyouts, mezzanine investments, hedge funds, real estate, natural resources and life settlements. In 2019, in an $800 million deal, Heppner engineered the expansion BEN’s strategic relationship with GWG Holdings (Nasdaq: GWGH), a Minneapolis-based provider of liquidity to consumers owning life insurance policies, in a series of transactions that led to BEN’s board replacing the board of GWG.[4]
In the wake of launching BEN and its innovative liquidity products, Heppner was described as “a visionary” by Tom Hicks, private equity investor and former owner of the Texas Rangers.[5] BEN’s board includes well-known executives in the financial sector including Hicks and Richard Fisher, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Conservation[edit]
Heppner owns Bradley Oaks Ranch, a 1,000-acre property north of Palestine, Texas. In addition to ranching and corporate retreat operations, the ranch runs a wildlife education center that allows visitors to learn about and observe animals and plants found only in East Texas and promotes the importance of conserving and maintaining native wildlife and the environment. In 2014, two American bald eagle nests were discovered on the property.[6] In 2016, Heppner received recognition from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for contributing data on eagles to the Texas Natural Diversity Database.[7]
Personal life[edit]
Heppner and his wife, Aurelia, live in Dallas, Texas. His residence is among the most expensive homes in Dallas.[8] After the death of his 27-year-old nephew in a car accident near his ranch, Heppner led a successful effort to have two heliports built on Bradley Oaks Ranch in 2014 for use by emergency responders.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Brad Heppner: Business Profiles | ZoomInfo.com". ZoomInfo. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ "Dallas Business Journal". www.bizjournals.com. September 26, 1999. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Journal, Henny SenderStaff Reporter of The Wall Street. "Lehman to Buy Firm That Invests In Equity Concerns". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ "BRIEF-GWG Holdings And The Beneficient Company Announce Expansion Of Strategic Relationship". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ "How do the ultra-wealthy turn assets into cash ultra-fast? A Dallas firm finds a niche for the rich". Dallas News. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Herald-Press, Staff ReportsPalestine. "Bald eagle habitat found at Bradley Oaks Ranch". Palestineherald.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ "The Texas Natural Diversity Database" (PDF). March 2016.
- ↑ "The 100 Most Expensive Homes in Dallas". D Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Herald-Press, MARY RAINWATERPalestine. "Anderson County Commissioners OK ordinance for two new heliports". Palestineherald.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
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