A. Gary Klesch

A. Gary Klesch (1947 –) is an Anglo-American entrepreneur, who in 1990 founded the Klesch Group, a global industrial company, based in Geneva, Switzerland, which he owns and chairs. The Klesch Group of companies has interests in metals, mining, oil and gas, power generation, chemicals and other traditional "heavy" industries. Klesch specializes in principal investing in companies that are operating below their full potential. Klesch is a leading proponent of "value investing", and speaks regularly to professional audiences around the world as an expert in the field of business restructuring, recovery and growth. According to The Economist, "Europe needs people like Mr. Klesch. Its protected firms have been able to ignore basic business principles for too long. With fresh money, Mr. Klesch brings discipline and fresh ideas."

Klesch was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947 and educated by the Jesuits. He graduated from John Carroll University in 1968 with a B.A. in Political Science.

Paine Webber (1968) Klesch’s first job after leaving university was at Paine Webber in Cleveland, as a margin clerk. He was tasked with sorting slips of paper in the back office and earnt less than $10,000 a year.

McDonald & Company (1969–1975) In 1969, aged 22, Klesch joined McDonald & Company, then one of the largest regional investment banking firms, based in Cleveland, Ohio, as an associate. In his interview with founder Bertram McDonald, Klesch was told that if he worked hard, he’d be a Partner in fifteen to twenty years’ time. After leaving the interview, his immediate reaction was, "No way, no way I’m going to wait that long" and plunged into his job in the syndicate department. Two years later, aged 24, Klesch was made McDonald & Company’s youngest-ever Partner.

United States Department of the Treasury (1975–1978) Klesch then came to the attention of Bill Simon, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Treasury under President Gerald Ford, and in 1975, aged 28, he was appointed Director of Capital Markets Policy. In this role he contributed to the development of a new model of financial regulation and in effect became Washington’s man in charge of Wall Street. Klesch’s responsibilities included developing the legislation that set in motion the deregulation of the securities and financial services industries in the United States and which ultimately resulted in Wall Street’s "Big Bang". During this time, he also travelled to Europe, Japan and the Middle East to talk about capital markets and deregulation. Whilst at the Treasury Department, Klesch also served as the Ford Administration’s representative in negotiations leading to US Government loans and guarantees to various financially troubled entities, including Lockheed and New York City. He also served as the US Government’s representative on the Board of the United States Railway Association, where he played a significant role in the negotiation and reorganization of troubled railroad companies, most notably the Penn Central Corporation, which collapsed in the early 1970s and was then the world’s largest insolvency. Additionally, he was responsible for finding private finance for the space shuttle.

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