Tony Ressler | |
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Born | July 16, 1959 |
Nationality | American |
Education | Georgetown University,Columbia Business School |
Known for | co-founder of Apollo Management; co-founder of Ares Management; minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers; majority owner of the Atlanta Hawks |
Spouse(s) | Jami Gertz (m. 1988) |
Children | Oliver Jordan Ressler Nicholas Simon Ressler Theo Ressler |
Parent(s) | Dorothy Ressler Ira Ressler |
Antony P. Ressler (born July 16, 1959) is an American businessman. He co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 1990; and co-founded the private equity firm Ares Management in 1997. Ressler and Grant Hill are both owners of the Atlanta Hawks. They purchased the team on June 24, 2015 for estimated $730 million - $850 million.
Born in 1959 to a Jewish family, Ressler was one of five children born to Dorothy and Ira Ressler. His father was an attorney and distinguished World War II veteran. Ressler graduated with a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. After school, he worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert eventually reaching Senior Vice President in the High Yield Bond Department with responsibility for the New Issue/Syndicate Desk.
In 1990, on the heels of the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert, he co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management with Leon Black, Drexel's managing director, head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, and co-head of the Corporate Finance Department; John Hannan, Drexel's former co-director of international finance; Craig Cogut, a lawyer who worked with Drexel's high-yield division in Los Angeles; Arthur Bilger, the former head of the Drexel's corporate finance department; and Marc Rowan, Josh Harris and Michael Gross, all of whom worked under Black in the mergers and acquisitions department. In 1997, he co-founded Ares Management with former Apollo Global Management co-worker John H. Kissick and Bennett Rosenthal, who joined the group from the global leveraged finance group at Merrill Lynch.