Kenneth C. Griffin

Kenneth C. Griffin is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Citadel, one of the world’s leading alternative investment firms. Intrigued by finance, Ken began investing in 1986 as a freshman at Harvard. Four years later, he founded Citadel, driven by a focus on the combination of exceptional talent, advanced predictive analytics, and powerful software engineering. Today, the Citadel team of over 2,500 professionals is globally recognized as a market leader, investing on behalf of the world’s preeminent research institutions, universities, and healthcare organizations, with the mission of delivering superior long-term returns.

In 2002, Ken and his partners established Citadel Securities, now one of the leading global market makers. Serving more than 1,600 clients, including many of the largest sovereign wealth funds and central banks, Citadel Securities has delivered enormous benefits to investors around the world. Over the past two decades, through its trading, research, and technology, Citadel Securities has created more transparent, resilient, and competitive markets both in the U.S. and abroad. Ken is Non-Executive Chairman of Citadel Securities.

A passionate philanthropist, Ken is committed to strengthening humanity’s future by supporting initiatives that advance breakthroughs in science and medicine, and expand access and opportunity in education. His catalytic giving empowers students across our country to succeed and enables people to live longer and healthier lives.

Most recently, during the COVID-19 crisis, Ken took immediate action and mobilized partners across government, business, and healthcare to fund critical research. He played a key role in helping to safely return hundreds of Americans from Wuhan, China. Additionally, Ken’s thought leadership was instrumental in architecting Operation Warp Speed’s accelerated vaccine development strategies, which ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

As the pandemic engulfed America and schools were closing their doors, Ken enabled students to continue their learning by playing a leadership role in providing free high-speed broadband access to 400,000 low-income homes across Chicago and Miami. Championing his belief that a high-quality education is the on-ramp to the American Dream, Ken has funded transformative undergraduate scholarships to equip thousands of low-income and first-generation students with the skills and tools needed to succeed.

Ken holds an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College.