About Richard Wayner

I am a former Goldman Sachs M&A banker, entrepreneur and CEO of two minority-owned firms.  I have hands-on experience as a manager, investor and advisor for both large & small companies in the USA and abroad.

I am the founder of Fort Greene Partners (FGP), a minority-owned company certified with the NY/NJ Minority Supplier Development Council since 2009.  In 2014, FGP advised TIAA-CREF (over $800 billion in assets) on the market and potential for minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBEs).  In addition, FGP has sourced and developed a variety of investment opportunities across multiple industry verticals with a particular focus on MWBEs and what Boston Consulting Group has referred to as “Emerging Domestic Markets.”

Prior to focusing full-time on FGP, I was a Senior Vice President at James Alpha Management which generates high alpha investment portfolios for institutional and individual investors and meets investor demand for institutional-quality "emerging managers."  In addition, James Alpha leverages its infrastructure to minimize risk and maximize performance.

Previously, I was the Co-Founder and Chairman of Alliance TRACE Media (Netherlands), a holding company that funded TRACE-TV. Based in Paris, TRACE-TV was the first international urban TV network and reaches roughly 20mm homes in over 100 countries globally. In 2010, TRACE was sold by Goldman on behalf of our investment group.

Also, from 2002 to 2008, I was the Co-Founder and CEO of The TRUE Agency, an award-winning advertising boutique with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville and clients such as Nissan, Infiniti, AARP and Hilton Hotels. TRUE published a ground-breaking work entitled Transculturalism: How the World is Coming Together and was recognized by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the ten largest black-owned agencies within five years of being launched.  In 2007, I was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

From 1994 to 2002, I was at Goldman Sachs & Co. in M&A, real estate and telecom, media and technology, where I advised on private and public market transactions.  In addition, I was one of the original members of the Urban Investment Group (UIG) that focused on urban venture capital and real estate with a specific focus on minority and female entrepreneurs. 

Prior to, and during, business school, I worked at Credit Lyonnais (in Paris), Wasserstein Perella and Merrill Lynch.

I am on the Board of Trustees for The Buckley School (New York) and St. George’s School (Newport, RI).  I am also a Young Leader with the French-American Foundation.

I am a graduate of Harvard University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

I was born in Boston and raised in the South Bronx by a deeply religious mother.

I live in New Rochelle, New York, with my wife and four children.  We’ve kept our place in Brooklyn, just in case…