Top investment managers named distinguished business alumni

Phill Gross and Paul Leff have been named winners of the Distinguished Business Alumnus Awards given by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business.

The Distinguished Business Alumnus Award is given to graduates of the School of Business who not only achieve outstanding success in their career, but who also have given back in meaningful ways to the community. In the school’s more than 100-year history, fewer than 75 individuals have been honored with this award.

Both Gross and Leff earned bachelor of business administration degrees in finance and economics and master of science degrees in finance from the School of Business.

Gross is a co-founder and managing director of Adage Capital Management, a Boston-based $8.7 billion money-management firm focused on managing S&P 500 assets predominantly for endowments and foundations such as Harvard University, Northwestern University, Dartmouth College, the American Red Cross and the Getty Foundation.

Gross has served on several boards within UW–Madison, including the Chancellor’s Board of Advisers, the UW Foundation board as a member of the UW Foundation Investment Committee, and the Applied Security Analysis and the Applied Corporate Finance advisory boards at the School of Business.

Gross serves as chair of the Strategic Advisory Council and was a member of the board of directors for Shelter Inc., one of the oldest homeless-serving agencies in Massachusetts.

Leff is co-founder and chief investment officer of Perry Partners Ltd., a widely respected money management firm in New York. Founded in 1988, Perry Capital is an investment fund with approximately $12 billion under management with offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Leff also is involved with UW–Madison, serving on the board of the UW Foundation, the School of Business Dean’s advisory board and the Applied Security Analysis Board. He also runs the Wisconsin Eastern Alumni Scholarship Fund in New York and mentors UW students and alumni who are interested in working on Wall Street.