Stanley F. Druckenmiller ’75, H’07, a private investor, and founder of investment firm Duquesne Capital Management will be on campus to present “An Investor’s Perspective on Trump, Trade, and Global Populism” on Wednesday, February 8, which will take the form of a conversation with President Clayton Rose.
Druckenmiller is notable for his status as multi-billionaire, for his role as the chair of Bowdoin’s Investment Committee and for his position as a Bowdoin benefactor and former trustee. His net worth is approximately $4.7 billion and Duquesne Capital oversaw roughly $12 billion upon its closure in 2010. In 1997, he pledged a $30 million gift to Bowdoin, the largest ever for the College.
Druckenmiller cited the environment as one concern under Trump’s presidency.
“The really, really big loser with this administration from my perspective is the climate community and the environmental community and I’ll just say a lot of that will be undoing regulations that many of us fought very hard to put in place.”
Druckenmiller is notable for his defense of the the College’s position not to divest.
In April 2016, Isabella McCann ’19, a member of Bowdoin Climate Action (BCA) published an op-ed about connections the Investment Committee members have to the oil and gas committee. This came immediately before a BCA press conference about Bowdoin trustees’ ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Druckenmiller responded with an op-ed in the next week’s Orient claiming that in practice, divestment from the fossil fuel industry would only be symbolic.
Druckenmiller said that significant action regarding the environment should be done in various ways other than divesting a college endowment from publicly traded fossil fuel companies.
“My wife and I funded a study with some other donors regarding methane emission that led to definitive regulations in a number of states for methane,” he said. “That to me is something concrete and something I find much more tangible and I feel has made a difference as opposed to whether the Bowdoin endowment owned Exxon or didn’t own Exxon.”
However, Druckenmiller admires Bowdoin students’ fervor regarding environmental issues.
“Even if they disagree with me, it’s kind of cool to see the students even excited about and passionate about the environment,” he said.
Druckenmiller’s philanthropic work, supports various education, environmental, health, community development, humanitarian and arts initiatives. In 2009, the Chronicle of Philanthropy called him the most charitable man in America for giving $705 million to various organizations.
“I like the intellectual stimulation of [investing]. It also keeps me in touch with policy because I have to read about current events and evaluate policy all day long,” he said.
Being a successful investor, he said, gives him the opportunity to fund organizations that make an efficient and substantial difference.
Druckenmiller does not believe that wealthy people have a responsibility to do philanthropic work. He does not judge other wealthy people for what they do with that wealth but thinks that it is a loss for wealthy people not to do it.
“[Philanthropy is] a privilege and it’s a thing I get great emotional satisfaction out of—more satisfaction than I do making money,” said Druckenmiller.
One of the organizations Druckenmiller is involved with is the Harlem Children’s Zone, founded by fellow Bowdoin alumnus Geoffrey Canada ’74. According to its website, the organization seeks to end generational poverty in Central Harlem through programs that focus on getting children to college, family and social services, health services and community building.
“If you don’t have a college education, it’s something you can overcome but you’re pretty much really behind the eight ball and the odds are stacked tremendously against you,” said Druckenmiller.
Druckenmiller said that Bowdoin is a special place that engenders out-of-the-box thinking and the common good.
“[Bowdoin] drills that common good stuff in you from day one. I don’t think it was responsible for how much I enjoy philanthropy, but it was a long time ago … Maybe it was,” he said.
Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Druckenmiller said that coming to Bowdoin as a first year was a complete eye opener.
“I had my mind opened to a lot of things: Marxist professors, economics, a whole different kind of student [than] I had ever met in Virginia, and it was a very exciting time for me,” he said.
Once he was introduced to economics, Druckenmiller fell in love with the discipline.
“[I] started off as an English major and took economics my junior year just so I could read the newspaper and might have some better idea of what they were talking about,” he said.
Druckenmiller is looking forward to taking students’ potentially tough questions on Wednesday. The event is at 7:30 p.m. in Pickard Theater.