About the Chair Founder, Kenneth L. Fisher

Ken is the founder, CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Fisher Investments, a $59+ billion money management firm serving large institutions and high net worth individuals throughout most of the developed world. With more than 2,000 employees, the firm has offices in Washington, California, the United Kingdom, Germany, Dubai, Australia and Japan, with further global expansion underway. Ken is ranked #211 on the 2015 Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, where he has appeared since 2005. He and his wife Sherrilyn have three adult sons and four grandchildren.

Perhaps best known for his Forbes “Portfolio Strategy” column, Ken’s 31 years of high-profile market calls make him the third-longest running columnist in Forbes history. His Forbes market forecasts are among America’s most accurate as measured by third-party CXO Advisory Group. In 2010, Investment Advisor recognized Ken on its prestigious “Thirty for Thirty” list as among the industry’s 30 most influential individuals of the last three decades. From 1984 through 2012 Ken wrote 10 books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His 11th book, Beat the Crowd, was released in 2015.

Ken has been published, interviewed and/or written about in publications globally. He writes a weekly column for Germany’s Focus Money magazine and monthly columns in the UK’s Financial Times. His 1970s theoretical work pioneered an investment analysis tool called the Price-to-Sales Ratio, now a core element of modern financial curricula. A prize-winning researcher, his credits span a multitude of professional and scholarly journals in addition to his firm’s output—both in traditional and behavioral finance.

Ken’s principal hobbies are lumbering history and western conifer tree science. He is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on 19th century logging and has documented more than 35 abandoned mill sites in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains. He’s also deeply committed to advancing the world’s understanding of forest ecology. In 2006, Ken Fisher established the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair of Redwood Forest Ecology. Fisher, himself, is an alumnus of Cal Poly Humboldt (Economics ‘72). In 2007, the university recognized Fisher’s many accomplishments in the world of finance with its Distinguished Alumni Award.