Global Platinum Securities Advisory Board Member

Leigh R. Crawford

Leigh R. Crawford is an investor based in Los Angeles, California.  His core competency is implementing microeconomic, fundamental research to manage concentrated, directional, long/short equity portfolios--a "stock picker" investment style.  His mission is to maximize real returns after tax for a select few high net worth individuals and endowment/foundations so the majority of his time can be devoted to investment research rather than managing client relationships.

In 2003, Mr. Crawford was Co-Portfolio Manager of Concentrated Core, a large cap growth US equity fund at Trust Company of the West.  During Mr. Crawford's five-year involvement with Concentrated Core, assets under management increased from approximately $3B to $25B; this increase was roughly 50% due to inflows and 50% due to performance; also, market conditions consisted of two tailwind years and three headwind years.

From 1994 to 1999, he was in the TCW Equity Research Department as an industry vertical analyst (studied a variety of industries especially automobiles, financials, and technology).  From 1999 to 2002, he was as an industry generalist analyst dedicated to the Concentrated Core fund.

In late 2003, Mr. Crawford concluded long/short is a superior style of investing than long-only because long/short better utilizes his investment skills to generate higher returns with less risk.  From June 2004 to June 2007, he was Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Anacapa Asset Management, a directional, long/short equity hedge fund.  From July 2007 to June 2008, Mr. Crawford merged Anacapa into and became co-portfolio manager of Cypress, a 40-year old, directional, long/short equity hedge fund.

Before TCW, Mr. Crawford studied Mathematics, Literature, and Language at University of California at Berkeley.  He holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College where he also studied Literature and Mathematics.

In addition, Mr. Crawford is Co-founder and Chairman of the Claremont McKenna College Center for Human Rights Leadership.  He is a member of the "Artistic Director Circle" of the Center Theatre Group (Ahmanson, Mark Taper, and Kirk Douglas).  And he is an advisor to Global Platinum Securities, an intra-varsity undergraduate student managed investment fund.