James R. Fisher, Sr. ’77, Member, Public Pension Capital, LLC, “Identifying and Creating Value”

James Fisher shared numerous lessons from his experiences and offered career advice based on his distinguished career in the financial services sector. In 1997 he launched Fisher Capital, a private equity firm, which was an affiliate of KKR. Since 2012, Fisher has served as a member of Public Pension Capital, LLC.

Fisher defined a private equity firm as an organization that invests capital and provides oversight in a business in exchange for an equity stake. He presented two case studies to provide real world examples that illustrate how a private equity firm­ identifies and creates value. These involved the massive buy-outs by Fisher Capital of Bristol West Holdings and the Willis Group.

As someone who progressed up the corporate ladder exceptionally fast, he noted the importance of having some basic knowledge of accounting principles to understand financial statements. Fisher also gave a number of personal examples that stressed the importance of a moral compass.