Keynote

Kenneth D. Moelis (W ’81, WG ’81)
Chief Executive Officer
Moelis & Company

Ken Moelis is the Chief Executive Officer of Moelis & Company Holdings LLC. Moelis & Company will be a relationship-based financial advisory and investment management firm that will provide advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and other corporate finance transactions and manage investment funds which will integrate capital solutions with the firm’s advisory expertise.

Mr. Moelis has had a unique 25-year career on Wall Street during which he has helped build and manage two of the most successful investment banking growth stories of the past two decades. Prior to founding Moelis & Company, Mr. Moelis was President of UBS Investment Bank where his responsibilities included oversight of the investment banking business, sourcing and supporting high-profile banking transactions, implementing various firm-wide client initiatives and building relationships with key corporate and institutional clients across the firm. Prior to this role, Mr. Moelis was Joint Global Head of Investment Banking (“IBD”) and Head of IBD Americas. In this capacity, Mr. Moelis transformed UBS into the fastest growing bulge bracket IBD franchise and M&A advisor globally.

Prior to UBS, Mr. Moelis was Head of Corporate Finance and Co-Head of the Los Angeles office of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (“DLJ”). During his time at DLJ, Mr. Moelis was integral in the firm becoming the number one underwriter of high yield bonds in the 1990s and rapidly moving up the M&A and equity underwriting league tables. Mr. Moelis began his investment banking career in 1981 at Drexel Burnham Lambert where he helped the firm pioneer the use of high yield debt to finance high-growth companies and mergers and acquisitions.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Moelis has personally provided investment banking services to many of the most sophisticated corporate clients, entrepreneurs and financial sponsors and advised on several of the largest and most complicated transactions completed. In the past year alone, he has advised on four of the largest LBO transactions of all time: Hilton Hotels ($26.5bn), Sallie Mae ($25.6bn), Harrah’s Entertainment ($27.4bn) and Univision Communications ($13.7bn).

Mr. Moelis is a member of the Wharton Board of Overseers, the Tourette Syndrome Association and the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School.

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