Arnold Ventures

Arnold Ventures’ core objective is to maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy dedicated to tackling some of the most pressing problems in the United States. We invest in sustainable change, building it from the ground up based on research, deep thinking, and a strong foundation of evidence. We drive public conversation, craft policy, and inspire action through education and advocacy.

We are a team of more than 80 subject-matter experts headquartered in Houston with offices in New York and Washington, D.C. We work in four key issue areas: Criminal Justice, Education, Health, and Public Finance. Our work is guided by Evidence-Based Policy, Research, and Advocacy.

Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer is co-founder of Ballmer Group and chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA basketball team. Ballmer retired as Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft in 2014 after leading the company for nearly 14 years. He remains a significant investor.

Through philanthropy and civic activism, Ballmer Group strengthens promising and proven approaches that increase economic mobility for children and families in the United States. Steve also leads USAFacts, a project seeking to improve transparency in government, including disclosing taxes and borrowings raised, money allocated and spent, and outcomes achieved, much as corporations do through their 10-K reports. He co-teaches a course in the fall at Stanford on understanding government budgets and spending with Professor Mark Duggan, and has taught or lectured on technology, leadership, and innovation at Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Southern California.

Steve became Microsoft’s CEO in 2000, having served for 20 years in roles as president, senior vice president of sales and support, senior vice president of systems software, and vice president of marketing. He was the company’s first business manager. During his tenure at Microsoft, the company pioneered personal computing and democratized enterprise computing, growing from a small start-up to a company that today employs more than 110,000 people. During his tenure Microsoft grew to almost $80 billion in revenue and was the third most profitable company in the United States.

He grew up near Detroit, where his father worked as a manager at Ford Motor Company. Ballmer earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Harvard University. He worked for two years at Procter & Gamble Company as an assistant product manager and attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business before joining Microsoft. He lives with his wife, Connie, and children in Washington.

S.A. Ibrahim

S.A. Ibrahim is chief executive officer of Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN). Headquartered in Philadelphia, Radian provides private mortgage insurance and products and services to the mortgage and real estate industries. Radian is one of the largest private mortgage insurers of U.S. residential mortgages, and its mortgage and real estate services segment is a leader in each of its industries. Prior to joining Radian, Mr. Ibrahim was the CEO of GreenPoint Mortgage Funding based in Novato, California. Under his leadership, GreenPoint Mortgage transformed itself from a small mortgage originator to one of the leading U.S. mortgage originators. Mr. Ibrahim's experience also includes heading international reengineering for American Express, being the CEO of Chemical Mortgage as well as working at Bank of America and General Electric Company. He was an advisor to the White House team on President Obama's 2009 Cairo speech and was a keynote speaker at the Presidential Entrepreneurial Summit in Washington in April 2010. Mr. Ibrahim holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and a BE in Engineering from Osmania University in India.

Marc Rowan

Marc Rowan is a co-founder and Senior Managing Director of Apollo Global Management, LLC, a leading alternative asset manager focused on contrarian and value oriented investments across private equity, credit-oriented capital markets and real estate. Marc currently serves on the boards of directors of Apollo Global Management, LLC, Athene Holding Ltd., Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Caesars Acquisition Co. He has previously served on the boards of directors of the general partner of AP Alternative Assets, L.P., AMC Entertainment, Inc., Beats Music, CableCom Gmbh., Cannondale Bicycle Corp., Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., Countrywide PLC, Culligan Water Technologies, Inc., Furniture Brands International, Mobile Satellite Ventures, National Cinemedia, Inc., National Financial Partners, Inc., New World Communications, Inc., Norwegian Cruise Lines, Quality Distribution, Inc., Samsonite Corporation, SkyTerra Communications, Inc., Unity Media SCA, Vail Resorts, Inc. and Wyndham International, Inc. Marc is a founding member and Chairman of YRF-Darca, Vice Chair of the Board of Overseers of The Wharton School and a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees. He serves on the boards of directors of Jerusalem Online and the New York City Police Foundation. Marc graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a BS and an MBA in Finance.

Marc Spilker

Marc Spilker is a Founding Member of GPS Investment Partners LLC and the Chairman of Chiron Investment Management LLC. From 2010 to 2014 he was President of Apollo Global Management and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. In 2010, prior to joining Apollo, Mr. Spilker retired from Goldman Sachs following a 20-year career with the firm. At Goldman he served as co-head of the Investment Management Division (IMD) and was also a member of the firmwide Management and Risk Committees. Mr. Spilker previously served on the Investment Advisory Committee at Google and was a member of the American Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisors for Governor Andrew Cuomo. He has served on the boards of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the Stone and Bridge Street Funds, BrokerTec and Bondbook, LLC. Mr. Spilker is a board member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Undergraduate Executive Board, iSentium, LLC, The New 42nd Street, Inc., The Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine Advisory Board at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Advisory Board for Mount Sinai’s Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology. Mr. Spilker graduated with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Leonard M. Tannenbaum

Leonard M. Tannenbaum founded Fifth Street in 1998. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Street Asset Management Inc., as well as a member of the firm's Management Committee. Mr. Tannenbaum is also Portfolio Manager of the firm’s hedge fund. An expert in the middle market, private credit and direct lending, Mr. Tannenbaum is frequently quoted in major business and trade media, such as the Financial Times, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. He also appears as a regular guest on major broadcast networks, such as Fox Business News, Bloomberg TV and CNBC. Mr. Tannenbaum has founded a number of private investment firms, including Fifth Street Capital LLC, and he has served as managing member of each firm. Mr. Tannenbaum graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a B.S. in Economics. Subsequent to his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Tannenbaum received an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School as part of the Submatriculation Program. He is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

David Trone

Congressman David Trone was elected in 2018 to serve Maryland's Sixth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties. David serves on the Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees, where he is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for mental health research.

David grew up on a chicken and hog farm with his mother, a grade school teacher, and his father, a WWII veteran and member of the U.S. Army Reserves. Though the family lost the farm to bankruptcy, David was given an opportunity through education. He earned a Bachelor's degree from Furman University and a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the Wharton School of Business by taking out student loans.

It was in graduate school that he met his wife, June, and opened his first store selling soda and beer. Through a lot of hard work and good fortune, that single store grew into a business with more than 200 stores in 24 states and 7,000 employees nationwide - 650 of whom are in Montgomery County in Maryland. It is this expertise in business and management that David brings to his time in Congress.

David lives in Montgomery County with his wife June. They have four children: Michelle, Julie, Natalie, and Rob, and three dogs: Lyndon, Hubert, and Lola.