Bruce & Avis Richards

Bruce Richards

Bruce Richards is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Marathon Asset Management. Richards is responsible for general oversight of the $12.7 billion the firm manages on behalf of its institutional investors. He also leads the firm’s Executive Committee and is a member of its Investment Committee. Richards’ day-to-day presence is critical in maximizing Marathon’s synergies and leveraging the intellectual capital throughout Marathon.

Richards co-founded Marathon with Louis Hanover in January 1998. The firm focuses on investing in the global credit markets, including corporate debt, bank debt and bonds, special situations and distressed debt, the structured debt markets (RMBS, CMBS, ABS, CLOs, Aircraft Finance and Asset-based Lending), and Emerging Market Debt. Marathon employs 150 professionals and maintains its headquarters in New York, with investment offices in London and Singapore.

Prior to founding Marathon, Richards worked on Wall Street for 15 years, including 10 years as a Managing Director in the fixed income divisions of Smith Barney and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where he was head of a trading desk responsible for principal investments and market making.

In March 2014, Richards was the recipient of Help for Children | Hedge Fund Cares’ Award for Caring for his strong commitment to philanthropy. He has also been honored by the UJA Federation of New York and HELP USA, and was the recipient of the Boomer Esiason Foundation’s Most Valuable Player Award and the R Baby Foundation’s Philanthropic Leadership Award. Richards serves on the boards of The University System of Maryland (USM) Foundation.

Richards received his B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Tulane University (1982) and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Avis Richards

Avis Richards  is an American award winning producer, director and philanthropist. In 2005, she founded the Birds Nest Foundation.^[1] Based in New York City, the 501(c)(3) organization works to provide other non-profit charities media content at little to no cost. In addition, Richards has produced and directed hundreds of episodes and films including Lunch: The Film, Lunch NYC and Dylan’s Lunchbox.^[2]

Richards has received numerous honors including the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Maryland and the United Way of New York City Women Leadership Council’s Luncheon Honoree. In 2010, Richards was honored with University of Maryland’s Nonprofit Industry Impact Award and the Activist Award for Advocacy and Leadership.

Military Support

Founders of the Veterans Education Challenge, Avis and Bruce Richards, announced the launch of the “Veterans’ Education $1 Million Matching Challenge” on November 11th, 2015 in an effort to supplement the GI Bill and help fund higher education for returning veterans. The challenge is hosted on Crowdrise.com, and every dollar donated to the challenge between Veterans Day 2015 and Veterans Day 2016 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Richards up to $1 million.

In addition to the $1 million pledge for the Veterans’ Education Challenge, the Richards also donated $1 million to the University of Maryland to provide scholarships for veterans at the school.