From equity research to portfolio management to owning his own hedge fund, since graduating from UT with degrees in Canfield BHP and Finance in 2000, Ashish Gupta has become a pro in the investment and startup sectors. Today, he continues to give back to the university.
In addition to serving as an advisor for Canfield BHP, the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Sustainability Investment Group, Ashish works for 4Told FinTech, a microlending technology company, as the Chief Financial Officer. He also runs his own family practice that exclusively invests in impact-oriented, early-stage companies. Prior to this, Ashish worked in various roles within the financial sector.
“For about 15 years, I spent my life in the area of finance. Initially, (I worked) as an investment banker and equity researcher primarily focusing on the energy sector. Then, I transitioned from the sell-side to the buy-side, working at a couple of hedge funds and (later) was a partner at a startup hedge fund in New York and helped grow that to nearly a billion dollars (of assets) under management,” Ashish said.
After growing the startup hedge fund, Ashish went on to found his own hedge fund that invested in publicly traded equities within the energy sector. Throughout his career, Ashish said non-profit work and giving back to his communities was also incredibly important to him. Ultimately, this led him to combine his passions for finance and social impact.
“All along that time, whether I was doing investment banking or working in the hedge fund world, the personal aspect of my life was focused on philanthropy and impact, largely in the area of education and access to capital,” he said. “When I strung together a few good years in the hedge fund world, I wasn’t feeling personally fulfilled and wanted to focus more of my time exclusively on areas of impact. In 2018 I sold my hedge fund and, for the last three years, I’ve been focused on impact investing.”
Looking back, Ashish said Canfield BHP shaped his perspective in various ways over the past 20 years he’s been involved in the program, both as a student and an advisory board member.
“There’s two aspects of (Canfield) BHP that have informed and influenced me. One is just the four years I was involved with (Canfield) BHP, but then there’s also the 20 years since then and my interactions with the program as a board member and with alumni,” he said.
Ashish said that on the student side the environment and opportunities at UT and within the Canfield Business Honors Program are nonpareil.
“As a student, you get the best of every world, with being part of a large university, access to amazing resources and sports and extracurricular activities, at least in a non-COVID world. Just the benefit of being a part of an organization that has so many motivated individuals that have high intellectual curiosity is incredible,” he said. “From a curriculum standpoint, I also loved the group-based approach. Much of what I did in life afterward involved decisions being made as part of a group, from high-level executive decisions or just things that needed to be executed upon. It’s important to be taught to work with others effectively.”
Ashish also said he loves the Canfield BHP faculty– from the positive attitude they have to the values in which they instill in Canfield BHP students each year.
“The faculty was fantastic. I look at Dr. Cox and Dr. Prentice and what I love about both of those previous directors was that they didn’t care so much about trying to make a ton of money, but rather finding purpose, seeking excellence, trying to make a difference in the world,” he said. “UT’s motto is ‘what starts here changes the world’ and they were true believers in that. As I think over my life, I focused so much on financial gains and monetary gains and making money and then transitioned back towards purpose, joy, and finding meaning. I actually do credit (Canfield) BHP for a lot of that happiness.”