Co-Founder and President, Magnetar Capital, LLC
Ross Laser is the Co-Founder and President of Magnetar Capital, a leading alternative asset management firm. As President and Chairman of the Executive Committee since Magnetar’s inception in 2005, Ross has overseen firmwide management, including talent acquisition and capital formation, helping to grow the firm from more than $1 billion at launch to approximately $13 billion today.
Ross has nearly three decades of experience in financial markets spanning investment strategy, capital formation, and derivatives trading, and has a proven track record building and scaling institutional investment businesses.
Prior to co-founding Magnetar, he was the President and Managing Partner of Glenwood Capital Investments, a fund of funds manager, where he served as co-head of the Management Committee and a member of the Investment Committee. During his tenure, Ross was responsible for hiring key team members and building Glenwood’s global distribution capabilities, helping to grow the firm from $100 million in 1995 to $2.7 billion in 2002 when he led its sale to Man Group. While at Glenwood, he also founded Marin Capital, a convertible arbitrage investment manager, which he built and grew to $2.7 billion.
Ross is a member of the International Monetary Market of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he began his career in 1985. While a member, he founded Paramount Financial Corp, a joint venture clearing service, which he sold to First Options/Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. He was also a board member of First Park Ridge Corp, a multi-bank holding company, which he sold to First of America.
Ross is a founding board member of the Magnetar Foundation, the primary mission of which is to improve high school students’ access to financial education. He served as a member of the Investment Committee of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation from 2002 to 2014.
Ross earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, where he received an athletic scholarship to play tennis. He was captain of the men’s tennis team and a three-time Big 10 Champion with All-Academic honors. In 2008, Ross and his family supported the upgrade and renovation of the Varsity Tennis Center, including the establishment of the Laser Family Pavilion, on the University of Michigan’s campus.