Corporate Governance

Since the formation of Oaktree in 1995, Mr. Marks has been responsible for ensuring the firm’s adherence to its core investment philosophy; communicating closely with clients concerning products and strategies; and contributing his experience to big-picture decisions relating to investments and corporate direction.  From 1985 until 1995, Mr. Marks led the groups at The TCW Group, Inc. that were responsible for investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds, and convertible securities.  He was also Chief Investment Officer for Domestic Fixed Income at TCW.  Previously, Mr. Marks was with Citicorp Investment Management for 16 years, where from 1978 to 1985 he was Vice President and senior portfolio manager in charge of convertible and high yield securities.  Between 1969 and 1978, he was an equity research analyst and, subsequently, Citicorp’s Director of Research.  Mr. Marks holds a B.S.Ec. degree cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in finance and an M.B.A. in accounting and marketing from the Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago, where he received the George Hay Brown Prize.  He is a CFA® charterholder.  Mr. Marks is an Emeritus Trustee and Advisory member of the Investment Committee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He is a member of the Investment Committee of the Royal Drawing School in London.  He also serves on the Shanghai International Financial Advisory Council and the Advisory Board of Duke Kunshan University and is an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, where from 2000 to 2010 he chaired the Investment Board.

Mr. Karsh is Oaktree’s Co-Chairman and one of the firm’s co-founders.  He also is Chief Investment Officer and serves as portfolio manager for Oaktree’s Global Opportunities, Value Opportunities and Global Credit strategies.  Prior to co-founding Oaktree, Mr. Karsh was a managing director of TCW Asset Management Company, and the portfolio manager of the Special Credits Funds from 1988 until 1995.  Prior to joining TCW, Mr. Karsh worked as Assistant to the Chairman of SunAmerica, Inc.  Prior to that, he was an attorney with the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers.  Before working at O’Melveny & Myers, Mr. Karsh clerked for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy, then of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and retired Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Mr. Karsh holds an A.B. degree in economics summa cum laude from Duke University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He went on to earn a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif.  Mr. Karsh serves on the boards of a number of privately held companies.  He is a member of the investment committee of the Broad Foundations.  Mr. Karsh is Trustee Emeritus of Duke University, having served as Trustee from 2003 to 2015, and as Chairman of the Board of DUMAC, LLC, the entity that managed Duke’s endowment, from 2005 to 2014.

Daniel Levin is our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary.  He was previously Oaktree’s Head of Corporate Finance and Chief Product Officer and a senior member of the corporate development group.  Prior to joining Oaktree in 2011, Mr. Levin was a vice president in the Investment Banking division at Goldman, Sachs & Co., focusing on asset management firms and other financial institutions.  His previous experience includes capital raising and mergers and acquisitions roles at Technoserve and Robertson Stephens, Inc.  Mr. Levin received an M.B.A. with honors in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. degree with honors in economics and mathematics from Columbia University.

Mr. Frank is Oaktree’s Vice Chairman and works closely with Howard Marks, Bruce Karsh, Robert O’Leary, Armen Panossian and Todd Molz in managing the firm.  Mr. Frank joined in 2001 as General Counsel and was named Oaktree’s Managing Principal in early 2006, a position which he held for about nine years.  As Managing Principal, Mr. Frank was the firm’s principal executive officer and responsible for all aspects of the firm’s management.  Prior to joining Oaktree, Mr. Frank was a partner of the Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP where he managed a number of notable merger and acquisition transactions.  While at that firm, he served as primary outside counsel to public- and privately-held corporations and as special counsel to various boards of directors and special board committees.  Prior to joining Munger Tolles in 1984, Mr. Frank served as a law clerk to the Honorable Frank M. Coffin of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  Prior to attending law school, Mr. Frank served as a Legislative Assistant to the Honorable Robert F. Drinan, Member of Congress.  Mr. Frank holds a B.A. degree with honors in history from Wesleyan University and a J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Michigan Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.  He is a member of the State Bar of California and, while in private practice, was listed in Woodward & White's Best Lawyers in America.  Mr. Frank is a member of the Board of Directors of Chevron Corporation and Daily Journal Corporation and a Trustee of Wesleyan University, The James Irvine Foundation, and the XPRIZE Foundation.

Mr. Stone is a founding Principal of Oaktree and the creator of Oaktree’s High Yield Bond area.  In this capacity, he serves as a co-portfolio manager of Oaktree’s U.S. High Yield Bond and Global High Yield Bond strategies.  Mr. Stone established TCW’s High Yield Bond department with Howard Marks in 1985 and ran the department for ten years.  Prior to joining TCW, Mr. Stone worked with Mr. Marks for two years at Citibank, where he performed credit analysis and managed high yield bond portfolios.  From 1978 to 1983, Mr. Stone worked at The Prudential Insurance Company where he was a director of corporate finance, managing a private debt portfolio exceeding $1 billion.  Mr. Stone holds a B.A. degree from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A. in accounting and finance from Columbia University.  Mr. Stone serves as a Trustee of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California and serves on the investment committee of Bowdoin College.

Ms. McGruder is the chief operating officer and treasurer for the Ford Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation in 2020, she served as COO of New York Public Radio (NYPR), overseeing internal operations and strategic planning for WNYC, WQXR, Gothamist.com, The Greene Space, and New Jersey Public Radio since 2018. Before her tenure at NYPR, Ms. McGruder spent 17 years at Viacom in senior leadership positions at both MTV and BET Networks. She started her career as a broadcast journalist, working as an on-air reporter, anchor, and producer for two commercial television stations in Georgia and subsequently spent time as a strategy consultant at Accenture in the media, telecommunications and high technology practice. Ms. McGruder is the founder and president of Moms of Black Boys United and M.O.B.B. United for Social Change, sister organizations dedicated to positively influencing how black boys and men are perceived and treated by law enforcement and in society. She holds a B.A. from Howard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Gilbert has been a director since October 2016. He is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Gilbert Global Equity Partners, L.P., an institutional investment firm established in 1997.  In addition, Mr. Gilbert also founded Soros Capital, Commonwealth Capital Partners, and Chemical Venture Partners. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of MidOcean Equity Partners, LP, Chairman of TRI Pointe Homes, Inc. and independent director on the Board of Directors of Empire State Realty Trust Inc., MBIA Inc. and Fairholme Funds, Inc.  Mr. Gilbert had recently served as a director of SDCL Edge Acquisition Corp. and Birch Grove Capital and has served on the boards of more than 25 other companies over the span of his career.  Mr. Gilbert received a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Whittington, Ph. D., has been a director since June 2012. Ms. Whittington was the Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Global Investors Capital from 2001 until her retirement in January 2012. From 2002 to 2011, she was Chief Operating Officer of Allianz Global Investors, the parent company of Allianz Global Investors Capital. Prior to that, she was Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Ms. Whittington started in the investment management industry in 1992, joining Philadelphia-based Miller Anderson & Sherrerd. Previously, she was Executive Vice President and CFO of the University of Pennsylvania, and earlier, Secretary of Finance for the State of Delaware. Ms. Whittington currently serves on the board of directors for Ocugen (NASDAQ: OCGN) and as a director of Phillips 66. She holds an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, both in quantitative methods, and a B.A. degree in mathematics from the University of Delaware.

Bruce Flatt is Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield and Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager, and has been a director since October 2019. Mr. Flatt joined Brookfield in 1990 and became CEO in 2002.  Under his leadership, Brookfield has developed a global operating presence in more than 30 countries.  Mr. Flatt ran Brookfield’s real estate and investment operations and has served on numerous public company boards over the past three decades. Mr. Flatt’s extensive leadership and management skills, his expertise in our industry and his current and past service on boards of other public companies add value to our board of directors.

Justin Beber is Chief Operating Officer of Brookfield Asset Management. In this role, he has primary oversight of Brookfield Asset Management’s corporate operations, including human resources, legal, compliance, risk management and internal audit activities. Mr. Beber is also responsible for the advancement and execution of strategic initiatives across Brookfield Asset Management. Prior to joining Brookfield in 2007, Mr. Beber was a partner with a leading Toronto-based law firm, where his practice focused on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and private equity. Mr. Beber earned his combined MBA/LLB from the Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Canada and holds a Bachelor of Economics from McGill University. Mr. Beber has been an Oaktree director since 2019. Mr. Beber’s legal background and expertise in our industry add value to our board of directors.