Stephen L. Weiss

Stephen L. Weiss has been on Wall Street for 25 years in senior positions at the industry's most prestigious asset management and investment banking firms.

After two years as a tax attorney, Weiss embarked upon his Wall Street career, first at Oppenheimer & Co. and then at Salomon Brothers during the time it was controlled by Warren Buffett, developing and communicating investment ideas to the industry's most respected investment funds including SAC Capital (Steve Cohen), Tiger Management (Julian Robertson), Soros Funds, Kingdon Capital and Omega Advisors (Lee Cooperman). After a successful career as an institutional salesperson, he was asked to co-manage Salomon Brothers' 500-person Global Equity Research Department where he developed the Street's first truly global product, integrating the firm's research efforts from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. His other responsibilities included representing the Equity Division on the Capital Commitment Committee and chairing the Stock Selection Committee. Weiss went on to co-manage SAC Capital, and then joined Lehman Brothers where he successfully built the top institutional equity sales force on the Street while serving on the Global Sales, Capital Commitment, Investment Policy, and US Executive Committees. He played a critical role in the research division's rise to first place in the prestigious Institutional Investor survey, the pre-eminent measure of Wall Street research.

On September 11, 2001, Weiss was booked on Flight 93 but fatefully cancelled his travel plans at the last minute. He was, however, at Ground Zero in his office at the World Financial Center when the planes struck the WTC. As with so many others, this was a life-changing event and after Lehman put this tragic and damaging event behind them, Weiss took a break from the business, electing to spend more time with his family and to begin his second career as an author. Missing the day-to-day activity of the markets, Weiss returned to investment management in 2004, co-founding a long/short equity hedge fund. After 3 years with a good return profile, he joined a boutique investment bank as the Managing Partner of the Equity Division where he instituted significant changes that drove the firm's market share from 25th to 12th, as measured by trading volume, while increasing profitability.

Weiss has authored two very well received investment books. "The Billion Dollar Mistake: Learning the Art of Investing from the Missteps of Legendary Investors" has been translated from English into Korean, Japanese and two Chinese dialects. Forbes named it one of the top 5 new investment books in 2010. His second book, "The Big Win: Learning from the Legends to Become a More Successful Investor," was published in May 2012. He has also written a novel, a financial thriller, "UNHEDGED A Killing in the Market."

In addition to being a professional investor, Stephen Weiss is currently under an exclusive television contract to CNBC as a market commentator, appearing in a regular role on "Fast Money" and "Fast Money Halftime Report" as well as other CNBC shows, including "The Kudlow Report" and "Power Lunch." Weiss also regularly blogs about his thoughts on investing and gives speeches to investment groups on the markets and business organizations on building a culture of success. He is also called on to consult with Wall Street firms about their business strategy. He maintains many relationships with some of the industry's most successful investors and most significant asset managers.