In 1998, New York City saw the birth of a private equity (PE) firm that would soon blaze a remarkable trail across the landscape of this incredibly dynamic sector. Randal Nardone, along with partners Wes Edens and Robb Kauffman, founded The Fortress Group. The company was destined to become the first publicly traded PE firm to be listed on the NYSE.

Under the leadership of Randal Nardone, Fortress achieved its IPO just eight years after launching. Today it manages more than $45 billion in PE, liquid hedge funds and credit funds. Needless to say, the astounding success of the Fortress Group enabled Randal Nardone to enter an elite class of wealthy investment professionals. According to Wallmine, Nardone is worth about $1.2 billion. He holds more than 23 million units of New Fortress Energy stock. The value of the latter is estimated at about $795 million. He is an independent director of New Fortress Energy.

Not bad for a guy who earned an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Connecticut. He did go on, however, to nail down a Juris Doctorate from the Boston University of Law. That landed him a job with the Thacher, Profit and Wood law firm headquartered in New York City.

It was at Thacher, Profit and Woods that the restless mind and outgoing personality of Randal Nardone led him to develop a deeper interest in the financial sector. He would eventually take on the role of managing director for the USB financial firm. His dual expertise in law and finance made Nardone a key player within his industry. Any top Wall Street entity would have snapped him up in an instant. However, owning and operating his own investment company was his dream. The Fortress Group was purchased by SoftBank Group for $3.3 billion in late 2017.