It wasn’t the $80 million trade he had just made that ultimately pushed Mark R. Shenkman, M.B.A. ’67, HON ’25, to entrepreneurial independence. It was a $10 pencil sharpener.
In the summer of 1985, Shenkman, who had already logged 16 years in the financial industry, was the president/CIO at an asset management firm, the final one he would work for that did not bear his name. At this firm, the common practice was for the two principals to hold their weekly meeting with him at 3:30 p.m. on Thursdays. However, he was summoned for a special meeting on a Tuesday at 11 a.m. He expected to discuss the $80 million trade, but was instead asked to reimburse the firm for the pencil sharpener that his assistant had ordered.