Kate Richard
Katherine 'Kate' Taaffe Richard is an American businesswoman who specializes in private equity investing, with a focus on real assets, particularly real estate, technology & media, and energy. In 2010, she founded Warwick Investment Group, a private equity firm focused on real assets with over $2 billion in managed assets. Warwick Investment Group is a premier provider of private equity capital with investment teams across the globe, including the US, UK and Hong Kong. Early life and education. Richard's great uncle founded Devon Energy and drilled wells in the Caspian Sea following the fall of the Soviet  Union. Richard graduated in 2004 from Harvard College. Her academic focus was postcolonial theory, with research focused on Rwanda. Early career. After Richard graduated from Harvard in 2004, she worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and investor in the private equity division in New York, Paris, and London. After leaving Goldman in 2007, Richard invested in public and private debt and equity of oil and gas and metals and mining companies, as well as sovereign debt at Serengeti Asset Management in New York. Richard left Serengeti in 2009 to invest in international and domestic energy companies for MSD  Capital, Michael Dell’s private investment firm in New York. Warwick Investment Group. Richard founded Warwick Investment Group in 2010. The Group specializes in consolidation strategies utilizing data science derived insights across the entirety of the investment life cycle, from capital deployment, asset management and ultimate disposition. Warwick's energy team upstream energy assets acquired through more than 1,000 transactions with the help of its data science algorithms. The firm’s investments are concentrated in the Eagle Ford Basin in Texas, SCOOP and STACK Basins of Oklahoma and in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The firm currently employs approximately  70 investment professionals. Warwick's real estate team is focused on deploying capital across several strategies in the UK and continental Europe. Warwick's technology & media team is deploying capital into digital assets and other blockchain-related technologies, including esports and mobile gaming. In January 2019, Warwick was featured by the Kayo Conference Series as one of the "Top 19 in 2019 - Buyout Funds Founded by Women." Other professional activities. Richard has served in a number of board and advisory roles. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of Imerys, SA, a Paris-based industrial conglomerate, Abraxas Petroleum  Corp (NASD: AXAS), and Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE: FTK). She has also served as an adviser to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines on energy development and transparency. As of 2018 she was a member of the National Council of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) She has lectured at The Stanford Graduate School of Business, The Harvard Business School, and The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas. Richard is regularly interviewed by financial media for her insights on the energy sector. She has appeared on Bloomberg and is a regular contributor to CNBC's  Power Lunch. Additional affiliations include the US Humane Society, Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and US Figure Skating.  She is a lifetime member of the Harvard College ’04 Executive committee and the Harvard College Fund Associate Committee. Awards and recognition. Richard represented the United States in 2013 as one of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders and is a member of the Forum's Oil & Gas Agenda Council. In 2014, "Oil & Gas Investor" named her one of 20 Rising Stars in the Oil & Gas Industry Under 40. She also served as a judge for Forbes "30 Under 30 in  Energy" award. In June 2019, Richard was selected as EY's Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019 Southwest Award for FinTech & Financial Services In October 2021, The Wall Street Journal named Warwick's CEO, Kate Richard to the Private Equity 2021 Women to Watch List and was the only founder name in the group. In January 2022, Warwick Investment Group CEO, Kate Richard, was featured as the cover story for NAPE magazine. On the rarity of female leadership in the private equity sector, Ms. Richard said "The impact will be on those who work under me more than on me," highlighting  the importance of ensuring all the ones who work for her are heard.