10 Things You Didn’t Know about David Herro
David Herro is an American businessperson. Generally speaking, he is best-known for being a fund manager. However, Herro has been known to support various political causes as well, which has caused some people to see him in a less than flattering light.
1. Grew Up in Milwaukee, WI
For a time, Herro was raised in Milwaukee, WI. It is interesting to note that a lot of German immigrants headed to the city in the 1840s and 1850s, not least because each wave established clubs as well as other organizations that made it more welcoming for each subsequent wave. This provided a huge boost to beer brewing in Milwaukee, so much so that it still had the biggest beer brewing capacity in the entire world as late as 1981.
2. Grew Up in Fond du Lac, WI
Herro was also raised in Fond du Lac, WI. For those who are unfamiliar with French, Fond du Lac means the “bottom of the lake,” which is a reference to how the city as well as the county that shares its name can be found on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago. The lake is named for the Ho-Chunk, who were called by the less than flattering name of Winnebago meaning “people of the filthy water” by the neighboring Algonquians. Supposedly, this was because Lake Winnebago had a very strong smell of fish in the summertime, which was presumably rather unpleasant.
3. Studied At the University of Wisconsin-Platteville
For his undergraduate education, Herro went to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, which is a part of the University of Wisconsin System. The school came into existence in 1959 through the merger of two earlier schools, one of which was founded to train teachers while the other was founded to train technicians. However, it wasn’t until 1971 that it picked up its current name, which is a product of the merger between the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State University System.
4. Studied At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Later, Herro studied for a Master of Economics degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Said school isn’t the system’s flagship school. That would be the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the second biggest of Wisconsin’s universities, which is on top of it being just one of two public universities in the state that can grant doctoral degrees.
5. Embarked on a Career in Fund Management
Upon graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Herro embarked on a career in fund management. First, he signed up with the Principal Financial Group where he started as well as managed an international stock fund. Then, he took on a similar role with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. By 1992, Herro had winded up at Harris Associates where he has remained to the present time. However, it should be mentioned that he is involved with Oakmark Funds as well, which makes sense considering the relationship between Harris Associates and Oakmark Funds.
6. Bottom-Up Value Investor
Herro is a bottom-up value investor. Bottom-up investing means focusing on individual companies rather than the industries or even the economies in which they operate. Fundamentally, it is based on the idea that a particular company can perform well even when everything else around it isn’t. Meanwhile, value investing means choosing stocks that seem to be undervalued based on the associated companies’ intrinsic value. It is based on the idea that investors can overreact to both good news and bad news, meaning that the price of a particular stock is by no means guaranteed to be reflective of a particular company’s long-term fundamentals.
7. Very Interested in Cash Flow Statements
Apparently, Herro is very interested in cash flow statements when he evaluates potential investments, presumably because those can provide additional insight that income statements cannot. Generally speaking, companies use accrual basis accounting rather than cash basis accounting, meaning that they record revenues in the same periods as the corresponding expenses and vice versa rather than when cash exchanges hands. This is sensible because it provides a much clearer picture of when companies are earning their money than the alternative. However, the downside is that it doesn’t provide much insight into how companies’ cash and cash equivalents are impacted, which is where cash flow statements can step up.
8. Supports Free-Market Capitalism
Herro is noted for being a supporter of the Republicans. Presumably, much of this is motivated by his fondness for free-market capitalism, which has even more fervent support among Republicans than among Democrats. Apparently, Herro sees the free market as the way by which people can elevate themselves, though for what it is worth, he does seem to support boosting equality of opportunity as well.
9. Doesn’t Support Legislation of Social Issues
Having said that, Herro seems to be less than fond of the Republicans’ concern with social issues. In his opinion, this is something that shouldn’t be legislated by government at all, which is perhaps unsurprising considering that he has mentioned having a live-in male partner in August of 2012.
10. Doesn’t Believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change
It is interesting to note that Herro is one of those people who don’t believe in anthropogenic climate change. This can be seen in how he has stated that corporate executives who promise to tackle climate change are putting “pop science” over stareholder value, which is rather eyebrow-raising when one remembers that there is an overwhelming consensus on this matter.
As in, 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree that humans are causing climate change, meaning that there is very little disagreement on this matter among the people who can actually be considered experts on climates and climate-related topics.
Having said that, Herro isn’t just someone who doesn’t believe in anthropogenic climate change but also someone who has promoted this kind of thinking by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the U.K.-based think tank called the Global Warming Policy Foundation as well as providing other forms of support for similar organizations opposing climate change-related legislation.
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