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Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak is a British politician and investment banker based in London, England. He is currently serving as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

History

Early life

Sunak was born May 12, 1980 in Southampton, England at Southampton General Hospital.1) His parents were born in the African countries of Tanzania and Kenya, their own parents having previously emigrated from India.

The pair separately emigrated to England, where they met and married.2) His father worked for the National Health Service (NHS), while his mother operated a pharmacy that later employed Sunak as a bookkeeper.

Education and early career

Sunak attended Winchester College, an elite private school that has produced a number of very powerful people over the years. He served as “head boy” while attending.3) He then went to University of Oxford’s Lincoln College.

After graduating in 2001, Sunak was hired as an analyst by Goldman Sachs. He worked there until 2004, at which point he travelled to the United States to earn his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2006 as a Fulbright Scholar. Interestingly, it would seem at least some of his professors at Stanford don’t have any memory of him attending.4)

Completing his MBA at Stanford, Sunak returned to the United Kingdom to join the Children’s Investment (TCI) Fund Management as a partner.5) He worked at TCI from September 2006 to November 2009.6)

Theleme Partners

Leaving TCI Fund Management in 2009, Sunak joined a new firm called Theleme Partners as a founding partner, which launched in October 2010. Theleme was co-founded by Patrick Degorce, who had also cofounded TCI.7) Early investments under the new firm included News Corp and Community Health Systems.8) In 2012, Degorce began investing in Moderna, adding it to Theleme's portfolio shortly after.9) He had first met the staff at Moderna in 2011, the same year Stephane Bancel was hired as CEO at the biotechnology company.10)

Sunak was “one of the executives managing Theleme Partners US office”, meaning he would have had direct oversight of the firm's interest in Moderna.11) By early 2020, Theleme Partners had “a quarter of its fund in Moderna,” making it “one of the company’s 10 largest shareholders” with “a roughly 20% position” as of October 2020.

Catamaran Ventures

Sunak stayed with Theleme Partners until 2013. He then returned to the United Kingdom and began as director of Catamaran Ventures UK, an investment firm he incorporated with his wife in June 2013 in partnership with his father-in-law's Indian company of the same name.12) 13) Catamaran holds positions in Elon Musk's SpaceX and Reddit.14)

Politics

Sunak dipped his toes in with the Conservative Party in 2010 and joined a think tank called Policy Exchange soon after. He was chosen to run for federal office on behalf of the Conservative Party in October 2014, winning in 2015.15)) He resigned his position as director of Catamaran Ventures UK in April 2015, and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019. He was pro-Brexit, and supported Boris Johnson's appointment as party head. Sunak was then appointed to the elite Privy Council and chief secretary to the Treasury.

Prior to 2020, Sunak was “largely unknown outside the party.”16)

Prime Minister

On October 24, 2022, Sunak became leader of the Conservative Party, elevating to Prime Minister the following day.17)

1)
Slade, D. (2020, November 12). Rishi Sunak’s Southampton childhood described in Lord Ashcroft biography. Daily Echo. https://web.archive.org/web/20221024165656/https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/18865935.amp/
2)
Wallenfeldt, J. (2022, October 25). Rishi Sunak | Biography, Wife, & Net Worth. Britannica. https://web.archive.org/web/20221027205759/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rishi-Sunak
3)
Butcher, S. (2020, February 14). Precocious 39 year-old ex-Goldman Sachs analyst gets lucky. eFinancialCareers. https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/news/2020/02/rishi-sunak-banker
4)
James, E. (2022, October 24). Rishi Sunak studied at Stanford but NONE of his professors recall him. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11349439/Rishi-Sunak-studied-Stanford-NONE-professors-remember-him.html
5)
Hutchings, W. (2007, January 24). TCI adds four partners. FNL London. https://archive.ph/7WNsI
6)
MrRishi Sunak. Financial Services Register. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://register.fca.org.uk/s/individual?id=003b000000LVKnuAAH
7)
Journal, D. (2009, January 9). TCI Co-Founder Patrick Degorce Has Left Hedge Fund. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-4126
8)
Goodley, S. (2020, March 8). Rishi Sunak: the bit-part hedge fund partner now managing the economy. The Guardian. https://archive.ph/S84SD
9)
Chung, J. (2020, October 2). The Millionaire Who Gave Moderna a Shot. Wall Street Journal. https://archive.ph/f7OHe
10)
Huang, G. T. (2012, December 6). Xconomy: Moderna, $40M in Tow, Hopes to Reinvent Biotech with “Make Your Own Drug” - Page 2 of 3. Xconomy. https://archive.ph/E1RCN
11)
Garside, J. (2020, November 17). Rishi Sunak refuses to say if he will profit from Moderna Covid vaccine. The Guardian. https://archive.ph/nyJNO
12)
Quite positive that Rishi will do well as a MP, says Murthy. (2015, May 8). Business Standard. https://archive.ph/ld4uw
13)
CATAMARAN VENTURES UK LTD people - Find and update company information. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08561424/officers
14)
Where We Invest. Catamaran. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220710004838/https://catamaran.in/portfolio/
15)
Richmond (Yorks). UK Parliament. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://electionresults.parliament.uk/election/2015-05-07/results/Location/Constituency/Richmond%20(Yorks
16)
Honeyman, V. (2022, October 24). Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: who is he and how did he end up with the top job in British politics? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/prime-minister-rishi-sunak-who-is-he-and-how-did-he-end-up-with-the-top-job-in-british-politics-193151
17)
Sherwood, H. (2022, October 24). Rishi Sunak to become first British PM of colour and also first Hindu at No 10. The Guardian. https://archive.ph/bxly8
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