Faculty: Raj Sharma
Raj Sharma
Title(s):
Adjunct Professor
School(s):
Business
Prof. Sharma is currently Portfolio Manager of Polestar Capital LLC, a value-driven,
contrarian investment fund and research boutique, which he founded in May 2005. Prior
to Polestar, he was a Managing Director, Equity Research, at Merriman, Curhan, Ford
& Co., a boutique investment bank in San Francisco where he covered specialty growth
companies and special situations. Prior to Merriman he was a co-founder of Landmark
Research Group, active in the last few years in advising U.S. hedge funds, mutual
funds and corporate clients in investment strategy. Prior to Landmark, Mr. Sharma
was employed as Vice President at Onyx Partners, Inc., an investment banking and buyout
boutique analyzing equity and mezzanine debt investments in companies in various industries
in the U.S. Mr. Sharma was responsible for due diligence, financial analysis and operational
nurturing and turnaround management of portfolio companies.
Prior to Onyx Partners, Inc., he was a senior analyst at Alpha Investment Management,
Inc., a $100 million macro hedge fund and at Strome Susskind and Company (“Strome”),
a $1 billion macro hedge fund where he was responsible for management of equity investments
in the U.S., and in emerging markets around the globe. At Alpha and at Strome, Mr.
Sharma was actively involved in investing in “value” U.S. equities in the technology,
consumer durables and financial industry. Prof. Sharma is passionate about pursuing
leading, successful companies as long-term investments and is particularly interested
in those companies that excel in business and in social responsibility. He counts
Warren Buffet, Peter Lynch and Joel Greenblatt as his primary influences in the shaping
of his investment philosophy. Mr. Sharma has an MBA in Finance from the McCombs School
of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and a BS in Engineering from the
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at New Delhi, India.
COURSES TAUGHT
PROFESSIONAL & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
- 2003 - Present: Adjunct Professor, Golden Gate University