It’s only fitting that David Bonderman is co-owner of a pro sports franchise with the name of a mythical creature. After all, it is astonishing to imagine that a single human being could accomplish all the things he has in the legal and business world.
Bonderman is co-owner – with Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer – of the Seattle Kraken of the NHL. Like Bonderman, it didn’t take long for the team to find success: in only its second season the team reached the Stanley Cup playoffs and defeated the defending champion Colorado Avalanche.
By the way, Bonderman – or Bondo, as some call him – is also a minority owner of the more established Boston Celtics of the NBA.
Of course, his forays into the sports world represent only a small portion of a wide-ranging list of Bonderman achievements that include helping to save the city of Fort Worth from being divided to being co-founder and chairman of TPG Inc., one of the world’s leading global alternative asset management firms.
So it was also fitting that Bonderman was honored Tuesday night as 2023 Executive of the Year during the 53rd Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame event at the Fort Worth Club.
The event, presented by Texas Wesleyan University, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, benefits the scholarship fund for business students at Texas Wesleyan.
Texas Wesleyan President Dr. Emily Messer, who recently came on board as the first female president in the school’s history, served as master of ceremonies. She also announced accounting major Kendall Freeman as recipient of the Thomas H. Law Scholarship.
Messer said Bonderman is “a truly remarkable leader whose life work has been for the betterment of our Fort Worth community.”
In a career that has brought him a net worth of over $6 billion, Bonderman’s accomplishments are many. But, as several speakers noted, he is much more than a wealthy businessman – he’s also a humanitarian, an environmentalist and a great friend to have.
After growing up in Los Angeles, Bonderman graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington in 1963 and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1966. He was a member of the Harvard Law Review and a Sheldon Fellow. He studied Islamic law in Egypt and became fluent in Arabic.
In 1965, he began providing funding for the Bonderman Travel Fellowship at the University of Washington, a program that provides eight undergraduate and six graduate students per year with the opportunity to travel the world independently. His daughter, Samantha Holloway, donated the funding to create a similar fellowship at the University of Michigan.
Prior to forming Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in 1992, he was the CEO of the Robert M. Bass Group, Inc., now doing business as Oak Hill Partners. Before joining RMBG in 1983 he worked as a partner in the law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC, specializing in corporate, securities, bankruptcy and anti-trust litigation.
Previous work included being a fellow in foreign and comparative law in conjunction with Harvard University. He was also a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division, as well as being an assistant professor at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.
Bonderman also operates his own family investment firm, Wildcat Capital Management.
Before Bonderman took the stage, he won praise from two other acclaimed businessmen: Luther King, president of Luther King Capital Management; and Director/Shareholder Robert L. Ginsburg of McDonald Sanders, P.C.
“Double spaced,” King said, drawing a laugh from the crowd as he held up his speech filled with accolades for his friend.
“Those of us in this part of the country, especially Fort Worth, are deeply indebted to what he has accomplished in the investment community,” King said.
King recounted how in the early 1980s Bonderman helped stop a Texas Department of Transportation plan that would have split downtown Fort Worth, much as Austin is split by Interstate 35. When a Dallas lawyer was asked who to recruit for the job, King said, the response was: “If you want the meanest lawyer out there, get David Bonderman.”
Bonderman had previously won a landmark Supreme Court case to save New York’s Grand Central Station from destruction. He was also involved in the Braniff International Airlines bankruptcy case before the airline ceased operations in 1982.
“David is not a linear thinker. Nothing scares David,” King said, adding with a laugh “He is one of the leading investors in the investment community who can be trusted. I don’t know what that says about the rest of us.”
Ginsburg – Ginzy, as Bonderman and other friends know him – then took the stage. Ginsburg drew a laugh from the crowd when he noted that, along with Bonderman’s many other accomplishments, “David is also a notary public.”
He also said Bonderman is on too many boards of directors to mention, “Except one, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.”
Bonderman is well known for his love of music. In 2002, he had the Rolling Stones and John Mellencamp play at his 60th birthday party at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Comedian Robin Williams entertained guests between acts.
A decade later, for his 70th birthday party, Bonderman held a private concert by Paul McCartney at Wynn Las Vegas for just over 1,000 guests. Robin Williams again performed a comedy routine. Bonderman also donated $1,000 to each guest’s charity of choice.
Pursuing the same theme, Ginsburg recalled a time when he, Bonderman and some other friends were at a concert featuring numerous performers. As the hour grew late, he said, most folks were ready to leave but not Bonderman.
“There are two more bands,” Bonderman insisted.
Ginsburg went on to describe his friend as hating “vegetables and hypocrites.”
“He has not changed one bit from the person I met 35 years ago,” Ginsburg said, adding that when Bonderman is asked about his success, he simply says, “I was lucky.”
When it was his turn to speak, Bonderman, true to his nature, was both humble and funny.
He explained the beginnings of TPG, which he co-founded in 1992 with partners James Coulter and William S. Price III, and how the name came to be: With offices in both Fort Worth and San Francisco, it just made sense to call it Texas and Pacific.
“Only problem was it was named after a railroad,” he said with a smile.
The company later became known as TPG Capital and is now called TPG Inc. In 1994, the company expanded to Asia and later Latin America with Newbridge Capital. Bonderman recalled that, in the company’s first expansion to Shanghai, the only space available for an office had a bathtub.
“It turned out well and everybody was clean,” he quipped.
The Shanghai venture also prompted a frequent question from locals curious about a company with “Texas” in its name: “Are you some kind of cowboy?”
As the festivities drew to a close, Fort Worth Chamber President Steve Montgomery said individuals such as Bonderman are to be applauded because of their “profound impact in the community and world today.”
“His story is not just history,” Montgomery said. “It’s a testimony as we work to create a brighter tomorrow.”