John Rutledge

Dr. John Rutledge is Chief Investment Officer of Safanad, a global principal investment house, and a member of its Investment Committee, directing investments in marketable securities, private equity, and real estate. He is also the Chairman of Rutledge Capital, a private equity investment firm focused on US middle market companies, where he has led more than 30 leveraged buyouts including Medical Specialties Group, StairMaster, Adobe Air, FluidDrive, and CROMCorp.

Dr. Rutledge is also an Economics Contributor to CNBC, wrote the Business Strategy column for Forbes magazine for more than a decade, and was a regular cast member of Forbes on Fox for many years. He is Senior Research Fellow at Claremont Graduate University where he teaches Complexity economics and finance and chairs dissertations. He is a member of the board of directors and audit committee member of Jason Corp., and of QPAC2, both NASDAQ listed companies. He is also a member of the board of directors of a number of privately-owned companies including Trident USA Healthcare, FC Compassus LLC., PaceHealth Companies, and Pansophic, where he serves as Chairman.

Dr. Rutledge was one of the principal architects of the Reagan Economic Plan in 1980-81, an adviser to the Bush White House on tax policy and Iraq, and has testified before Congress on economic issues. He has also advised government leaders in China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and North Korea. He holds positions as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chief Advisor for Finance and Investment to the Governor of the Haidian District in Beijing. He was awarded Beijing's Great Wall Friendship Award in recognition of his role as a trusted advisor to China's top officials.

Dr. Rutledge has extensive interests in China. He is Honorary Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He served as advisor to Cheng Siwei, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee. And he is founder of Tara's Kids, a non-profit organization that has built libraries, kitchens, and computer labs in more than a dozen primary schools in rural villages.

Dr. Rutledge is the author of three books, including "Lessons from a Road Warrior: How I fell off a horse, earned 15 million air miles, got sand in my shoes and learned how to Invest." His written work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The New York Times, the Financial Times, Barrons, Fortune, Business Week, US News and World Report, Corporate Finance, China Daily, the Arab Times, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, and Les Echos.

Dr. Rutledge holds a BA and Doctor of Letters degrees from Lake Forest College and a PhD in economics from the University of Virginia. He is a frequent speaker on topics related to success, management, leadership, global business, finance/banking, and technology/IT, drawing on his extensive experience and economic insights.