Dean Francis LeBaron

Dean LeBaron is an alumnus of Harvard University and a Baker Scholar graduate of the Harvard Business School. Dean is founder and former chairman of Batterymarch Financial Management.

An “investment futurist,” Dean was one of the first to see the potential of quantitative investing, using computer-driven technology and modeling techniques at Batterymarch to systematically analyze data, implement trades, and manage investment portfolios. Under his leadership, Batterymarch pioneered Indexing as an investment strategy. An early adopter of a contrarian philosophy, Dean followed his own advice that “in the investment field, you should be where everyone else is not,” leading Batterymarch to become one of the earliest (or first) institutional investors in Brazil, India, China, and other emerging market countries. His interest and work in Russia resulted from an invitation from the government of President Mikhail Gorbachev to help privatize the Soviet Union’s military industrial complex.

Exploring the linkage of complex adaptive systems to dynamic social systems, including investments, Dean was the founding publisher of Complexity Digest in 1999 [www.comdig.com].

Dean is the author of numerous articles and books, most recently Mao, Marx, and the Market, an account of his investment and personal experiences in China and the former Soviet Union following the demise of their command economies. His website [www.deanlebaron.com] provides a platform for his musings, experiments with new technologies and financial innovations, video commentary, articles, and speeches.

Dean earned his CFA charter in 1967, and, in 2001, was the seventh recipient of the CFA Institute’s highest honor, the Award for Professional Excellence. This award, first presented in 1991 to Sir John Templeton, was established to honor a member of the investment profession “whose exemplary achievement, excellence of practice, and true leadership have inspired and reflected honor” upon the profession.

Living in New England, Florida and Switzerland, Dean strives to be the scholar and gentleman envisioned by his parents and teachers.

May 7, 2014