Jeffrey N. Vinik (born March 22, 1959) is the current owner of the
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...
and a minority owner of the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
. He served on the board of directors for
Liverpool Football Club
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
of the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
from 2010–2013.
Early life
Vinik was born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family
[St. Louis Jewish Light: "As Lightning vies for Stanley Cup, the team’s Jewish owner chats with JTA"]
Jun 8, 2015. in
Deal, New Jersey
Deal is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, settled by Europeans in the mid-1660s and named after an English carpenter from Deal, Kent. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 900, an increas ...
.
He graduated
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
from
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
in 1981 with a bachelor of science in civil engineering. He also obtained an MBA from
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
in 1985.
Career
Vinik managed the
Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1992 to 1996, where he averaged 17% annual returns. After leaving Fidelity, he started
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
Vinik Asset Management, with partners including Michael Gordon (now President of
Fenway Sports Group
Fenway Sports Group Holdings, LLC (FSG), is an American multinational sports holding conglomerate who own Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox, Premier League club Liverpool F.C., and the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins.
FSG wa ...
). He made investors 93.8% in his first 11 months and approximately 50% a year for the next three years. At the end of 2000, Vinik returned investors $4.2 billion and focused on managing his own portfolio.
Vinik and his partners closed down the fund in December 2013, and distributed $9 billion in assets.
In 2010, he purchased the
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...
from
Oren Koules
Oren Koules (born January 31, 1961) is an American entrepreneur and film producer. He is the co-founder of Evolution Entertainment and produced the ''Saw'' film series as well as the CBS television series ''Two and a Half Men''. Koules is also ...
and
Len Barrie
Leonard G. Barrie (born June 4, 1969) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played 184 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, and Florida Panthers. ...
for $170 million. In January 2011, he purchased the
Tampa Bay Storm
The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...
. The Storm folded in December 2017.
In 2020, The Lightning won the
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
Championship, defeating the
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...
4 games to 2. Vinik could not be in the NHL's bubbles in Edmonton or Toronto, so he called into his players' locker room celebration, "congratulating them for their second Stanley Cup championship in team history" after their win over the Stars, according to Pat Pickens of NHL.com. Vinik, who purchased the franchise in 2010, was in Florida watching the Lightning complete their 18-7 run through the Stanley Cup Playoffs and "had to tell his players how happy he was." He said on a video call, "Hey guys, awesome job. So many years in the making, with new guys and the guys who have been here for a while, unbelievable effort. Dominant through the playoffs. You deserve it". In Tampa, Alexis Muellner writes winning hockey has "been the goal since" Vinik bought the team in 2010. The Stanley Cup is "one of the hardest trophies to win in sports." The achievement has been "as much a goal for the organization as has its widespread efforts to transform the community". Sports Business Journal profiled Vinik in 2015 following the Lightning's second appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
Philanthropy
In 1998, Vinik and his wife, Penny, donated $1.25 million to endow a professorship at
Duke's engineering school. The next year, they donated $5 million towards facilities at the engineering school. In 2012, they donated $10 million to create a challenge fund to endow associate and full professorships dedicated to addressing complex societal challenges. He donated $1.5 million to build a new Jewish Community Center in South Tampa.
Jewish Press of Pinellas County: "Bucs, Lightning owners lead donors for south Tampa Jewish Community Campus"
January 17, 2014 With his wife, he also donated to Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in 2016-2017.
Awards and honors
*Two-time Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
Champion champion (as owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...
) - 2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinik, Jeffrey
1959 births
American financiers
American investment bankers
American money managers
Boston Red Sox owners
Businesspeople from New Jersey
Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Living people
National Hockey League owners
People from Deal, New Jersey
Jewish American sportspeople
Tampa Bay Lightning executives
Arena Football League executives
21st-century American Jews