RonPollack’s blog

I went to see a client in NYC lately. He was a potential institution client for the hedge fund I recently started. After the meeting I got together with an old friend, whom I’ll refer to as “Harry”, for dinner.

Harry is a “Sales Trader”, someone who executes order for institutional customers like hedge funds and mutual funds. He was very successful in the business, and used to cover me, and I was one of the accounts he had in “Ron Pollack Bulldog Days”. Though we did continue to keep in contact with each other, he and I retired from trading around the same period of time back in 2004.

Both Harry and I had varying, though generally little, success with business ventures after our time on Wall Street. After this, Harry began to miss the game and questioned me about returning to trading. I missed it as well. When I told him in early 2008 that I was going to return to managing money, he was thrilled and couldn’t wait to get back into it as well.

The start of my new funding was postponed due to the mess of a market in the second half of the year. its surprise for me that  a always happy  and hard working man,harry ,handle million share orders in volatile stocks  looked like a depress person. Firms were closing down everywhere, and he was relying on my account for his own return but that was not there.  

Shortlyl after I saw Harry, I met "Doug", a gentleman that runs a small firm catering to hedge funds. I immediately thought of Harry and I put the two of them together. It worked out since Doug offered Harry a trial run, and of course Harry aced it. After placing a few phone calls to some old accounts, he nabbed a big order and things only went up from there.

Harry has become one of the top producers for Doug and he has only been on the job for four months.  It wasn't surprising that Harry was beaming when we met him for dinner. He’s making money, good money and having a blast. I was really happy. Then Harry announced that dinner would be his treat, in fact he said, “Ron Pollack I am going to treat you every time you come to NYC!I was already happy because we were eating at one of the great steakhouses in the City.

,“Every day we’ve been hearing stories of doom and gloom like the end of Wall Street, the end of hedge funds, the end of the world as we know it,toward the end of the evening, I asked Harry this question. Obviously things are messed up but I’d like your perspective on all of that changed in light of your recent success.Ron, there are a lot of people hurting right now and I truly feel for them, but I am living proof that if you’re good at what you do, have the willingness to work hard and apply yourself and are realistic in your expectations, you can make it and even flourish in times like these,His answer was refreshing and went something like this, he said. Although I'm not making as much as I used to, I cannot say I have anything to complain about.   we’re survivors and there’s business to be done.
 There will always be business to be done for those who find a way to be productive.here’s to you my friend!
 Continue to show us how to achieve it. Ron Pollack, signing off for now.

My wife and I traveled to Park City in January for a kid-free vacation at the Sundance Film Festival.

Prior to our arrival, we were warned that the town would be crowded and traffic horendous. Probably due to our shrinking economy and the excitement of the Obama Inauguration,luckily, this wasn’t so.

There is a strong correlation between Hollywood personalities normally attending Sundance and Hollywood personalities who got invited or felt compelled to attend our recent history-making Presidential Inauguration,apparently.

It was helpful that this was a "quiet" year at Sundance, as it assisted me in learning the ropes, such as how to navigate through the process of obtaining tickets. I think over the course of two weeks at Sundance, I learned 80% of what I need to know in order to achieve the following goals for our next Sundance Festival.:

1)    See the films we want to see, including the ones that have “The Buzz”.
2) Obtain the best seats each time.
3) To get extra tickets on short notice,be able.
4) To leave time for a good meal and schedule our movies.
5) Use less money and time taking care of these goals than I did this last year.

A matter of expectations is the Sundance experience really. My wife is particular and likes good seats. Thanks to my Blackberry, it's possible for me to obtain them for us and still stay connected to work while standing in line. My key was to become the member of the "Patron Circle." Gaining priority access to the films without standing in line was the real motivation for making our donation to the Sundance Institute,yes, I love to support the arts. For some people acquiring a ticket for their preferred film is extremely important, even if they have to wait in line.

One of the benefits is that we enjoyed several of the movies. Other selections: "Push", a film about abuse that brought tears to my eyes, and left me with a pain in my gut. "Spread" was my wife's choice for underdog of the year; it's an Ashton Kutcher photoplay situated in Hollywood. "Good Hair", a half-amusing, half-serious docudrama by Chris Rock, about an African American woman's search for straight hairdos, and finally, to round out the list there was "500 Days of Summer" -- a romance with a twist: "Man, She's a Dude!"Of her lack of feminine romatic tendencies because of "Man, she's a dude" was the line that sumed up Zoey Deschanel's chracter, as Summer.

One drawback was having to make daily trips to the Patron Circle Office in order to exchange our tickets. Unluckily, with our passes we could not be allowed view the film before paying for it.

We've walked out on some "stinkers". "Unmade Beds" was an example. We think it was about teen lust run wild in the United Kingdom, but it was so bad we couldn't sit through it to analyze the message. "The Carter" peered into the soul of a man bereft of humanity, who manages to make himself a success in life. The irony there was lost on the public. Finally, "Motherhood" was a true wreck of a film more resembling a bad sitcom for the casting department. We felt it was a total waste of Uma Thurman's amazing gifts, reducing her to the level of a grade B soap star.

We started our Sundance vacation feeling like total strangers to the scene, even though we own a home in Park City since last spring, but somehow the affair grew familiar and somewhat comfortable after a while.

The Surprising:

Having been on location with movie actors and directors on the stage at question and answer sessions after every movie, as well as sitting in theaters with them during movie screenings. Being accorded five star treatment from the staff of the Patron’s Circle Office. Becoming accustomed to the traffic patterns and boarding a taxi for a ride through the back streets and alleys of Park City. Gate crashing at private parties with a friend of a friend whose been invited; all these moments made us feel as though we were experienced hands at the screen.

The art director is doing such a good job: it's really gone from being amateur to almost pro, last night was the school Christmas play. I was astounded that my kids performed so well. With Rachel's complete confidence it was easy to see the excitement in her face. (She looked adorable in Nathan's old Dalmatian costume). Levi and Lila also had fun on stage: they love to sing, and they also got to show some of their  gymnastics skills.
Levi has become crazy about tennis.  He quit gymnastics and goes to tennis clinic almost every afternoon. He's going to be so good. He enjoy's any sport with a ball, he is turning out to be an all around athlete. (A mutual friend in the neighborhood who played collegiate baseball, would always comment on our six-year-olds amazing throwing arm, while they played catch, and when he was just a little older he only ever had an interest in shooting hoops.) It was golf this past summer.  For years we tried to steer him towards tennis, but we're still trying. It is something our family can do together. (whereas my baseball and basketball days are long gone). Not only is Levi now inspired, but Mimi and I are starting to play more again too, because our city tennis center got a new pro, Eric, who's really good.

We are leaving for 2 weeks of snow in Utah. We give them lots of DVD and Nintendo time -- something they don't normally get at home,the kids are electrified: they love going on the plane. And I love the plane too: once everyone is settled into their seats, with their electronic entertainment, I get to sit back, nap, and read a book. Absolutely no CNBC.  Bloomberg, no. No telephone. No email. Since moving from Colorado to Utah, this is the first ski day we took as a family. Mimi has been working hard for a long time to get us ready for this trip. I hope all her hard work pays off.  We had everything totally "dialed in" in Vail; now it's like starting over. But once we figure out the logistics like where do we drop the kids, what time do we pick them up, what can we do with them after the ski day is over, and where do I go to find/replace their lost mittens, goggles, hats, etc? I am positive it will all turn out fine. I'm dying to see Rachel on skis. We tried last year, but she was only 2 and hadn't started preschool yet, so it was a bit rough. She was not ready to attend ski school. She is going to be very cute and it should make it alot easier this year.

Ron Pollack was moved by the events of 9/11 and wanted to help. Prior to retiring from the hedge fund business, he became actively involved with the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, whose purpose is to help the heroes of 9/11. During the rescue and recovery operations, tens of thousands of rescue workers received unprecedented exposures to toxic dust, smoke, gas and fumes; many have developed serious health effects as a result of these exposures. 

At the request of union officials and rescue workers, the detoxification project was established to help these men and women recover their health. All project services are provided on a humanitarian basis, at no cost. Ron took on the role of Chairman of the Fundraising Committee in 2002 and worked tirelessly to ensure that the project had the funds it needed to help those who came to it. As Carol Hamaker, Executive Director of the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project states, “Ron really stood up and took a leadership role to get our living heroes some help”. 

Ron himself sponsored many rescue workers for the detoxification program over the years. In a letter to Ron, the daughter of one of the many rescue workers that Ron sponsored wrote “My Dad had not been feeling well for months and his symptoms were only worsening despite his more frequent visits to doctors and increases in medication. He was not himself and it was disheartening to watch.  He lost eleven of his friends and colleagues of his firehouse on 9/11not to mention other firefighters he knew from other houses. He looked and acted old. He was pale and his mood and energy was overall down.  During his first days on his program we saw his mood brighten up. He seemed hopeful and excited. Each day my Dad improved. All of our spirits lifted and we were happy to see him getting back to his old self.  On the morning he completed his program he knew he felt “normal” again.  These were the best words he could have ever said.  Through Ron’s kindness and generosity he is giving so many people the best gift they could ever imagine; recovery, health and the best of all, hope! My Dad has been given back to us and we are all so grateful to him.”

Ron considers his participation in this project to be one of his greatest achievements. With his help, the project has been able to restore quality of life to nearly 1000 rescue workers. These recoveries have brought relief and hope to thousands more of their husbands, wives, children and colleagues. Today, the philanthropic effort that Ron brought life to has grown to include well over 150 foundations, corporations and individual sponsors.  

As a child, growing up in Detroit, MI, learned computers and excelled in math at an early age. Aspired to be an architect and worked part-time in the family real estate business. However, in college, turned focus towards finance. After graduate school, went to Wall Street as an investment banker. Initial career focus was real estate finance, then became a hedge fund manager. Invested primarily in public companies, across a wide range of industries, especially technology. Also took selected equity positions in private companies. After a successful career, left money management to return to real estate.

Married with 5 children.

Active in various charitable organizations, such as Community Learning Center, Clearwater, FL (Chairman of the Board); New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Fund, New York, NY (Former Chairman); Vail Film Festival, Vail, CO (Advisory Board); Clearwater Academy International, Clearwater, FL (Advisory Board).