Ken Moelis

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American investment banker

title: "Ken Moelis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1958-births", "living-people", "american-investment-bankers", "jewish-american-bankers", "drexel-burnham-lambert", "ubs-people", "wharton-school-alumni", "objectivists", "american-billionaires", "moelis-family", "american-company-founders"] description: "American investment banker" topic_path: "economics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Moelis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American investment banker ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Ken Moelis
birth_name	Kenneth D. Moelis
birth_date
nationality	American
education	Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (BS, MBA)
occupation	Businessman
known_for	Founder, Moelis & Company
spouse	Julie Lynn Taffet
family	Cindy S. Moelis (sister)
Robert S. Rivkin (brother-in-law)
::

** Kenneth D. Moelis** (born 1958) is an American billionaire investment banker. He is also the founder, chairman and CEO of Moelis & Company, a global independent investment banking firm.

Early life and education

Moelis was born in 1958, the son of Gaye (née Gross) and Herbert I. Moelis, president of Equity Leasing Corporation, an office equipment company in New York, of which his grandfather, Paul I. Gross was its retired president. His father is also a breeder of thoroughbred race horses at his CandyLand Stables in Middletown, Delaware. Moelis holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

Moelis began his career at Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1981 where he would ultimately serve as a managing director working for Michael Milken in the firm's Los Angeles office. Following the collapse of Drexel, Moelis left with a portion of his team to join Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette where he served as head of its corporate finance investment banking division. Under Moelis, DLJ emerged as a prominent investment banking firm in Los Angeles in the 1990s.

Following the acquisition of DLJ by Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000, Moelis was named head of US investment banking of the combined firm in September 2000. However, his tenure at CSFB would be short, announcing his departure for UBS (then known as UBS Warburg) just months later taking the core of his team with him, including a number that would later join Moelis & Company. Moelis recruited more than 70 senior investment bankers to UBS within three months of his arrival.

In his six years at UBS, Moelis ultimately assumed the role of president of UBS Investment Bank and was credited with the build-out of UBS's investment banking operation in the United States. By the end of 2006, UBS was ranked Top 4 in the global fee pool for the first time.

Moelis founded Moelis & Company along with several fellow senior UBS investment bankers that included Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeff Raich, John Momtazee, Elizabeth Crain and Warren Woo.

Other affiliations

Moelis received both his undergraduate degree and MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981. Today he is a member of the Wharton board of overseers. Moelis is chairman of the Tourette Association of America and is on the board of governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital. Moelis is a member of the Hillcrest Country Club. In 2011, 2014, and 2016, he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of Bloomberg Markets magazine.

Personal life

In 1983, Moelis married Julie Lynn Taffet in a Jewish ceremony at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst, New York. Moelis was an investor in Yotta Savings, a prize-linked savings account fintech company that was cofounded by his son, Adam.

References

"Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer".
(1983-12-25). "Julie L. Taffet Is Wed to Kenneth Moelis on L.I.".
(1983-12-25). "Julie L. Taffet Is Wed to Kenneth Moelis on L.I.".
(1988-05-08). "Cindy Moelis and Robert Rivkin Marry".
[http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v54/n24/moelis.html $5 Million from Alumni Julie and Ken Moelis to Support Wharton Sports Business Initiative]. University of Pennsylvania Almanac, March 4, 2008
(2000-11-22). "Moelis to Leave CSFB for Smaller UBS Warburg".
Holson, Laura M.. (2000-08-13). "Drexel Alumni Move Onward".
Holson, Laura M.. (2000-08-13). "Los Angeles, Back on the Money Map".
(2000-09-11). "Credit Suisse Assigns Executives".
Atlas, Riva D.. (2000-11-22). "Credit Suisse Is Losing Another of Its Top Bankers".
McGeehan, Patrick. (2000-12-06). "Two Dozen More Bankers Leave Credit Suisse for UBS".
(16 March 2007). "Future of UBS Executive Part of Wall Street Chatter". [[The New York Times]].
"Moelis Leaving UBS : The Memo". [[The New York Times]].
(2007-07-20). "Ex-UBS executive Moelis opens firm".
(2007-03-20). "Ken Moelis parts ways with UBS".
Tom Petruno. (2008-08-05). "His firm has skin in the game".
"Penn: Office of the University Secretary: Boards of Overseers".
(2009-07-14). "Appointments and Resignations - Ambassador to France: Who is Charles Rivkin? - AllGov - News".
(2009-06-30). "All in the Family - Husband, Wife, Brother all Make Obama's Team | Carol Felsenthal".
(September 10, 2020). "Startup Bets People Will Save Money for a Chance to Win $10 Million". Bloomberg.

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