Yale School of Management - Alumni Leaders

"I have had a very different career than I would have expected upon my graduation from Yale SOM in 1982. First of all, I have been very lucky; I have been able to work in a variety of industries, countries and sectors. While I remain somewhat skeptical about the typical business school pedagogy, my experience at Yale SOM was invaluable on many levels. The school was unique in that it demanded a broad view of careers and business. It, unlike many of its contemporary competitors, did not ignore the broader public context that I believe is the framework for business and business decision-making. A narrower start to my career would have inevitably diminished my options and ultimately the satisfaction I have enjoyed thus far. For that, I am very grateful."

Timothy C. Collins is the senior managing director and chief executive officer of Ripplewood Holdings, LLC Mr. Collins founded Ripplewood in 1995 to apply an "industrial partnership" approach to leveraged acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Collins managed Onex Corporation’s New York office. Ripplewood has done several of the largest private equity investments ever, including the acquisition of Shinsei, the former Long-Term Credit Bank. Shinsei’s IPO and subsequent trading value may make it the most profitable private equity investment so far. Mr. Collins serves as a director and CEO of RHJ International, a publicly-listed diversified holding company headquartered in Brussels.

Prior to Onex, Mr. Collins was vice President at Lazard Frères & Co., L.L.C. in New York, and from 1981 to 1984, he worked with the management-consulting firm of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc., specializing in strategic and operational assignments with major industrial and financial firms. He began his career in finance, marketing, and manufacturing at Cummins Engine Company in 1974.

Ripplewood invests in a variety of sectors including: education publishing, telecom, automotive retail, specialty chemicals, consumer products & food manufacturing, and industrial products.

Since its founding, Ripplewood has made investments in nearly a dozen industry groups, each with a rigidly defined strategy and led by an experienced industry executive ("industrial partner"). Ripplewood is unique in its depth of experience in all three major industrialized economies. Since inception, Ripplewood has invested in companies with more than $20 billion of revenue and has led several of the largest private equity transactions ever. Ripplewood’s takeover of the Long-Term Credit Bank, renamed Shinsei Bank Limited, was a pioneering transaction in the restructuring of the Japanese economy.

Mr. Collins is a director of several public companies as well as a number of Ripplewood’s private portfolio companies. He is involved in several not-for-profit and public sector activities, including the US-Japan Business Council, the Trilateral Commission, Yale Divinity School Advisory Board, Yale School of Management Board of Advisors, American Friends of the British Museum, Yaddo, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Collins is also a trustee of the Carnegie Hall Society.

Mr. Collins has a BA degree in philosophy from DePauw University and a MBA in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Management. Mr. Collins received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from his alma mater in 2004.