But powerful special interests are trying to question science., If John Arnold decided he wanted to beat hunger, I wouldnt want to bet on hunger.. Prior to founding Centaurus Energy, he held various positions within Enrons Wholesale Division, including Head of Natural Gas Derivatives. 19-2616 (3d Cir. (Arnold was not involved in the fraud.) What does that say about American philanthropy? Those were the early days of the internet, and he managed to gain access to an online bulletin board intended only for card dealers. But he should loom larger on the conservative radar considering that the two nonprofits associated with this billionaire couple poured out nearly $1 billion in grants between 2008 and 2018. Mr. Arnold is also Founder of Centaurus Capital LP, a family office investment fund with a specific focus on the energy industry. He questioned everything, Fleisher says. Theres no fake it until you make it with General John Shaw, the Guardians who serve with him sleep better knowing hes at the helm. In May 2012, John announced his retirement from Centaurus Energy to concentrate on philanthropic activities. The extent of that individuals ability to freely support causes may be magnified by using an LLC instead of a nonprofit, but it also further blurs the already faded line between philanthropy and politics. I would buy up all the premium hockey cards and send them to Canada or upstate New York. He called the company Blue Chip Cards. Or is Wall Street just an easy target while cancer researchers and universities are not?, So its no surprise that, in practice, the Arnolds approach to giving has a lot in common with John Arnolds approach to investing. John At the time, his net worth was estimated to be around $3 billion. The philanthropy's core mission is to invest in evidence-based solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. Arnold is 5'10", trim, and blandly handsome, his unusually youthful appearance now somewhat concealed by a salt-and-pepper beard. Arnold has said that the first phase of his life was 100 percent trying to make money and that its now 100 percent trying to do good. As The Wall Street Journal noted, in US history, there may have never been a self-made individual with so much money who devoted himself to philanthropy at such a young age.. Projects that Nosek had once envisioned as modest efforts carried out in his lab were now being conducted on an entirely different scale at the centers startup-like offices in downtown Charlottesville, with some 70 employees and interns churning out code and poring over research. And though the fund bounced back the next year, tighter regulations on trading and a far less volatile marketthanks to a growing supply of natural gas from shale rockmade it unlikely that Arnold would again see the astonishing returns of only a few years earlier. from Vanderbilt University and lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and three children. [3][8] His father was a lawyer and died when Arnold was 18. It was little wonder, then, that funders didnt come running to support Nosek: He wasnt promising novel findings, he was promising to question them. In my conversations with Arnold and his grantees, the word incentives seems to come up more than any other. But now they were widening their scope. John Arnold - Centaurus Advisors - Insider Monkey Legendary natural gas trader John Arnold is closing down his flagship Centaurus fund, sources said o n Wednesday, ending an era in which the former Enron wunderkind defined the high-risk, big . This article appears in the February issue. Founded in 1992, Centaurus was formed with a singular focus - to provide unparalleled service, support, technology, and education to independent financial advisers in the securities industry. What makes this even more special is that John rarely gives interviews or does podcasts. Click here to request a free trial. Arnold, who specializes in trading natural gas, is the former Enron trader who launched Centaurus in 2002 with the $8 million bonus he received from Enron after making the firm $750 million. Centaurus's John Arnold: The king of natural gas - Nov. 24, 2009 On the morning of October 7, 2015, the US House Agriculture Committee convened a hearing on the controversy surrounding the dietary guidelines, fueled by the BMJ article. But among hedge funders and energy traders, Arnold is a legend. [52], , "Centaurus scoops up National Coal shares", Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, "The Young Billionaire Behind the War on Bad Science", "John Arnold Is Said to Close Hedge Fund and Return Investor Money", "When a billionaire trader loses his edge - The Term Sheet: Fortune's deals blogTerm Sheet", "Houston billionaire trader John Arnold retiring at 38 - Houston Chronicle", "Legendary Energy Trader John Arnold to Retire", "Hedge Fund Billionaire John Arnold's Fund Was Up When He Announced He Was Getting Out", "Ex-Trader at Enron to Retire From Hedge Fund", New York Times: "CORPORATE CONDUCT: THE TRADER; Enron Trader Had a Year To Boast of, Even If" By DAVID BARBOZA, "A speculator who is in for the long haul", "Centaurus's John Arnold: The king of natural gas - Nov. 24, 2009", "Meet the Texas billionaire who backed Philly soda tax and now is funding attack ads in N.J. Senate race", "Smart trades that made this a good year for some", "Centaurus scoops up National Coal shares", "John D. Arnold's CFTC (U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission) speech", "Houston's World Cup bid adds a power player in John Arnold", "A Thirtysomething Billionaire Couple Take on Tough Issues Via Giving", "The City Fund has given out over $100 million to support charter and charter-like schools", How a billionaire couple greased the skids for Nancy Pelosis drug pricing bill, "Why this billion-dollar foundation is becoming a corporation", "Changemakers: The Leaders Reshaping Communities Around the World", "Two Texas Billionaires Think They Can Fix Philanthropy", "A Billionaire Pledges to Fight High Drug Prices, and the Industry Is Rattled", "Obscure Model Puts a Price on Good Healthand Drives Down Drug Costs", "How a Billionaire Couple Greased The Skids For Nancy Pelosi's Drug Pricing Bill", "Laura and John Arnold Foundation to Restructure as LLC", "Why one billionaire is calling out Silicon Valley's favorite philanthropic loophole", "Are Donor Advised Funds Good for Philanthropy? Theyve also lavishly supported the Reproducibility Project, a science reform group formed to combat the rise of politicized, ideologically driven junk science afflicting so much research, particularly in climate science. | [18][19], In 2009, Arnold gave a public speech to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in which he opposed limits on financially settled trading positions but supported limits in the physical energy futures as they near expiration. Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. In recent years Arnold has invested in solar farms and deepwater oil developments in the Gulf of Mexico. On some days at Enron, Arnold would trade more than a billion dollars worth of gas contracts. . But figuring out which organizations were most effective turned out to be vexing. He is universally described as quiet and introspective. [32], In October 2018, it was reported that Arnold had spent more than $100 million in health-care related grants since 2014, with a particular focus on reducing pharmaceutical drug costs. A year ago, talk in the Texas energy hub was mostly about defending oil and gas and denouncing renewables, Arnold, 47, said Monday on his Twitter account. The journals Science and Nature have started bringing in statisticians to review their papers. The Center for Open Science's replication efforts have inspired economists and even tropical ecologists to plan reproducibility projects of their own. Part It was just a way for us to just all be under one umbrella, and everybody does what he or she needs to do in furtherance of one mission. [49], Arnold is married to Laura Elena (Muoz) Arnold. "[13][14] When Enron collapsed, he was not accused of any wrongdoing. Arnold estimates that he made $50,000 before he finished high school. Foerster, Marny Eng And John Oates On New Indie Dramedy Gringa, Chief Justice John Roberts Wife Made Over $10 Million As Legal Consultant, Report Says, John Rahms Golf Odds Reach Historic Low For 2023 Mexico Open, New Podcast By Shark Tank Alum Daymond John Announced Today Focuses On Defining Moments Of Influential People, A Celebration Of Film Composer John Williams With The New York Philharmonic, Elton Johns Honky Chteau Sounds As Mellow As Ever, John E. Murray (1959-2018): A Birthday Appreciation, The Top 10 Richest Women In The World 2023, The World's 15 Youngest Billionaires 2023, Billionaires 2023: The Top 10 Richest People In The World, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information. Ioannidis, whose name is almost synonymous with scientific skepticism, says he has seen immense progress in recent years. John Arnold is Founder and Co-Chair of Arnold Ventures. Now, much of the discussion has shifted . The tech giant is helping researchers and clinicians decipher vast amounts of data generated by people with persistent symptoms. The Arnolds' impact investing includes CivicaRx, which plans to manufacture 14 generic drugs and sell them cheap. Billionaire John Arnold backing energy-focused credit fund - sources Closing [37] He proposed that foundations and DAFs should spend at least 7% annually, which would result in billions of dollars more being given to charities,[30] and that DAFs should be legally held to an annual minimum distribution. After that Arnold started his own hedge fund, Centaurus Energy, where he became, in the words of one hedge fund competitor, "the best trader that ever lived, full stop." . John Arnold, Centaurus Energy . Thirty-seven year old John Arnold, one of the world's youngest billionaires, had the worst year of his hedge fund career. Plus, systems of prestige and advancement die hard. By all accounts, Laura, who attended Harvard College and Yale Law School and worked as an oil executive, has been equally influential in setting the direction for the foundation. Bothersome bureaucracy notwithstanding, tax exemption and tax deduction are tangible benefits that acknowledge that compact. He was an entrepreneurial kid, earning some $50,000 before leaving high school by marketing collectible sports cards in the internets early years. Directors E.J. [3] [8] At 14, he started his first company selling collectible sports cards called Blue Chip Cards. They would also have to take on a far more ambitious project: The Arnolds would have to try and fix science itself. |, Related topics: John D. Arnold is an American philanthropist and businessman. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was a Houston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012. Houston-based Centaurus has been one of the most successful hedge funds in the industry, delivering a compound annual return of about 130% since it was founded by Arnold in 2002 after the collapse of Enron. New clinical trials could more effectively reach solutions. Text. A 2016 study to determine the effectiveness of the badges showed that the number of articles that reported publicly available data had increased tenfold. Of 1,576 researchers who responded to a recent online survey from Nature, more than half agreed there is a significant crisis of reproducibility. You have 3 free articles remaining. Given our enormous appetite for policy change, and given the fact that we thankfully are not constrained by one structure, we dont have resources channeled only to the C3. The foundational studies, Taubes said, looked at the diets and disease rates in various countries, then essentially guessed at which items in the diet were responsible for the countrys good or bad health statistics. "[36], In 2019, Arnold spoke out against donor-advised funds (DAF), criticizing them for delaying charitable giving and promoting giving to institutions that are less likely to need the money. Capital Research Center (CRC) was established in 1984 to promote a better understanding of charity and philanthropy. Dr. Andrew Nerlinger is a physician, venture capital investor, and social impact innovator. Laura and John Arnold, co-founders and co-chairs of Arnold Ventures. His next act? InfluenceWatch Podcast #267: Weingarten Will Not Be Apologizing. Media reports declared the field of psychology, if not all of science, to be in a state of crisis. One of the counterparties Amaranth approached was Centaurus. Laura and John Arnold didnt start the movement to reform science, but they have done more than anyone else to amplify its capabilitiestypically by approaching researchers out of the blue and asking whether they might be able to do more with more money. The picture Taubes painted wasnt of a flawed study here or there but of a fundamentally broken scientific culture. Raymond Dalio, Bridgewater Associates - $780 million. Subscribe now. While this private company, Arnold Ventures, is structurally indistinguishable from any other for-profit corporation, its purpose is strictly philanthropicbut it comes with key advantages. From the little I know about the science of nutrition, your study makes a lot of sense, Arnold wrote. John Arnold shocked the hedge fund world in 2012 when, at just 38 years old, he announced he would no longer manage other people's money. Weve always wanted to change policies. According to Forbes, Arnold has a personal fortune of $3 billion as of March, putting him at No. But some experts are critical of this shift away from traditional giving, seeing in it a worrying trend in modern philanthropy. For two years he had sent out grant proposals for his software project. Written. Updated March 10, 2017 5:18 pm ET. Arnold Ventures will likely fund the same formula of political and charitable causes that the Arnold Foundation supported. Hardly anyone in the world of nutrition science seemed willing to question the science behind the low-fat diet, even after Americans grew fat and diabetic in record numbers. They are on record as agreeing with some of the critiques and focus on partnering with organizations to maximize their impact without undue influence. In Hedge Hogs, a 2013 book about hedge fund traders, Jeff Shankman, another star trader at Enron, is quoted describing Arnold as the most thoughtful, deliberate, and inquisitive person he worked with on the gas floor. En 2002, us su bonificacin para financiar Centaurus . [50] She was formerly a mergers-and acquisitions attorney in Houston, Texas, and an oil company executive. 1 Jon Rahm is a heavy favorite to win his fifth PGA Tour title in 2023 this week at the Mexico Open. Had something similar happened on Wall Street, he tweeted, the perpetrator would have been sentenced to 10 years in jail and the bank would have been fined a billion dollars. But if you look at the studies that cant be reproduced and other issues facing science, you start to think: What is evidence? Legendary Energy Trader John Arnold to Retire - CNBC John E. Murray (1959-2018) wasnt famous like Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Otherwise our field is built on thin air.. Donate today to assist in promoting the principles of individual liberty in America. [46] Through his foundation, Arnold has aggressively promoted pension reform in the state of California based on a study his foundation conducted with Pew that failed to mention that Enron or the overall financial crisis contributed to the shortfall. At its peak Centaurus managed some $6 billion before Arnold closed the fund and retired in 2012 at the age of 38, establishing the Laura and John Arnold Foundation with his wifea former oil executivesoon after. The more you read the research, the less you know, Arnold says. By the time he was 14, Arnold was running his first company, selling collectible sports cards across state lines. A childhood math prodigy turned medical researcher, Ioannidis became a kind of godfather to the science reform crowd in 2005, when he published two devastating papersone of them titled simply Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. Now, with a $6 million initial grant from the Arnold Foundation, Ioannidis and his colleague Steven Goodman are setting out to turn the study of scientific practiceknown as meta-researchinto a full-fledged field in its own right, with a new research center at Stanford. As a pipeline company, Enron had a direct view onto many of the factors that influence gas prices. Qu u c Centaurus Energy ca Arnold, hin ang qun l hn 5 t USD gi tr ti sn, cha bao gi kim c li nhun t hn 50% . Arnold entered the investment industry out of college by working for Enron, the infamous natural gas conglomerate that collapsed in 2001 following revelations of its vast accounting fraud. Ultimately his army of volunteers could verify the findings of only about 40 percent of the studies. The aim was to redo about 50 studies from three prominent psychology journals, to establish an estimate of how often modern psychology turns up false positive results. Billionaire donors Laura and John Arnold support far more in Maryland Nosek was so taken with the importance of redoing old experiments that he had also rallied more than 50 like-minded researchers across the country to participate in something he called the Reproducibility Project. Six months later the Arnold Foundation made a $4.7 million seed grant to the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI), the nonprofit Taubes cofounded to support fundamental research on diet and health. On a warm October day in 2014, envoys from 15 of America's wealthiest families gathered at Circle T, Ross Perot Jr .'s 2,500-acre ranch outside . In everything they do, they want to be evidence-driven, says Stuart Buck, vice president of research integrity at the Arnold Foundation. 171 on Forbes list. [44][45], Arnold has been accused of pushing for pension reform in response to a lawsuit the California state pension system, CalPERS, filed against Enron. In exchange for forgoing those revenues, the government requires a certain standard of public accountability for nonprofits, delivered through public disclosure of annual Form 990 filings and limits on political activities. John Arnold Centaraus | Elite Trader $24.5M Texas mansion hits the market | wfaa.com Credit: Arnold Ventures. He . Centaurus employees have included several big name energy traders such as ex-Enron executive Greg Whalley, as well as Bill Perkins, Mike Magg and Conrad Goerl, previously of MotherRock. Arnold and his wife, Laura Munoz, together run the John and Laura Arnold Foundation, a major private grantmaking foundation.In early 2019 he and his wife Laura started Arnold Ventures, a for-profit limited liability company (LLC) and grantmaking organization. Were looking to create an organization of thoughtful failure and fantastic success., Arnold is, in at least one respect, trying to make science a little more like finance. Billionaire John Arnold pushes for charity reform. Aiming to defend the science behind the guidelines, McGovern suggested that the doubts that had been cast over Americas nutrition science were being driven by a former Enron executive. I dont know what Enron knows about dietary guidelines, McGovern said. More generally, it may not be possible to truly reform a system where the incentives are already so deeply embedded. Scientists believe lasting symptoms following a coronavirus infection is not a single disorder. John Arnold. New research shows that the cells garbage-clearing function deteriorates with ageand opens the door to reversing the process. info@naturalgasintel.com Arnold funds Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a nonprofit that created a formula to price drugs. She is a graduate of Harvard College, Yale Law School, and has a Master of Philosophy degree in European Studies from the University of Cambridge. Its a stupid little badge, Nosek says, but it works. Because investigating and replicating research begins with having the data and materials necessary to do so, he is particularly focused on making science more transparent. The guest that day was science journalist Gary Taubes, and he was talking about how the prevailing dietary wisdom of the past 40 yearsthat eating too much fat leads to obesity and heart diseasearose from the flimsiest of scientific evidence. By the time he was 14, Arnold was running his first company, selling collectible sports cards across state lines. Arnold says that now, unless he trusts a researchers work, he no longer believes the findings of any scientific study until he or someone on the staff carefully vets the paper. In a sense, thats the strongest weapon that we have. Arnold began his career as a trader for Enron: He would . Having spent more than a decade picking apart nutrition science, Taubes soon found himself cofounding an organization with a substantial grant from the Arnold Foundation, to rebuild the study of obesity from the ground up. John D. Arnold - InfluenceWatch - InfluenceWatch John Arnold, Hedge Fund Manager And Former Enron Trader - HuffPost But in July 2012, Nosek received an email from an institution whose name he didnt recognize: the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. 2020)", "A divided federal appeals court rules Baltimore's surveillance plane is constitutional, cites city's struggles", "Billionaire-Funded Criminal Justice Reform Actually Expands Carceral System", "Officials Got a Windfall Before Enron's Collapse", "How a billionaire couple greased the skids for Nancy Pelosi's drug pricing bill", "Storied Texas Mansion Completely Demolished: The Bulldozer Brings Down Houston's Greatest Architect", "Big and Modern on Lazy Lane: John Arnold Tries House Trading | Swamplot", Baylor College of Medicine: "Laura Arnold named to BCM Board of Trustees" by Lori Williams, "Meet Laura Arnold, the billionaire philanthropist taking on the parole system with Jay-Z and Meek Mill", "Our Team | Laura and John Arnold Foundation", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_D._Arnold&oldid=1150152010, This page was last edited on 16 April 2023, at 16:09. John Arnold, the billionaire manager of the Houston hedge fund Centaurus Advisors, told investors and employees Tuesday that he plans to retire, according to people familiar with the . For a look . Arnold was given $8 million, the biggest payout of all, just days before Enron filed for bankruptcy.