David John Stiles Nicholson was born in York, England, raised in Ontario, Canada and relocated to the United States in 1966. David lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife, Lynn.. He has two daughters (LeeAnne LaBanz and Kerrie Espuga), three stepdaughters and 11 grandchildren. He is a former governor of the Rockaway River Country Club (NJ), a former member of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, the Ottawa Hunt Club, the Bear's Club. Presently, he is an active member of Jonathan’s Landing Golf Club and Fox Harb’r of Nova Scotia.
BUSINESS:
Founder and Chairman, York Management & Research, Inc., Jupiter, Florida
He received his Bachelor of Science Degree Cum Laude in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University, Canada. After advanced application engineering for IBM and Weyerhaeuser, he joined Mackay-Shields Financial Corp in 1967 to advance modern portfolio theory. Dr. Nicholson was awarded distinguished recognition as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1976. After 12 years, he resigned MacKay-Shields as senior partner and Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee to form York Management & Research, Inc. Over the years, he has been an investment advisor to Harvard University's Endowment Fund, the pension funds of major corporations and a numerous high net worth families. As an entrepreneur for forty years, he successfully launched six start-up companies in the computer software, manufacturing and investment advisory businesses. In addition to his five year tenure as General Partner of A.W. Jones (the world’s first hedge fund), he formed 3 of his own quantitatively driven private hedge funds, TARGAT Associates, ALPHA MAX and GLOBAL MAX. Since the sixties, Dr. Nicholson has been pushing the frontiers of the quantitative revolution as a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence, and adaptive computer modeling to investment decision making and portfolio optimization. He relocated York and his investment hedge funds from New York to Jupiter, Florida in 1990. After twenty successful years, he retired and closed his hedge funds in May, 2000 to focus on his family investments and philanthropic activities.
PHILANTHROPIC:
Dr. Nicholson currently serves as Chairman and Trustee of the Stiles-Nicholson Foundation, a private family foundation which he launched in 1992 in Jupiter, Florida.
The primary mission of the Stiles-Nicholson Foundation is to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the benefits of our American free enterprise system through local and national educational initiatives. As such, he is quite active in community organizations such as Junior Achievement both locally and nationally. In recognition of his free enterprise activities, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Northwood University in 2004. For over fifteen years as a volunteer and member of the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches, Dr. Nicholson and his foundation have been responsible for launching several major initiatives to help the children of Palm Beach, and other counties in south-east Florida. Dr. Nicholson has been awarded the highest volunteer recognition by the world-wide Junior Achievement organization; i.e. the Bronze, Silver and Gold National Junior Achievement Leadership Awards. Under his Chairmanship, his foundation was proud to evolve as the largest private funder of Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches during the past 22 years. Junior Achievement presently teaches about 20,000 local children each year about the American way of life, business, financial responsibility, ethics, free enterprise, and entrepreneurship in an effort to better prepare them for the real world of employment and jobs.
Currently, he is honored to serve on the the Discovery Council for Johns Hopkins University, the Advisory Council of the Dept of Astronomy at the University of Florida, the STEM Council of Palm Beach County, and on the Board of Directors for the West Jupiter tutorial Center, the Jupiter Medical Center Foundation and the South Florida Science Center.
