Investment Professionals

Blum Capital has built an investment team with a unique blend of talent that has allowed it to successfully execute its investment strategy.

Richard C. Blum is the Founder and Chairman of Richard C. Blum & Associates, Inc., the general partner of Blum Capital Partners, L.P., a long-term strategic equity investment management firm which acts as general partner for various investment partnerships and provides investment advisory services.  He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of PAG.  He is also Co-Founder of Newbridge Capital (now part of TPG Capital).  In the past, Mr. Blum has served on the Boards of many prominent companies, including CBRE Group, Inc., Fairmont Raffles Holdings International Limited, Northwest Airlines Corporation, Myer Pty. Ltd. in Australia, Glenborough Realty Trust, Inc., Korea First Bank, URS Corporation, and National Educational Corporation.

Mr. Blum is former Chairman of the University of California Board of Regents, where he continues to serve as a Regent.  He is former Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.  He was appointed by President Obama to be a member of the President’s Global Development Council.  Mr. Blum founded the American Himalayan Foundation and Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is the Honorary Consul of Nepal. Additionally, Mr. Blum serves on the board of trustees of the following non-profit organizations: The Asian Art Museum Foundation, The Carter Center, Central European University, Glide Foundation, The National Democratic Institute, The Simon Wiesenthal Center Inc., and The Wilderness Society.  He is an Honorary Trustee for the Brookings Institution and is also a founding member of the Council of Advisors to National Geographic International.

Prior to founding Blum Capital, Mr. Blum was with Sutro & Co. for 17 years, holding various positions including director, major stockholder, and member of the Executive Committee.  He earned both his B.A. and M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2006 he received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of San Francisco’s McLaren College of Business. Most recently, he was awarded the Haas School of Business’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr. Westley joined Blum Capital as a Partner in July 2012.  He is responsible for sourcing and managing corporate investments and oversees investor relations and LP communications.  He was previously a Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney, and a Partner at both ThinkEquity Partners and North Point Advisors, an investment banking firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions.  Prior to Salomon, Mr. Westley worked as a vice president at the investment management firm, Canyon Partners, LLC.  He has been both an investor and financial advisor during his career, raising more than $10 billion in equity and debt capital, and advising on more than $2 billion of mergers and acquisition transactions for his clients in a variety of industries, most notably in the technology, media, and telecom sectors.

Mr. Westley earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

Mr. Westley serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of a former portfolio company, Avid Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVID).  He was previously a board member of Payless ShoeSource and an alternate board member of Xtralis, two former portfolio companies.