Who is Ken Griffin?

Photo Credit: Citadel

After tabbing an enormous donation of $300 million to Harvard University, people are interested in who Ken Griffin is and how the DeSantis donor gained his fortune. The large donation to the notoriously progressive university has some speculative republicans asking questions about Griffin’s relationship with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Critics are skeptical of Griffin’s motives as he generously funds DeSantis’s anti-woke campaign while simultaneously donating $300 million to, what many would consider to be, an extremely “woke” institution. And maybe they have a reason to be skeptical—but first we should look at the bigger picture.

Ken Griffin is the founder and CEO of Citadel; a Miami-based hedge fund firm that manages about $57 billion in assets. As he has accrued his wealth over the years, he has donated large sums to philanthropic initiatives such as inner-city community programs and recovery efforts during the pandemic. All in all, Forbes estimates that Griffin has donated roughly $1.86 billion to various causes over the years.

His most recent donation to his alma mater has drawn attention, however, as many are curious about the misalignment of values between Harvard University and the [assumed] 2024 presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis. On Tuesday he donated a whopping $300 million to Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, bringing his cumulative Harvard tally to around half a billion dollars. He also donated $150 million to financial aid in 2014. The university’s press release said the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to commemorate his decades of generosity.

Political Views

Griffin is a registered Republican and seems to be spending most of his time in Florida lately, while still maintaining some of his business in Chicago. He owns a large amount of real estate on the east coast of Florida and has donated nearly all of his political contributions to republicans over the years, although he did donate to former president Barack Obama in 2008. Over the years Griffin has tossed a little here, a little there and has most recently become a megadonor for Ron DeSantis. He donated $5 million to his re-election campaign in 2018 and Politico reports that, as of November 2022, Griffin had donated roughly $60 million to republican candidates and campaigns.

Griffin has recently expressed his desire to fully back Ron DeSantis for a 2024 presidential run, saying, “For a litany of reasons, I think it’s time to move on to the next generation.” Griffin has high praise for the job that DeSantis has done for the state of Florida and would love to see him carry that to the oval office. We can only expect the donations to start pouring in when—and if—DeSantis does, indeed, announce his candidacy.

Griffin’s recent shift to a more rightward political approach reflects the concern he holds for public safety, public schools, and the mismanagement of funds by politicians across the board. While his agenda seems noble, it would be interesting to hear his justification for donating such a large sum of money to a seemingly progressive institution that promotes many of the ideas that he seems to, now, shy away from. But maybe for now, we give him the benefit of the doubt until more details emerge.