About

Jared Carney | Founder and CEO, Lightdale LLC

Jared Carney founded Lightdale, a global holding and strategic advisory firm, in 2012 as the natural evolution of a career spent building companies and relentlessly forging partnerships with business leaders, influential philanthropists and government officials across the globe.

A private family investment firm, Lightdale also works with sophisticated investors, family offices and large pools of capital, corporations and governments which are interested not only in generating returns, but also in effecting socially impactful and philanthropic change. Through Lightdale’s collective insights, unique partnerships and trusted network, the firm is able to connect these constituents with fresh, disruptive and transformational ideas, thereby accelerating both the investment process and a company’s speed to market / growth.

Lightdale also has many investments and joint ventures in dynamic growth regions of the world such as the Arctic and Europe, as well as interests in real estate, life sciences, technology, industrial minerals, food, hospitality, healthcare, education and financial innovation/services. The firm was started with five founding clients who are leaders from the financial services industry, focusing on their family and business investments. Since inception, the firm has successfully incubated, accelerated and advised numerous ventures on behalf of a broad array of investors and companies. To date, Carney has led over $3bn in transactions, mostly in asset management and acquisitions. The firm has developed particular expertise in driving growth for smaller investment firms or finding them strategic alternatives. This has led to Lightdale having a portfolio of interests in smaller sized money managers.

Prior to Lightdale, Carney served as Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at the Milken Institute working closely with its Chairman, Michael Milken. For almost 10 years he led the annual Global Conference, the world’s largest gathering of the capital markets. During his tenure, Carney was instrumental in exponentially increasing the Institute’s programmatic and revenue growth as it became the world’s leading preeminent financial think tank. Among other accomplishments, he established the Global Capital Markets Advisory Council, the Young Leaders Circle and its Asia Center in Singapore. He also served as a senior advisor to Knowledge Universe as it became the world’s largest privately owned for-profit education company.

Before joining the Institute, Carney was a pioneer in the Internet/high-tech and media industries where he successfully founded, launched or helped build a number of disruptive companies and technologies which he helped steer to successful exits. Examples include launching Java for Sun Microsystems, establishing Fox Networks web presence (X-Files and all owned & operated TV stations), co-starting Intranets.com, an Idealab company (sold to WebEx), and Captura (sold to Concur).

Carney is on the board of directors of LSE listed Mayflower Acquisition Ltd. along with Noam Gottesman, Lord Stanley Fink and Sir Jeremy Isaacs CBE as well as McKinley Mgt. the largest private investment firm in Alaska. Previously boards included Brandenburg Realty, a Berlin headquartered international property company as well as Secured Natural Resources, the rare earth mining company predecessor to MP Materials. Today Jared advises a select number of niche alternative investment firms, including Fiduciary Co-Investment Partners (category leading pure play) and 3650 Capital, the leading commercial real estate lender. Selected roster of previous similar roles: CITIC, the Chinese state-owned investment firm; APQ (LON:APQ), an emerging markets investor; RMR Industrials, Inc. (OTCBB: RMRI), an Infrastructure company; and Houlihan Lokey (NYSE: HL) the international investment bank.

Carney was a founding member of the Board of Advisors of The Arctic Circle; created the California Fund, co-founded of the Arctic Maritime Exchange with Dr. Richard Sandor, and advises a group of governments as well as the Milken Institute and Prostate Cancer Foundation. Current philanthropic initiatives include wildfire mitigation in the Western United States and Southern Europe, combatting antisemitism, and various causes focused on Education.

He and his family are multigenerational owners and operators of hospitality, at one point owning properties in 40 states. Personal investments focus on early to mid-stage technology and consumer companies where Carney’s capital, experience and relationships can accelerate entrepreneurs’ and corporate development. Jared is a return speaker at a number of conferences, and Lightdale’s global gatherings are sought after events.