Alphonse Fletcher, Jr.

Net worth: $150 million

Source of wealth: Investments

Residence: New York City

Age: 43

Father was a technician, mother was an elementary school principal. "Buddy" majored in applied math at Harvard University, enrolled in ROTC. Sought fortune on Wall Street while serving 10-year stint in Air Force reserves. Joined financial firm Kidder, Peabody. Personally generated $25 million in profits one year; firm allegedly refused to pay promised 25% trading commission. Left to start investment outfit Fletcher Asset Management in 1991. Average annual returns said to have topped 100% in first five years of operation. Owns hundreds of acres of land in Cornwall, Conn. In 2004 pledged $50 million with affiliates to fund programs and support individuals who promote racial equality.

A prominent black Wall Street money manager has filed a lawsuit against the Dakota, accusing the legendary New York apartment building of racial discrimination and defamation in preventing him from buying an apartment there.

Alphonse Fletcher Jr., 45, who has lived in the Dakota since 1992, filed the lawsuit after the board denied his application to buy an adjacent unit to accommodate his family. (Here is The New York Times article
and the complaint, which was filed on Tuesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.)

In a statement, the board of the Dakota said it had not yet reviewed the lawsuit, but that “Mr. Fletcher’s application to purchase an additional apartment in the Dakota was rejected based on financial materials he provided.”

“Any accusations of racial discrimination are untrue and outrageous,” the statement continued. “Mr. Fletcher is a longtime resident of the Dakota and served several terms on its board, recently as its president. The Dakota board is confident in the soundness of its decision.”

Internecine warfare among co-op boards is a matter best left for our colleagues in Metro or Real Estate. But let’s take a closer look at Mr. Fletcher.

He first made headlines on Wall Street 20 years ago.

Then a 25-year-old wunderkind trader fresh out of Harvard, Mr. Fletcher sued his employer, Kidder Peabody & Company, accusing the firm of paying him only half of the $5 million to $6.5 million in compensation that he said he was due.

The lawsuit (below) claimed that Kidder considered the amount “simply too much money to pay a young black man.” An arbitration panel eventually awarded Mr. Fletcher $1.3 million.

While fighting it out with Kidder, Mr. Fletcher hung up his own shingle, Fletcher Asset Management. He set up offices on the 48th floor of the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue, among the more prestigious addresses for the hedge fund set. His specialty, according to a 1991 Wall Street Journal article, was dividend-related stock arbitrage, a strategy that uses options to accumulate large positions in companies poised to pay dividends.

Over the years Mr. Fletcher has generated headlines more for his philanthropic activity than his Wall Street pursuits. In 1994, he donated $4.5 million to Harvard to endow the Alphonse Fletcher Sr. Professorship, a position held by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

In 2004, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Mr. Fletcher pledged $50 million to institutions and individuals working to improve race relations. (The Dakota board’s concern over his finances stemmed in part from questions over whether he had made good on his philanthropic commitments, according to the lawsuit. Apart from a few hundred thousand dollars a year Mr. Fletcher gives in charitable stipends, it is unknown how much more of the $50 million he has donated.)

Fletcher Asset Management has moved its offices several times over the years. After leaving the G.M. Building, Mr. Fletcher set up shop in a luxury townhouse at 22 East 67th, which in 2004 was sold to Phil Falcone, the hedge fund manager, for use as his personal residence. (Mr. Falcone later purchased a neighboring East 67th Street mansion from Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse.) Today, Fletcher Asset Management operates from 48 Wall St. in the old Bank of New York Building.

As a privately held firm, it is not required to disclose its assets, but according to an investor presentation, Fletcher’s flagship “income arbitrage” hedge fund has generated an average net return of 8 percent a year since 1997.

Mr. Fletcher is married to Ellen Pao, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a leading venture capital firm. They have a two-year-old daughter and spend much time in Northern California, where Kleiner Perkins is based. Before his marriage to Ms. Pao, Mr. Fletcher lived in the Dakota with Hobart V. Folkes Jr., his partner of more than 10 years, according to a New York Times article in 2004 on Mr. Fletcher’s philanthropy.

Erroll B. Davis Jr.

Born: c. 1943
Birthplace: Pittsburgh, PA

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Business

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Chancellor, University System of Georgia

A lot has changed in the energy industry since 1998 when Alliant Energy was formed through the merger of three Midwest utilities, and Erroll B. Davis, Jr. was named president, chief executive officer and, later, chairman of the new company.

"In the late 90s, there was great pressure for investor-owned utilities to look a lot like Enron, as the market favored organizations that expanded outside the regulated utility business," Davis said. "Now the market is punishing everyone who looks anything like Enron. In fact, over the last year, we've shifted from proactively designing new, more competitive market structures to reacting to the backlash prevalent throughout Corporate America."

However, as both the leader of Alliant Energy and the current chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association of investor-owned utilities, Davis is working hard to regain the confidence of the financial community, attract capital to new energy generation and infrastructure projects, and - once again - plan for more competitive utility markets.

"Unfortunately, the entire energy industry has been tainted by the unethical actions of only a few," Davis said. "Battered share prices and ongoing debt downgrades all contributed to the difficulties fundamentally strong utilities are now facing when trying to access capital. These tight credit markets are obviously hindering our ability to build and improve our electric power infrastructure."

Despite the current turmoil in the industry, Davis remains confident that - with more transparency and standardized reporting - the energy industry will soon regain its footing. "With the demand for power continually increasing, new electric infrastructure must get built ... and eventually it will," Davis said. "It's often been said that America will most enthusiastically do what it has no choice but to do. This is another such case."

Davis, who has worked in the industry for more than 25 years, also added that today's problems should not permanently distract utilities, regulators and legislators from restructuring the market. "Over the long term, properly structured, well-functioning retail competition can benefit customers," Davis said. "But we have to get the rules right to guide competitive markets where they make sense, because - as history has shown - robust competitive markets are almost always more efficient than regulated monopolies."

While Davis is cautiously optimistic about the future of the industry, he is very enthusiastic about the long-term prospects for Alliant Energy, which operates two regulated utilities as well as various non-regulated businesses. "Through our predecessor companies, we have a long and proud tradition of public service and dedication to our customers," Davis said. "That tradition and our strong core values impact and influence everything we do."

For example, the company's utility operations performed flawlessly throughout the summer of 2002, and continued to rank very highly in customer satisfaction surveys. Under Davis' leadership, the company also continues to win awards for its environmental stewardship, safety initiatives and diversity programs.

In response to current market realities, late in 2002, Alliant Energy announced it was shifting toward a more conservative execution of its diversified strategy, adopting a lower risk profile and correspondingly less aggressive growth targets. With this announcement, Alliant Energy is now accelerating its plan to narrow its focus to three core business platforms: regulated domestic utilities, international utilities and non-regulated generation.

"Domestic regulated utility will remain our core business," Davis said. "And we'll continue to have a presence in the international energy market, but on more limited scale than originally anticipated. We'll also seek to grow our domestic non-regulated generation assets over time.