About the Talk
Tom Gayner is the CIO of Markel Corp, where he manages the company’s investment portfolio. He talks about his journey as an individual and value investor. A recent Wall Street Journal feature on Mr Gayner’s investing style mentions: “He has an outstanding investing record. He works only for Markel and doesn’t take outside clients, but every investor can learn from him.You never would know any of this [extraordinary success] from listening to Mr. Gayner. After a good year, most portfolio managers beat their chests even harder than they beat the market; Mr. Gayner’s 2014 report merely said, “our overall equity portfolio earned 18.6%,” without even mentioning that the S&P 500 was up 13.7%.Instead of trying to mimic the inimitable brilliance of Mr. Buffett, maybe more investors should emulate the common sense and patience of Mr. Gayner.”
About the Author
Tom Gayner is the president and Chief Investment Officer at Markel, and a Director at Graham Holdings, Colfax, the Davis Mutual Funds as well as The Community Fund of Richmond and the Bon Secours Health System. Mr. Gayner, who is a CPA, worked as an accountant, a stockbroker and an equity analyst before joining Markel in 1990.
