It helps to learn from the best, and Brendan MacMillan has been fortunate to do just that. Before earning his MBA at Harvard Business School, MacMillan met Peter Thiel, co-founder of Internet payment service PayPal. That led to a job with Clarium Capital Management, Thiel’s San Francisco firm, where MacMillan helped relaunch the hedge fund. MacMillan followed that with a stint as an analyst at Owl Creek Asset Management, the New York multistrategy hedge fund firm led by Jeffrey Altman. He then worked for distressed-assets investor Christopher Gate of London-based Oceanwood Capital Management before moving to Dubai in 2010 to join Legatum Capital, whose founder, Christopher Chandler, is known for making concentrated stock bets. Last year MacMillan, 39, who grew up near Boston and holds a BA from Maine’s Bates College, joined Ocean Road Advisors, the New York–based family office of advertising executive Edward Meyer. As CIO, MacMillan is developing a fund focused on companies undergoing restructuring and other transitions; it will open to outside investors this year.
