American Billionaire, Business Owner & Philanthropist

Lawrence E. Golub | Biography

Founder & CEO of a multi-billion dollars company, Golub Capital

• By Anil Pradhan
• Update : March 16, 2022

---

Lawrence E. Golub is a business owner and philanthropist. He is the owner of a multi-billion dollars company, Golub Capital.

Who is Lawrence E. Golub?

Lawrence E. Golub is a renowned American billionaire and the CEO and founder of the credit asset management company Golub Capital. Besides being a business executive, he is also an entrepreneur, social activist, and philanthropist.

Golub initially started his proficient journey to becoming a billionaire as a bank employee. One of his career's first professional jobs was as an associate of an investment bank named Allen & Company, Inc. He joined the bank right out of Harvard University in 1984.

Golub worked his way up to become its vice president just a year later. He held the position for another five years, after which he quit to become the managing director of Wasserstein Perella & Co, Inc, another American investment bank.

In August 1993, he occupied the managing director post of Bankers Trust Company until September 1994. Moreover, right before quitting his job at Bankers Trust, he launched his company, Golub Capital.

Golub Capital is one of the leading capital lenders in the US middle market. It also measures the revenue and earnings generated by over 150 private middle-market US companies with the help of an index named The Golub Capital Altman Index, aka GCAI. As of 2022, Golub's company Golub Capital has approximately $45 billion worth of capital under its credit asset management.

Golub's Humble Early Family Experiences Would Root His Career

Golub comes from an ordinary middle-class family in New Rochelle, New York, USA. He has not revealed his parents' names and other family members' information in the media. However, according to a 2010 article on abfjournal, his mother and father belonged to poor immigrant families.

Growing up as a humble kid in a low-income generating family in the suburb of New Rochelle, Golub saw how his father struggled to provide financial support to his family. It made him realize the importance of financial success and work on making his career in business.

Golub enrolled at Harvard University in 1977. He took economics as his primary subject and graduated with a bachelor's degree in arts in 1980. Moreover, while still a graduate student, Golub came across an opportunity to intern at the American multinational investment company Goldman Sachs. He worked for several months at the company's M&A Department as their summer intern.

Talking about his internship days, he said, "While it was clear to me that Goldman was a fantastic firm, I spent most of those summer nights making presentation books on the copier. I asked myself, 'What am I doing wrong here? I'm at this great firm that has this great business and I'm in a great graduate program.'"

Furthermore, Golub also completed his master's level education at Harvard Business School. He joined the MBA program in 1980 and graduated with high distinction marks in 1984. In addition, the university also selected him as a Baker Scholar.

Simultaneously, he also completed his JD with magna cum laude from Haward Law School.

Golub Lives with His Wife and Children in New York

Golub and his wife Karen Finerman live with their four children, two sets of twins, in their luxury home in New York. He married Finerman in 1993, and the couple is close to completing two decades of their marriage. 

Karen Finerman is a businesswoman and entrepreneur. Finerman is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the $400 million worth hedge fund company, Metropolitan Capital Advisors.

Additionally, she has been the panelist of the Stock Trading talk show, Fast Money on the CNBC channel since 2007.

Additionally, Finerman is also the author of several motivation and self-improvement books. Her book 'Finerman's Rules: Secrets I'd Only Tell My Daughters About Business & Life' made her the bestselling author in the USA.

Golub is a Supportive Husband

Besides running a successful multi-billion dollars business, Golub also supports his wife Finerman with family affairs. As a result, they both compliment each other while maintaining a much-needed balance between their family life and work life.

Moreover, in an interview with CSQ in March 2014, Finerman openly appreciated Golub's effort in keeping the family together. She half-jokingly and appreciatively told CSQ that he serves as the "Project Manager" of their family affairs.

He Holds A Net Worth of Over Billion Dollars

Golub has amassed enormous wealth through his career as a business person and entrepreneur. As of 2022, Golub holds a net worth amounting to approximately $1.2 billion (according to Forbes). The principal contributor to his massive wealth is his $45 billion worth of Golub Capital.

On the other hand, his wife Finerman stands at $100 million net worth. The husband-wife duo is actively involved in several charitable organizations. They regularly make donations to support Parkinson's disease patients and their families. Moreover, in 2001, they donated a huge sum of 500 thousand dollars to the New York Stem Cell Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching Parkinson's disease treatment.

In addition, they were also directly involved in Biden's Presidential Campaign in 2020. They donated $5000 to the election campaign.

Did You Know?

• Lawrence E. Golub has a younger brother David who currently serves as the CEO of Golub's finance vehicle business.
• David joined his brother's company, Golub Capital, in 2003.