JOE DURAN
Chief Executive
United Capital Financial Advisers
Newport Beach
Born in Barcelona, Spain
Age: 51
Lives in Laguna Beach
WHY: In 2005, began United Capital, which now has $23 billion in assets under management and third party companies that have contracted with his software unit have approximately $23 billion in assets. Barron’s ranked his firm No. 2 on its list of top registered investors advisers in U.S.
HOW: Raised poor in broken family in war-torn Rhodesia (later named Zimbabwe) where he worked many jobs. Left at age 18 for Europe. After arriving in America, started in 1992 as an intern at a wealth management company. Rose to president, got an ownership stake and sold it to GE Capital for $120 million, making him a millionaire and an American immigrant success story.
RECENT: In March, won Business Journal’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award. Told audience, “None of this would be possible without an incredible country like the United States.”
QUOTABLE: On speculation that he may sell his company, Duran told Financial Planning website that the best outcome would be if the new owners “cut a check for hundreds of millions of dollars, and say, ‘Keep on doing what you’re doing and let us help you do it quicker.’”
PERSONAL: Avid beach volleyball player with his three daughters; also stand up paddle boarder. Met American wife, Jennifer, in Europe when he had tie-dyed T-shirt, wore an earring and played a guitar in the parks of European cities. “She saw something in me. She said, ‘You are going to eat the world alive,’ and I believed her.”
