Our Team

David (Dave) Iben, CFA

 

Chief Investment Officer and Lead Portfolio Manager

david iben

David Iben is the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Kopernik Global All-Cap and Global Unconstrained strategies, and the Co-Portfolio Manager of the Kopernik International and Global Long-Term Opportunities strategies. He is the Chief Investment Officer, Managing Member, Founder, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of Kopernik Global Investors.

Prior to Kopernik, Dave managed the $2.7 billion Global Value Long/Short Equity portfolio at Vinik Asset Management, where he was a director and head of the Global Value team (July 2012 through March 2013). Prior to this, Dave was lead portfolio manager, co-founder, chief investment officer, and co-president of Tradewinds Global Investors, LLC, a $38 billion (at February 2012) investment firm. He continually sole-managed equity portfolios for Tradewinds (inclusive of its two predecessor firms) from October 1998 through February 2012. He was the portfolio manager for the firm’s Global All-Cap strategy, North American All-Cap strategy, and Global Long/Short strategy, directly managing more than $20 billion assets at the time of his departure.

He was a co-Founder and Lead Portfolio Manager of Palladian Capital Management. From 1996 through 1998 Dave was a senior portfolio manager at Cramblit & Carney. He began his career with Farmers Group, Inc. where over the course of 14 years, he worked his way up from securities analyst/trader to portfolio manager and eventually to director of research and lead portfolio manager for both equity and fixed income strategies. At the time of his departure in 1996, Dave was acting as Farmers’ chief investment officer responsible for $16 billion of investable assets.

Dave earned his bachelor’s degree from University of California, Davis, and his MBA from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.