Craig Stapleton Senior Advisor at Stone Point Capital with Matt Bird at Greenwich Economic Forum
Craig Stapleton, Senior Advisor at Stone Point Capital with Matt Bird at Greenwich Economic Forum (Greenwich, CT)
HIGHLIGHTS
-Stone Point Capitals trident funds seek to make equity investments between $50-$500 million
-Stone Point has managed 8 private equity funds with aggregated committed capital over $25 billion
-Craig served as ambassador to Czech Republic under George. W. Bush
FULL COVERAGE
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS: Chuck Davis, CEO of Stone Point Capital with Matt Bird
Matt Bird – Host, Traders Network Show: 00:00
Welcome back to the Traders Network Show broadcasting worldwide from Greenwich, Connecticut. I’m Matt Bird. We’re here at the 2019 Greenwich Economic Forum. And my next guest needs very little introduction on the political stage. He is the former ambassador to the Czech Republic and former ambassador to France. Craig Stapleton. Craig, welcome to the show. So you know, Craig, be our eyes and ears here for a little bit. You’ve gotten some of the program, you’ve been the main room. We’ve got some big Titans and major influencers. We’ve got an economic development thing going on. Tell me what some of the big takeaways are from yourself.
Craig Stapleton – Senior Advisor, Stone Point Capital: 00:33
Well, the project is to highlight Greenwich and Connecticut as a place where investment should come. It’s a fantastic place to live. It’s had very little economic growth recently. It has a lot of people that are decamping from Connecticut. But it’s a global capital. Stone Point Capital, the firm I work with is based in Greenwich. It’s a global firm. There’s lots of talent here. And obviously the program had first-rate speakers.
Matt Bird – Host, Traders Network Show: 00:51
It’s tremendous, I mean we had the governor here, we had the mayor here. Obviously a heads of a number of different institutional funds. I had a chance to meet with your boss for a little bit. And it’s substantial, tell us why are public private partnerships important to lift communities and lift economic development?
Craig Stapleton – Senior Advisor, Stone Point Capital: 01:25
Well, in my youth, I used to work for the Ford foundation in economic development, in poverty and globally. I understand that from my time in Europe, but in the United States, you have to have the support of government, you have to have the federal government behind it, the state government, the city government to put projects, economic development projects and bring business communities together and keep talent in place. That’s the struggle for Connecticut.
Matt Bird – Host, Traders Network Show: 01:46
You know, I really like what you said about keeping talent in place and there are a lot of business struggles today and strategically getting stuff done. I know the dynamics between public, private partnership. You’ve got the tactical execution on the private side and the public advocacy on the public side, and it’s proving to be successful at the UN along with abroad, internationally and now we’re starting to see adoption at the state level. From an economic standpoint, how do you see this all evolving?
Craig Stapleton – Senior Advisor, Stone Point Capital: 02:17
Well, really Connecticut, it’s a global place because of our access to will to New York, to the UN, to all the diplomats. The top diplomats in day in the United States that are not in Washington from representing foreign countries are based in New York. And we have the UN there and we have centers of international business. So Connecticut benefits from proximity to all these people who have great transportation, great entertainment, great places to live. And so Greenwich has really been a central part of economic development for the New York area and for the United States.
Matt Bird – Host, Traders Network Show: 02:31
Well, I mean, your area is certainly the feeder for, it’s a lot of the intellectual property that goes in there. And this is the home base for many of the influences, CEOs and people that actually make the big decisions on where our economy goes. So you know, this event for me is, is quite special. I see a lot of faces here that we’d see at the World Economic Forum. Unusually in one place here in Greenwich.
Craig Stapleton – Senior Advisor, Stone Point Capital: 03:16
Well it’s easy for them. In Connecticut, there’s great educational institutions in New York. We draw from all that basis. There’s great schools here. So it’s a vibrant community that’s devoted. It fits very internationally inclined. You don’t get places, like I grew up in Colorado. You don’t get the international interests in places like Colorado that you do in New York and Greenwich.
Matt Bird – Host, Traders Network Show: 03:40
I know you’re pressed for time and you got to head off to another event. What’s next for you?
Craig Stapleton – Senior Advisor, Stone Point Capital: 03:46
Same old. I’m in the business world. I’m a part owner of a baseball team. The st Louis Cardinals. We didn’t quite make it to the world series, but at least we lost to the nationals. I go back to Europe a lot and I travel United States a lot. Spend a lot of time in Texas, a lot of time in California.
Matt Bird – Host, Traders Network Show:
I love Texas. Listen ambassador, thanks so much for joining us so much everybody. This is ambassador Craig Stapleton. You’re watching the Traders Network Show special thanks to all our network affiliates, ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS. We’ll be right back after these messages don’t go away.
