Like this guy. This description is form his own online biography (modest man)
Mr. Batchelder is a revered activist investor. He co-founded Relational Investors with Ralph Whitworth in 1996, and the company now manages over $6.5 billion for some of the largest pension funds in the world. He has almost 30 years of financial management, mergers and acquisitions experience, and has served as a director on 10 public companies. He is recognized as a creative financial whiz and was the deal maker behind a series of raids on such companies as Gulf Oil that eventually led to an overhaul of the U.S. energy industry.
Mr. Batchelder is a Founder, Principal and member of Relational Investors’ Investment committee. He has over 30 years of financial management, mergers and acquisitions experience. He has served as chairman of one public company, Mac Frugal’s Bargains Close-Outs Inc., and as a director of ten others. Five of these public companies were in the Fortune 500 during his service.
Mr. Batchelder’s experience as a board member of several public and private companies provides him a direct insight into corporate management and board dynamics. His perspective proves extremely valuable to Relational’s strategy of assisting portfolio companies’ managements improve performance and value.
From 1988 to 2005, Mr. Batchelder was Principal of Relational Advisors LLC, a financial advisory and investment banking firm, which he founded. He built the firm into a nationally recognized source of expertise for mergers, acquisitions, private financings and shareholder matters.
After graduating from Oklahoma State University, Mr. Batchelder joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Denver. He became intrigued with the oil and gas business, and took a job at a T. Boone Pickens company – Mesa Petroleum Co. He worked at Mesa from 1978 to 1988, and in 1986 he was named President and Chief Operating Officer. While at Mesa, Mr. Batchelder was recognized as a creative financial whiz and the deal maker behind a series of raids on such companies as Gulf Oil that eventually led to an overhaul of the U.S. energy industry.