Anthony Assad, Class of 2007, will be addressing the De La Salle Collegiate Class of 2024 at the annual 1926 Society Breakfast at the Detroit Athletic Club on October 27.
Anthony Assad, the ‘07 Valedictorian, is a hedge fund analyst living in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife Gina Guzzardo Assad. They regularly return to the Detroit area for holidays and family gatherings, and recently ran with their families in the October 15 Detroit Free Press Marathon Relay.
During his high school career, Assad consistently ranked in the top three of his class, taking numerous Advanced Placement courses AND playing varsity hockey for three years. He was the team’s captain his senior year.
Assad spent “several months” thinking about his college future, ultimately deciding to submit an early decision application to Brown University in Rhode Island.
“I think many people had hoped that I would apply to Notre Dame,” Assad said. “Fortunately, I found a wife who graduated from there!” Assad’s wife has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business.
At Brown, Assad majored in Biology, but took an Economics course nearly every semester.
“I loved Brown,” Assad said. “Brown was what opened up the finance world to me.”
During college, Assad interned at a venture capital firm specializing in biotech investments.
“I was the scientist, liaising between the business and medical sides,” Assad said.
Since 2013, he has been with HG Vora Capital Management, an investment advisor that manages about $7 billion in investor assets.
He also has several private residential real estate investments. After living in Manhattan for eight years, Assad bought a multi-family row house in Brooklyn, where he lives in one unit and leases out two apartments. He also owns rental properties in Philadelphia, in Providence near Brown, and in Detroit’s Woodbridge area west of Wayne State University.
Assad attended Shelby Junior High, choosing to attend De La Salle because of his father’s encouragement.
“My father wanted to attend a private Catholic high school, but that wasn’t a financially viable option for his family,” Assad said. “I was fortunate to have the opportunity.”
Assad said that his Advanced Placement classes were helpful in his college career.
“At Brown and many other private universities, you don’t really have the opportunity to get credits, and then graduate a semester or two early, in order to save on tuition,” Assad said.
“With AP credit, Brown placed me in higher-level courses. I came in with AP Calculus BC, for example, so I placed into multivariable calculus on Day 1.”
Assad is pleased with the number of Advanced Placement courses in the DLS curriculum. “AP classes are a way to progress through college more efficiently,” He said.
Assad keeps in touch with several De La Salle classmates, including three classmates - Gino Roncelli, Michael Martin, and David Hakim - who were groomsmen in Assad’s 2021 wedding.
Assad encourages his fellow alumni to give back.
“I learned many things about brotherhood and faith at De La Salle,” he said. “Our philanthropy will help people in the future, and ultimately better the lives of today’s students and the students to come.”