Kriss Investment Group -- About Us

Mark Kriss is managing partner of Kriss Investment Group LLC, an SEC-registered fee-only investment design and management firm.

Portfolio Theory embodies 50 years of academic research on the relationship of overall portfolio risk and return as a function of the risk, return and correlation of its component parts.

Mark first became intrigued by portfolio management in 1998, while attending Stanford's Executive Program in Financial Management. Particularly inspiring was Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, a lecturer in the program and one of the principal developers of Modern Portfolio Theory. (See video: Nobel Thinkers: William F. Sharpe)

Kriss Investment Group incorporates such innovations in academic research and captures the cost advantages of institutional trading. It began in 2004 as a family office to better manage proceeds from the sales of Mark's venture companies, and soon expanded to become a multi-family office serving other entrepreneurs and their families as well.

Modern Portfolio Theory, which we broadly adhere to, is the philosophical opposite of traditional stock picking. Combining diverse financial assets in a portfolio can be less risky than putting all your investment eggs in one basket. Continuing research in behavioral economics, which applies the insights of psychology to finance, also are considered, particularly in investment design and trade planning.

Passive-managed investments, such as index funds, offer a scientific way to attain diversified portfolios at low cost. Institutional-grade asset class funds from Dimensional Fund Advisors, which we utiltize among others, incorporate innovations in finance and academic research.

Mark understands how real world financial markets work, particularly foreign exchange, the world's largest. His fascination with trading dates from the mid-1980s when he spent five years working with currency traders in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Zurich and Paris as a part of a software venture, which he co-founded, to develop analytic tools and position-keeping systems for currency and fixed income traders.

As a co-founder of two technology companies, Mark is familiar with private equity markets, the transition from private equity to microcap stocks through the IPO process, and managing concentrated stock holdings post IPO or acquisition. In addition, his expertise in technology -- particularly software and telecommunications -- helps him know what to avoid in the technology sector.

Mark holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in communication research from the University of Minnesota, NASD Series 65 (Investment Advisor) certification, and is a graduate of Stanford University's Executive Program in Financial Management. From 1995 through 2008, he served as a mentor in the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

Back to Top