Overview
In the early 1980s, Ritchie "…single-handedly revolutionized the options market" when he determined that the Black-Scholes pricing model was incomplete. According to Institutional Investor, Ritchie made material changes to the Black-Scholes formula and started pioneering computer-driven trading strategies. CRT’s capacity to value options far more precisely enabled them to narrow the bid/ask spread in the options market.
“Ritchie is not your typical mid-western businessman,” a CNN article in 2007 quotes. “He ran the world's largest commodities trading firm, broke a transcontinental speed record in his private plane, and managed mission control for his friend and fellow adventurer, balloonist Steve Fossett.” Ritchie’s businesses reach worldwide, with joint ventures in Russia in the early 1990s and companies in Japan beginning in the early 2000s. He was also involved in country development with foreign policy in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and economic development in Rwanda as the former CEO of the Rwandan Development Board up until the end of 2009. He currently serves as co chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council for Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
After selling CRT in 1993 to Nations Bank (now Bank of America), Ritchie used the same model of investing as head of Fox River Partners LLC (originally Fox River Financial Resources). Fox River primarily operates primarily in hedge fund investing and private equity. Notable business ventures include the Hollywood Sign (2010) and the Hana Hotel and Ranch in Maui (2001).
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