Henry A. Fernandez
President and Chief Executive Officer
MSCI Barra
Henry Fernandez is chairman and CEO of MSCI Inc., a publicly traded company (NYSE:
MXB) and a leading global provider of investment decision support tools, including indices
and portfolio risk and performance analytics. MSCI has more than 3,000 clients in over
60 countries, and 750 employees located around the world. Mr. Fernandez was instrumental
in the design and execution of MSCI’s acquisition of Barra in 2004, and in the merger
of MSCI with Capital International Perspective S.A. in 1998.
Prior to becoming CEO of MSCI in 1998, Mr. Fernandez was a managing director of
Morgan Stanley, where he worked from 1983 to 1991 and since 1994. During this time,
Mr. Fernandez worked in various areas including emerging markets product strategy
and equity derivative sales and trading, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance
worldwide, and mortgage finance for U.S. financial institutions.
From 1993 to 1994, Mr. Fernandez was president of HispaniMedia Inc., a private equity
investment firm in Hispanic media in the United States. He also founded Ferco Partners Inc.,
a private equity investment firm in Mexico, and served as its chairman and president
from 1991 to 1993. From 1976 to 1979, Mr. Fernandez was a diplomat in the Nicaraguan
Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Fernandez is a member of the college board of advisors of Georgetown University, and
a trustee of the boards of The Browning School and the Trinity School in New York City.
Mr. Fernandez was born in Mexico City and grew up in Nicaragua. He lived in Geneva,
Switzerland, and has traveled extensively to more than 80 countries. He graduated with
a BA in economics from Georgetown University in 1979 and pursued doctoral studies in
economics at Princeton University. He received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School
of Business in 1983.
Mr. Fernandez resides in New York City with his wife and their three children.