By Melissa Silmore (TPR'85)

After 15 years in high-ranking finance, primarily with the multibillion-dollar, top-performing Zweig hedge fund, Tony Berkman (MCS'88, TPR'98) "wanted to be doing my own thing." He co-founded Majestic Research, a New York-based independent equity research firm that gathers data from Web sites and proprietary data vendors to analyze trends as they happen. Recently, he was named one of Institutional Investor Online's 40 top e-finance leaders.

What differentiates Majestic?

Majestic's mission is to get out there and get access to that data. For example, instead of talking to 10 doctors, I'm seeing what thousands of doctors are actually doing.

Did you see last fall's economic downturn coming?

Yes, we saw from our data that everything discretionary was not just deteriorating, but that the rate of change at which it was deteriorating was alarming.

Since then, how has your research helped your clients make or save money?

One example is Amazon. Our proprietary data suggested revenue of $6.69 billion while expectations were for $6.44 billion. They reported revenue of $6.7 billion, almost exactly where we predicted, and the stock was up 18% the next day [January 30th]. Many of our clients were either invested in Amazon as a result of our research or else had covered their short positions.

Given Wall Street's turbulence, what advice do you have for investors?

Historically, stocks actually tend to rise from the beginning to the end of a recession. So, if you're young, you should still put some money in equities.

How did Carnegie Mellon impact your career?

It's interesting—there's something about the school that nurtures an entrepreneurial spirit. I don't know what exactly, but many classmates who are close friends of mine have their own companies.