Warren Stephens is an investment banker with an estimated net worth of $3 billion as of May 2015 according to Forbes. According to Forbes.com, he is #527 in the World Billionaires List (#442 in 2012), #181 in the United States, and #151 in the Forbes 400 List. Born Warren Amerine Stephens, he graduated from Washington and Lee University. He then earned his MBA from Wake Forest University.

Stephens joined Stephens Inc., an investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1981. It is a  family business founded by his uncle W.R. Witt in 1933. His father, Jackson T. Stephens, and his uncle bought Arkansas-Oklahoma Gas for $5.4 million in 1954 and turned it into the natural gas driller Stephens Production. The earnings were made into private equity and they underwrote WalMart’s private offering in 1970. When his father stepped down as CEO in 1986, he became the president. He acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Stephens Inc. in 2006. The company’s asset management and insurance arms have expanded and were added to the private equity stakes such as Stephens Media, which owns 30 newspapers including the Las Vegas Review-Journal. With his leadership, the firm’s activities have also grown in every major division that included wealth management, investment banking, capital management, private equity, institutional sales and trading, research, and insurance.

Warren Stephens also owns major stakes in Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Donrey MediaGroup, Alltel, and Bank of America. He also serves as a board member at Dillard’s as well as a trustee at his alma mater, Washington and Lee University. He is a Republican and has supported Bob Dole in 1996, Steve Forbes in 1999, and Mike Huckabee. He has been very critical of presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.