William C. Vrattos
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Bill Vrattos is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of York Capital Management, a global alternative asset manager founded in 1991. During his 20+ years at York, he has started and run equity and credit businesses in the US, Europe, and Asia. Prior to joining York, Bill was a portfolio manager and analyst at Georgica Advisors, an alternative asset manager based in New York. He began his career at Morgan Stanley in New York where he worked in the corporate finance, capital markets, and real estate divisions.
Bill has served on numerous boards of both public and private companies in a variety of industries as well as on many ad hoc creditor committees of companies undergoing restructurings. Current board assignments include NextDecade Corporation (Ticker: NEXT), an LNG export and carbon capture solutions company where Bill serves as lead independent director, Generate Advisors LLC, a multi-billion dollar CLO manager, Saddle Butte Partners III, a pipeline company in the Powder River Basin, India 2020 Limited and India 2020 Fund II Limited, private equity funds focused on local Indian consumer brands, and Catalio Structured Opportunities Fund, a biotech-focused venture credit fund.
Bill is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the City of New York, a trustee of the Groton School, a former board president and Honorary Trustee of the Buckley School, and a former member of the Investment Committee of the Dartmouth Endowment. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School.
- Featured Work
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In June 2020, Jeremy Blank prepared for a meeting with his fellow partners at York Capital to discuss an investment he had championed in Enovix, a company developing a state-of-the-art, silicon-based battery. Early-stage technology companies, like Enovix, were not typical investments for York, but Blank had convinced his partners to invest. However, the partnership wanted to be “one and done” without reinvesting in future rounds. By 2020, Enovix had made great progress but not as quickly as forecasted. The company had set out to raise more money and received a term sheet from a well-known publicly-traded company. Blank saw this as an exciting opportunity for Enovix, but he was disappointed to see that it would require York to invest more capital and forego a key protective feature. How should Blank approach this meeting with his partners, and what should he recommend?
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Mugford, Kristin, William Vrattos, and Radhika Kak. "Jaypee Infratech and the Indian Bankruptcy Code." Harvard Business School Case 222-071, February 2022. (Revised May 2022.) View Details
- Ivashina, Victoria, and William Vrattos. "York Capital CLOs and WorldStrides International." Harvard Business School Case 223-034, September 2022. (Revised January 2023.) View Details
- Vrattos, William, Jo Tango, and Alys Ferragamo. "York Capital and Enovix." Harvard Business School Case 223-006, July 2022. (Revised September 2024.) View Details