Barnes Hauptfuhrer is a retired businessman whose career exposed him to the value of teamwork and great leaders, but also highlighted for him the destructive value of poor leadership and lack of teamwork. He attended Princeton University, graduating in 1976, where he won the William Winston Roper Trophy (awarded to a Princeton senior of high scholastic rank and outstanding qualities of sportsmanship and general proficiency in athletics) and the B.F. Bunn Trophy (awarded to that member of the Princeton Basketball team who in play, sportsmanship and influence contributed most to the sport). After Princeton, he was drafted in the the third round of the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, but did not make the final cut. Following this, Barnes got a joint JD/MBA degree from the University of Virginia.
Post-UVA, he pursued a career in finance. He commenced his business career in New York City in investment banking, where he worked for Kidder, Peabody & Co from 1981-1988 (primarily specializing in mergers and acquisitions). Thereafter, he moved to Charlotte, NC, where he founded a private equity group called First Union Capital Partners (managing this from 1988-1998). Thereafter, Barnes was asked to co-head the Corporate & Investment Banking Division of First Union Corporation (subsequently, Wachovia Corporation) which he led from 1999-2004. Missing the entrepreneurial environment, and investing orientation of his First Union Capital Partners days, Barnes started a value-oriented hedge fund, Chapter IV Investors (managing this until he retired in 2018).
Barnes currently serves on the Board of Directors of National Gypsum Company and is Chairman of the Foundation for the Carolinas. Barnes lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife of 38 years (Cammie). They have two married children (Barnes and Dillon) and three wonderful grandchildren, as of this writing.
