P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans

KARIM SIMPLIS is Head of Research and Portfolio Strategy at FT Global Private Equity. Previously, he was Vice President at Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies Fund and Vice President at Wilshire Associates in Los Angeles.

A naturalized citizen, Karim was born in Belize in 1977, and came to the Los Angeles area at age three. His family still lives in the Los Angeles-area.

Karim completed his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2005. He attended the University of California at Santa Cruz. As a University of California Regents Scholar, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in economics/business management. He was the recipient of the Benjamin E. Mays Award for academic and community service work. Karim also holds a CFA designation.

Karim was involved with a program to expose underprivileged high-school students to collegiate life and assumed leadership of the University of California at Santa Cruz Undergraduate Economic Association. At Stanford University, he volunteered with a program that adopted a first grade class and followed it through 12 years of its educational development.