LinkedIn/Getty ValueAct Capital CEO Mason Morfit and actress Jordana Brewster
Actress Jordana Brewster, best known for her role as Mia in the Fast & Furious franchise, has a new man in her life since separating from husband Andrew Form after 13 years of marriage. Brewster has been dating financial executive Mason Morfit, the CEO of San Francisco-based investment firm ValueAct Capital.
Morfit and Brewster were first linked in mid-July. They were photographed kissing on the beach in Malibu and again a few days later during a coffee date in Los Angeles.
Jordana Brewster & new boyfriend Mason Morfit spend the day together in LA!
Brewster and Form separated earlier in 2020 and according to People, Brewster formally filed for divorce on July 1. The former couple shares two young sons, Julian and Rowan. The magazine reported the split was “amicable.”
Here’s what you need to know about Mason Morfit:
1. Mason Morfit Has Been With ValueAct Capital Since 2001 & Became the Hedge Fund’s CEO in January 2020
LinkedInMason Morfit
Morfit has been with his current firm, ValueAct Capital, for nearly 20 years. Morfit met the firm’s founder, Jeff Ubben, while he was working at Credit Suisse. Morfit told the Financial Times that he traveled around the country with Ubben as they worked to get the firm off the ground.
Ubben had chosen Morfit as the person to eventually take over the company as soon as 2007. Ubben told the Financial Times that he received “zero pushback” when he announced Morfit as his eventual successor because Morfit “was the youngest person on the team but he was also the one who was going to take the reins because he was very comfortable with risk.”
According to Forbes, Morfit had an “important role” in Value Act’s decision to invest in Valeant, a pharmaceutical company now known as Bausch Health Companies. Forbes reported that the investment produced “$3.6 billion in profits, an internal rate of return of more than 40 percent.”
Morfit was promoted to chief investment officer in 2017 before stepping into the CEO role in January 2020. According to CrunchBase, ValueAct Capital has a reputation for investing in “undervalued” stakes and is “known for its activist slant.”
2. Morfit Was Named to Fortune’s ’40 Under 40′ List in 2014 After Negotiating a Deal With Microsoft
Morfit may be best known in the business world for his dealings with Microsoft. In 2013, Morfit and ValueAct Capital created a report with recommendations for how Microsoft could make improvements and increase profits. Geekwire reported in 2014 that the recommendations included reducing Microsoft’s emphasis on Windows and instead focusing more on creating applications for other operating systems such as iOS and Android.
According to Fortune, Morfit also advocated for a change in leadership. Satya Nadella replaced Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014.
Morfit was also named to Microsoft’s board of directors. In his late 30s at the time, Morfit was the youngest member of the board. Also in 2014, Morfit was honored with the #10 spot on Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list. When asked how he persuaded older colleagues to listen to his advice, Morfit told the magazine that it was about proving you’ve done the research. He joked, “Please don’t say I dazzle people with data. It’s everything I am not. I’m not flashy.”
Morfit served on Microsoft’s board until late 2017. In August 2017, ValueAct made headlines when it sold $500 million worth of Microsoft stock, CNBC reported.
3. Morfit Is the Son of a U.S. Diplomat & Spent Part of His Childhood In Asia Before the Family Returned to Washington, D.C.
Morfit spent part of his childhood living overseas. One of his parents was a diplomat for the U.S. State Departement and the family lived in Indian and Indonesia while Morfit was a young child.
The family returned to the United States when Morfit was in 7th grade and settled in the Washington, D.C. area, Morfit attended Sidwell Friends, a Quaker school that has been popular among presidential families. The school counts Sasha and Malia Obama, Chelsea Clinton, and Tricia Nixon among its notable alumni.
Morfit graduated from Sidwell Friends in 1993. In an interview for an alumni magazine, Morfit said he credits the school for instilling in him a strong work ethic:
The hardest I’ve ever worked in my life was junior year at Sidwell Friends. I used to go to the Georgetown University library every week and work on my 30-page American Studies papers for Ellis Turner and then AP Bio for Mrs. Fields. It was an unbelievable workload, and it gave me an incredible amount of drive and work ethic. The intensity of the experience was great.
4. Morfit Graduated From Princeton & Started His Career at Credit Suisse in New York City
Morfit chose Princeton University for college. According to his LinkedIn profile, Morfit earned a bachelor’s degree in “political economy” in 1997. He touched on his interest in how economics and politics intertwine in an interview for a Sidwell Friends alumni magazine:
My favorite courses were things like Analysis of Capitalism. The Berlin Wall and Soviet Union had crumbled, so a lot of economists were trying to help Yeltsin rebuild the Soviet economy. Economics is basically applying mathematics to psychology. How do you mathematically model how a human being is going to behave? I wrote a paper in college on Mahatma Gandhi’s economic theories. Unlike traditional Western economics, where it’s supply-demand curves and everything is built on the idea that consuming more is better, Gandhi saw a point of diminishing returns. He said that community matters and your fellow man matters. It upends all of the equations and mathematics of economics. That’s an example of the light bulb going on in my head.
After college, Morfit moved to New York City for a job as a research analyst at Credit Suisse, according to the Financial Times. Morfit explained on his ValueAct Capital bio that he was part of Credit Suisse First Boston, the investment banking division and that he was focused on health care.
5. Morfit Married Anna Ortiz In 2004
InstantCheckmateMason Morfit
Brewster’s marriage unraveled in 2020 and she filed for divorce on July 1. But the recent timeline of Morfit’s own marriage is less clear.
Morfit married Anna-Mieke Ortiz in September 2004, according to a Princeton alumni outlet. Morfit told the publication that their wedding was featured in the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. At the time, Ortiz had recently completed cooking school and had accepted a job with the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper’s food department, according to the alumni website.
The couple has four children together, based on Ortiz’s Facebook page. Her profile includes photos of three boys and one girl. The youngest child was born in 2015. At least one of the boys is involved in the Boy Scouts; Morfit noted on his ValueAct Capital bio that he serves as the Treasurer of Boy Scouts Troop 14 in San Francisco. Ortiz’s public-facing Facebook account does not include any photos of Morfit. He does not appear to have a Facebook page and his Instagram account is private.
The estranged couple also appears to still own multiple properties together. A search of online records on InstantCheckmate lists two properties in Santa Barbara that are owned by the “Morfit Mason & A Living Trust.” One of the properties was purchased in February 2011 for more than $3.9 million. The second home was purchased in April 2012 for $1.75 million.
The records also list a 6-bedroom house in San Francisco that sold for $9.9 million in November 2018. Mason and Anna Morfit’s real estate holdings have previously been featured in publications such as Curbed San Francisco and Pop Sugar.
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Mason Morfit, Jordana Brewster’s New Boyfriend: 5 Fast Facts