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Michael Cannivet is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Silverlight Asset Management. He is also a Forbes contributor and columnist for RealClearMarkets.

Michael manages our firm’s investment process and portfolio strategies. He also provides strategic counsel related to financial planning and asset allocation.

Outside of work, Michael is an active supporter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation and serves as a Wish Granter.

Education

B.A. Georgetown University

Chartered Financial Analyst®

My Story

I was born on New Year’s Day, which I think somehow has always made me appreciate the value of time.

Growing up, my mother taught me compassion and to indulge my natural curiosity. My father taught me results count and that I can be anything I want to be.

When I was 8 years old, I became obsessed with baseball cards. I studied player stats, monthly price guides, and made lists of the cards I thought would do best. My dog ate most of the cards, and the baseball card industry turned out to be my first exposure to a bubble.

In 1995, my grandmother bought me my first stock. A coffee company called Starbucks. That investment worked much better.

I moved to Washington D.C. to study Government at Georgetown University. The summer before my senior year, an internship at a venture capital firm changed my life. That’s when I fell in love with investing and decided to pursue a career in finance.

After college, I spent the majority of my 20s working in the Bay Area at Fisher Investments. I was an Equity Analyst and worked under the tutelage of acclaimed investor, Ken Fisher. I learned a lot about macro investing and how to use empiricism to build new capital markets technology. 

In my 30s, I became a partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Palo Capital. There I focused on pioneering a framework to systematically value stocks. After hundreds of hours of backtesting, I developed a multi-factor method called “Quality-at-a-Discount.” In 2013, I launched several strategies using this approach that were highly successful. During my tenure, assets under management at the firm increased five-fold.

I founded Silverlight in late-2016 with a simple ethos. Our firm exists to brighten lives. We do this by innovating financial solutions, communicating well, and helping clients save and invest time.