Tom Byrne

Tom Byrne is President of Byrne Asset Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor. He has an extensive background in the financial markets – in asset management, institutional equity sales, and securities law. His firm manages over $90 million for individual and institutional accounts.  Utilizing a disciplined approach to investing that seeks stocks of any category at a reasonable price, he has produced returns more than double those of the S&P 500 Index during this decade.

Byrne serves as an officer and trustee of two endowed non-profit enterprises, and sees things from a client perspective.  He is a former board chair of an independent school in the Princeton area, and serves as treasurer of the $75 million Fund for New Jersey. 

Mr. Byrne joined Lehman Brothers in 1986 as a salesman in the institutional equities area.  In early 1987, he published a book on the relationship between stock index futures and the stock market which stated that “the stock market may well eventually crash” and that stock index futures “might accelerate it”.  In 1988, he served as a member of the Brady Commission staff that reported to President Reagan on the causes of the 1987 stock market crash.  Later that year, working with Lehman’s president and his counterparts at other firms, he played a significant role in designing the trading halt procedures which were implemented by the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago futures exchanges to limit the potential for a similar crash today.  

In 1989, Mr. Byrne began to manage money for Commodities Corporation in Princeton - now a part of Goldman Sachs. In addition to generating double-digit returns in financial futures, he did extensive work on risk management techniques. He soon began to manage money for other private clients.   Byrne entered the securities industry after practicing law for several years at two major New York law firms. 

In 1994, after Governor Florio lost his re-election bid, Mr. Byrne was asked to become Chairman of the Democratic State Committee in New Jersey. He served two successful terms as chairman, during which time the state’s Democratic Party enjoyed a remarkable resurgence.

Tom Byrne is a graduate of Princeton University and Fordham Law School. He is married to Barbara Moakler Byrne, a vice chairman of Lehman Brothers. They have four children and reside in Princeton.