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Ryan Israel  

Partner of Pershing Square Capital Management

Ryan Israel is 29 years old and already a partner at Pershing Square Capital Management with five years experience.

Pershing Square is one of the most successful hedge funds on 2014. Nathan Vardi, senior editor at Forbes who profiled Israel, says Pershing is always in the news and is closely followed. Vardi says the fact that Israel has achieved such a large amount of responsibility at Pershing at such a young age is really impressive.

To be more specific, Pershing Square is a roughly $18 billion hedge fund founded by Bill Ackman, a celebrity in his own right, known for fighting with just about everyone on Wall Street.

But that doesn't intimidate Israel, who has developed a strong working relationship with his hotheaded boss that started with a shared passion.

Israel says Ackman is the first person he has ever met who knows more than him about billionaire investor Warren Buffett. The two super fans hit it off because of their mutual love for Buffett.

The UPenn grad played a big role in Pershing Square's hugely successful investment in Burger King, which helped revitalize the fast food chain. Israel still works on the Burger King account and calls it an exciting investment. Burger King recently purchased Tim Horton's, the Canadian coffee and doughnut company.

Besides the Burger King investment, Israel also sits on the board of a publicly traded company called Platform Specialty Products.

To say he has a lot of responsibility at a young age, is an understatement. Israel believes you don't have to be old to be right. And says he learned that from Ackman. When it comes to investing, Israel says it's not what you look at, it's what you see. He attributes that to his idol, Warren Buffett.

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