How Dan Chung Rebuilt Fred Alger Management After 9/11 Losses
Fred Alger Management lost 35 employees on 9/11. CEO Dan Chung survived by chance and led the firm's remarkable comeback.
Most people in finance have a story about a market crash that tested them. Dan Chung's story is something else entirely. As CEO and chief investment officer of Fred Alger Management, Chung survived the September 11, 2001 attacks by sheer chance — and then faced the unimaginable task of rebuilding a firm that had just lost 35 of its people.
That kind of loss doesn't just hollow out a company's headcount. It guts its institutional knowledge, its culture, and the trust clients place in a team they've known for years. Stepping into that wreckage and deciding to push forward rather than fold takes a particular kind of resolve — and apparently, a clear-eyed belief that the firm still had something worth saving.
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Decades later, Chung is still in the chair, still picking stocks, and still finding what he believes are the market's next winners. That kind of longevity in active asset management — an industry where careers can evaporate with a few bad quarters — says something about both his conviction and his track record since reconstruction.
For individual investors, the Alger story is a reminder that the firms managing your money aren't just spreadsheets and algorithms. They're built by people navigating real-world pressures that go well beyond quarterly earnings beats. Understanding who's at the helm, and what they've weathered, is worth more than most fund-fact sheets will ever tell you.
Continue reading at US Top News and Analysis for the full interview with Dan Chung on his investment philosophy and how Alger Management operates today.
