Rebecca Patterson is a globally recognized investor and macro-economic researcher with more than 25 years’ experience studying how politics and policy intersect with economic trends to drive financial markets. She was most recently chief investment strategist at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. She previously served as Chief Investment Officer at Bessemer Trust, where she oversaw $85 billion in client assets. Patterson currently is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Economic Club of New York, and is Chair of the Board of the Council for Economic Education. She has served on the New York Federal Reserve’s Foreign Exchange and Investor Advisory Committees and served on and chaired the University of Florida’s Investment Corporation Board. She and her husband Robert Frank established a fund at UFCJC to support students who find themselves in financial difficulty due to unexpected circumstances or crises.