Dean Dakolias

'89; CO-CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP

Dean Dakolias ’89 is the Co-Chief Investment Officer of the Fortress Credit Funds business investing a broad array of asset classes on a global basis. Mr. Dakolias also serves on Fortress’s Management and Operating Committees. The firm manages over $50 billion in assets.  Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Dakolias was a co-founder and Managing Director of American Commercial Capital LLC (a specialty finance company) and Coronado Advisors (an SEC registered broker dealer), both of which were sold to Wells Fargo & Co. in 2001. Dakolias was previously a director at RER Financial Group where he was responsible for the firm's acquisition efforts as a principal and as a provider of third-party due diligence and asset management. 

Mr. Dakolias serves on the Board of Trustees for Columbia University and as a member of the Columbia Engineering Board of Visitors. He is treasurer for the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the largest and oldest (founded 1881) research center providing graduate students and scholars from affiliated North American academic institutions a base for the advance study of all aspects of Greek Culture, from antiquity to present day.  Mr. Dakolias also serves as a Board Member of Endeavor Greece which invests in the economic renewal of Greece through entrepreneurship and economic development.  A particular focus for Mr. Dakolias is the plight of refugees arriving in Greece, particularly unaccompanied minors, women at-risk and survivors of torture. Together with the international law firm Reed Smith LLP, Mr. Dakolias is working to create a new paradigm for refugee resettlement through Lamp Lifeboat Ladder - an innovative effort to build private partnerships to protect refugees who are survivors of torture and help them to resettle in safe countries where they may rebuild their lives. Mr. Dakolias is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as a co-founder of The Hellenic Initiative.  Mr. Dakolias received a B.S. in Physics from Columbia University and was a member of the Columbia Lightweight Crew team for 4 years.  He currently serves on Columbia's Athletic Leadership Committee, as well.