Chief Investment Officer and Lead Portfolio Manager

David Iben is the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Kopernik Global All-Cap and Global Unconstrained strategies, and the Co-Portfolio Manager of the Kopernik International and Global Long-Term Opportunities strategies. He is the Chief Investment Officer, Managing Member, Founder, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of Kopernik Global Investors.

Prior to founding Kopernik, Dave managed the $2.7 billion Global Value Long/Short Equity portfolio at Vinik Asset Management from July 2012 through March 2013, where he was a director and head of the Global Value team. Prior to this, Dave was co-founder, CIO, co-president, and lead portfolio manager of Tradewinds Global Investors, LLC, a $38 billion (at February 2012) investment firm. He sole-managed equity portfolios for Tradewinds (inclusive of its two predecessor firms) from October 1998 through February 2012. He was the portfolio manager for the firm’s Global All-Cap strategy, North American All-Cap strategy, and Global Long/Short strategy, directly managing more than $20 billion assets at the time of his departure. His long-term performance has led to several awards for top performance in global equity fund management. Notably, Dave was awarded the 2023 Fund Manager Lifetime Achievement Award at the London Value Investor Conference, as voted by Investor Digest subscribers*.

Dave was previously CEO, lead portfolio manager and founding member of Palladian Capital Management, and senior portfolio manager at Cramblit & Carney. He began his career with Farmers Group, Inc. where over the course of 14 years, he worked his way up from securities analyst/trader to portfolio manager and eventually to director of research and lead portfolio manager for both equity and fixed income strategies. At the time of his departure in 1996, Dave was acting as Farmers’ chief investment officer responsible for $16 billion of investable assets. Dave earned his bachelor’s degree from University of California, Davis, and his MBA from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

Since 2024, Dave chairs the Board of Advisors for the USC Marshall School Center for Investment Studies. As Board Chair, Dave advises the Center Director by providing strategic insights and direction to help guide the Center’s mission of advancing investment knowledge and experiential learning through academic research, student education, and industry engagement.

*Non-client endorsement. Value Investor Digest is not affiliated with Kopernik Global Investors, LLC.