William A. Ackman is the founder and president of the Managing Member of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., which is a registered investment adviser with hedge fund assets under management in excess of $2.5 billion. The company, pushing for change at Ceridian Corp., sued the business services company to release two letters that may help the hedge fund in a proxy fight. Before setting up Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., Mr. Ackman jointly founded Gotham Partners Management Co., LLC, an investment adviser involved in managing public equity investments. He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Harvard College. 

Mr. William A. Ackman announced his arrival in 1995 when the young investment manager, just three years out of Harvard Business School, turned up as a serious contender with a host of more illustrious bidders when Rockefeller Center went under the hammer. It was in 1993 that he set up Gotham Partners with his Harvard classmate David P. Berkowitz. This money management company soon established its solid grip on the volatile real estate market.

With a rather humble beginning of $3 million in investments, Gotham went on to manage around $500 million for clients including Andrew Farkas of Insignia Financial Group and the billionaire Ziff clan. That their confidence in the fund was not misplaced was proved when they were rewarded with average annual returns of 27%.

Real estate runs in Mr. William A. Ackman’s blood. It is their family profession. His father, Lawrence, is the second generation to run a mortgage brokerage set up more than 70 years ago. The brokerage is now known as Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group. Mr. With a burning ambition of becoming the next Warren Buffet, William A. Ackman, however, decided to follow a different path. Lawrence was not very agreeable to begin with, but later came around to become one of Gotham’s earliest investors. Mr. William A. Ackman considers investing to be an incredibly independent business to be in. ‘‘If I discover some undervalued business, I can pick up the phone and become a meaningful owner, he once said.’’

In the recent past, when he jumped into his first hostile takeover bid to succeed in the real estate investment trust industry, Mr. William A. Ackman claimed control of First Union Real Estate Investments in Cleveland. The manner in which Mr. Ackman fought the tough battle made many more people sit up and take notice. With this, the Harvard Business School alumni made a name for himself in the real estate investment sector. It prompted Mr. William Scully, a First Union investor who is a partner in Apollo Real Estate Advisors to comment, ‘‘Bill is one of the smartest guys I’ve come across.’’