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OCSF to Host Dennis Tito Nov. 3
Philanthropist and civic leader Dennis Tito, who in 2001 became the world’s first “space tourist” when he flew aboard a Russian Soyuz taxi mission to the International Space Station, will be the featured speaker at the Nov. 3 Occidental College Speakers Forum at the Westin Century Plaza.
An 11:30 a.m. reception will precede the noon luncheon. The Westin Century Plaza is located at 2025 Avenue of the Stars in Los Angeles.
Tickets for the luncheon are $25 per person ($15 for Oxy GOLD members). For reservations or additional information, contact Kimberly Uribe at (323) 259-2607 or kuribe@oxy.edu.
Tito paid $20 million to blast off with Soyuz TM-32 on April 28, 2001. He spent nearly eight days in orbit, fulfilling a 40-year dream to travel to space. Tito began his career as an aerospace engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory when he was 23. While at JPL, he was responsible for designing the trajectories for the Mariner spacecraft missions to Mars and Venus. Although he left to pursue a career in investment management, Tito has remained interested and committed to the exploration of space.
Now chief executive officer of Wilshire Associates, a leading provider of investment management, consulting and technology services, Tito and his team of 250 colleagues use mathematical formulas to advise a wide variety of institutional and high net worth investors worldwide. Founded in 1972, Wilshire advises on about $1 trillion in assets, directly manages about $10 billion in assets, and provides analytical tools to some 350 institutions.
Employing the same methodology he used to determine a spacecraft’s path, Tito is credited with helping to develop the field of quantitative analytics that uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. In 1974, Tito developed the Wilshire Total Market Index (The Wilshire 5000), the broadest stock market index that Federal Reserve officials cite as a barometer of the U.S. economy.
Tito supports and is actively involved in many charitable and civic causes, including establishing the Dennis A. Tito Gene-Nutrient Interaction Laboratory at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. He formerly served as president of commissioners for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.