2023 Downtown Reception

Barnes Hauptfuhrer OPC '72 was a Scholar-Athlete during his time at Penn Charter. He was a starter on the 1972 basketball team, often cited as one of the best basketball teams in PC history.
 
Following Penn Charter, Barnes went to Princeton and won the William Winston Roper Award in 1976. He started on the Princeton varsity basketball team for three years, including in 1975 when Princeton won the NIT Championship. As a senior, Barnes won both the William Winston Roper Award and the B.F. Bunn Trophy, collectively honoring his academic, athletic and sportsmanship achievements there. He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1976 NBA draft, but chose to get a JD/MBA degree and pursue a career in finance.
 
Barnes began his finance career in 1981 on Wall Street as an investment banker. After 7 years, he departed for Charlotte, NC where he started First Union Capital Partners, a private equity business, which he led from 1988-1998. He then served as Co-Head of Wachovia’s Corporate & Investment Bank from 1999-2004, before departing to start and manage a hedge fund (Chapter IV Investors) eventually, retiring in 2018.
 
Reflecting the value that OPC places on community, Barnes has given back to Charlotte via his former Chairmanship of the Foundation for the Carolinas, the 6th largest community foundation in the U.S., and as a former Chair of the Board of Trustees for Charlotte’s YMCA. 
 
In 2021, Barnes authored "Teamball," a book which focuses on the importance of leadership and teamwork to drive success in all aspects of life.