Kappa Beta Phi, the banking fraternity founded before the 1929 stock-market crash that counts Wall Street’s most senior executives and regulators among its past members, held its annual induction dinner behind closed doors at the landmark New York hotel on January 13. This year’s names included Josh Harris, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management LLC, the buyout firm led by Leon Black, according to two attendees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the society’s activities are secret. Harris, 46, was No 655 on Forbes Magazine’s billionaires list last year.
Joining alongside was Paul Parker, the global head of M&A at Barclays Capital in New York, who previously led M&A in the US for Lehman Brothers Holdings. As always, the neophytes, as the group refers to new members, entertained the assembly, the attendees said.
American International Group Inc CEO Robert Benmosche, 66, a Kappa Beta Phi member who disclosed in October that he was undergoing treatment for cancer, was there.
In 1930, the dinner was beefsteak. This week, the meal featured lobster salad, shrimp, pigs-in-a-blanket, lamb chops and pistachio ice cream.