At the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference, Mario Therrien, Head of Investment Funds and External Management at CDPQ, introduced David Einhorn, President of Greenlight Capital, in a candid fireside chat. Drawing on a career shaped by disciplined value investing and a pragmatic approach to markets, Einhorn shared insights on his unexpected path into investing, the evolving nature of market inefficiencies, and how poker has influenced his thinking about risk and uncertainty.

Mario Therrien

• Background: Mario Therrien co-hosted the first Sohn Montreal Conference. He leads alternative strategies and external management, holds advanced finance degrees, is a CFA Charterholder, and has chaired the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.
• Firm Focus: CDPQ (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) deploys constructive capital across private equity, public equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real estate, aiming to create growth opportunities and position enterprises for long-term success.
• Time at Firm: Mario Therrien has been with CDPQ since 1993, starting as an Analyst and progressing through various leadership roles to his current position.

David Einhorn

• Background: David Einhorn studied government at Cornell and initially had no specific career plan. After being rejected from graduate programs for economics, he turned to Wall Street through on-campus recruiting, choosing a job based on liking the interviewers. He plays poker for relaxation and sees parallels with investing in managing information, observing behavior, and dealing with uncertainty. He is known as a disciplined value investor, though his practice has had to adapt to a narrative-driven market. He has warned about speculative excess and made iconic short calls, though he now shorts based on fundamentals privately. After the 2008 crisis, he learned to incorporate macro views more directly into his investment process. He has been bullish on gold for 17 years as a hedge against U.S. fiscal and monetary policy risks. He co-founded Greenlight, starting with less than $1 million.
• Firm Focus: Greenlight Capital is described as a value investor, currently finding opportunities mostly in Europe.
• Time at Firm: David Einhorn co-founded Greenlight Capital in January 1996 and serves as its President.

2025 Sohn Montreal Conference - CDPQ's Mario Therrien & Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn

Q: Can you tell us about your academic background and career plan after graduation?

A: I studied government at Cornell and had no specific career plan. I’m not a planner by nature,I’ve always just focused on the task at hand and trusted that good things would come from doing that well. I initially wanted to pursue a PhD in economics after interning with economists but didn’t take enough relevant courses. After being rejected from all graduate programs, I turned to on-campus recruiting, which led me to Wall Street. I chose a job based on liking the people I interviewed with, clearly showing how little I knew at the time.