Jeffrey Ubben

Jeffrey Ubben
Born	Jeffrey W. Ubben
Nationality	American
Occupation	Investor, fund manager
Known for	Founder of ValueAct Capital, founder of Inclusive Capital Partners

Jeffrey W. Ubben is an American investor and fund manager who founded two prominent investment firms: ValueAct Capital, an activist hedge fund established in 2000, and Inclusive Capital Partners, a fund launched in 2020 with a focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. Over the course of his career, Ubben has been recognized for his approach to shareholder activism, in which he takes significant stakes in publicly traded companies and seeks board representation to influence corporate strategy. His investment philosophy evolved over two decades from traditional activist value investing toward a model that incorporates sustainability and long-term stakeholder considerations. Ubben has served on the boards of several major corporations, including ExxonMobil and The AES Corporation, reflecting his practice of direct engagement with the companies in which he invests.

Career

ValueAct Capital

Jeffrey Ubben founded ValueAct Capital in 2000. The San Francisco-based firm became one of the most prominent activist hedge funds in the United States, managing billions of dollars in assets. ValueAct Capital's strategy centered on acquiring substantial equity positions in publicly traded companies that the firm believed were undervalued, and then working with management and boards of directors to implement changes intended to unlock shareholder value. The firm's approach was often characterized as "constructive activism," in which Ubben and his team sought collaborative relationships with corporate leadership rather than engaging in hostile confrontations. Over nearly two decades at ValueAct, Ubben developed a reputation for taking concentrated positions in a relatively small number of companies and pursuing board seats to directly influence corporate governance and strategic direction.

Ubben led ValueAct Capital through a period of significant growth in the activist investing sector, as institutional investors increasingly embraced shareholder engagement as a tool for driving corporate performance. The firm's portfolio spanned a range of industries, and Ubben personally served on the boards of multiple portfolio companies during his tenure.

Inclusive Capital Partners

In 2020, Ubben departed from ValueAct Capital to establish Inclusive Capital Partners, a new investment firm with a mandate that expanded beyond traditional financial returns to incorporate environmental, social, and governance considerations into its investment strategy. The founding of Inclusive Capital Partners represented a notable shift in Ubben's public investment philosophy, signaling his belief that long-term value creation required attention to sustainability and broader stakeholder interests.

Inclusive Capital Partners was designed to invest in companies where Ubben and his team identified opportunities to improve both financial performance and ESG outcomes. The firm continued Ubben's practice of taking significant stakes in companies and seeking board representation, but with an explicit focus on encouraging transitions toward more sustainable business practices.

Board Service at ExxonMobil

On March 1, 2021, Exxon Mobil Corporation announced that Jeffrey Ubben had joined its board of directors, alongside Michael Angelakis. At the time of the announcement, ExxonMobil noted Ubben's background as the founder of Inclusive Capital Partners and his extensive experience in investment management and corporate governance. Ubben's appointment to the ExxonMobil board came during a period of heightened scrutiny of the energy company's environmental strategy and its response to climate-related investor concerns. His presence on the board was seen as part of the company's effort to demonstrate responsiveness to shareholder demands for greater attention to sustainability and energy transition issues.

Ubben served on the ExxonMobil board for approximately five years. On February 18, 2026, ExxonMobil announced that Ubben would not seek re-election at the company's annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for May 2026. His departure from the board marked the end of a tenure during which ExxonMobil navigated significant debates about the role of fossil fuel companies in addressing climate change and energy transition.

Board Service at AES Corporation

Ubben also served on the board of directors of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), a global energy company. On March 1, 2021—the same date that ExxonMobil announced his appointment to its board—AES announced that Ubben had resigned from its board of directors. The timing of these two announcements suggested that Ubben's departure from the AES board was connected to his new role at ExxonMobil, where he could apply his ESG-oriented investment approach to one of the world's largest energy companies. AES, which had been pursuing a transition toward renewable energy sources, had been one of the companies in which Inclusive Capital Partners held a position.

Investment Activity and Industry Profile

Throughout his career, Ubben has remained a prominent figure in the hedge fund and activist investing communities. As of October 2025, his investment activities and those of Inclusive Capital Partners continued to attract attention from financial media and industry observers, with Ubben mentioned alongside other leading hedge fund managers such as Ken Griffin, Chris Hohn, Bill Ackman, and Scott Bessent in coverage of hedge fund and insider trading news.

Ubben's transition from ValueAct Capital to Inclusive Capital Partners was noted within the investment industry as an example of a broader trend among some prominent investors toward integrating sustainability considerations into traditional investment strategies. His willingness to take board seats at major corporations—including at one of the world's largest oil and gas companies—underscored his hands-on approach to corporate engagement and his belief that direct participation in corporate governance could drive meaningful change in business strategy.

Legacy

Jeffrey Ubben's career has spanned two distinct but related phases of activist investing. At ValueAct Capital, he helped establish a model of constructive shareholder engagement that influenced how institutional investors interacted with the companies in their portfolios. The firm's approach—taking concentrated positions, seeking board seats, and working collaboratively with management—became a template for a generation of activist investors who sought to differentiate themselves from more confrontational predecessors.

The founding of Inclusive Capital Partners in 2020 marked a second chapter in Ubben's career, as he sought to apply activist investing principles to the challenge of corporate sustainability. His appointment to the ExxonMobil board in 2021 placed him at the center of one of the most consequential debates in corporate governance: the question of how fossil fuel companies should respond to climate change and the transition to renewable energy sources. His five-year tenure on the board, ending in May 2026, coincided with a period of significant evolution in ExxonMobil's public positioning on these issues.

Ubben's career trajectory—from traditional activist value investing to ESG-focused engagement—reflected broader shifts in the investment landscape during the 2010s and 2020s, as environmental and social considerations gained increasing prominence among institutional investors, corporations, and regulators.