Patrick Bourbon

Meet Patrick Bourbon (M.S. FIN ’00), Derek Tarnow (M.DES. ’12), and Zahra Tashakorinia (M.DES. ’12), the 2016 Outstanding Young Alumnus/Alumna Award recipients.

This award is given to an individual age 40 or younger who has advanced rapidly over the course of his or her career and has displayed significant achievement in the areas of leadership and professional success.

Bourbon is an established investor with more than 20 years of experience. His passion for investments started in his early teens when he visited the Paris stock exchange (now known as Euronext Paris) with his mother. He was fascinated by currency management and knew in the future he would go into finance. In 1999 he relocated to Chicago for a job with Euronext/New York Stock Exchange. He later joined UBS Global Asset Management (previously Brinson Partners), where he spent 10 years. Today, he manages $2 billion in assets as the founder of Bourbon Financial Management, LLC and chief investment officer at ProManage.

Derek Tarnow and Zahra Tashakorinia

Tarnow and Tashakorinia’s careers began in an Institute of Design product workshop. They were challenged to design a product that solves an everyday problem and take it to market using Kickstarter, an online crowdfunding platform. They created an iPhone accessory called TidyTilt and quickly exceeded their $10,000 fundraising goal, raising more than 20 times their initial goal. What started as a class project became a full-time business, and the pair sold their product in more than 80 countries. Through their company, TT Design Labs, they also developed two additional products—the TidyTilt+ and JustMount. TT Design Labs was acquired by Logitech in 2013, and Tarnow and Tashakorinia joined its smart phone team to continue expanding the future of mobile technologies. They have found it rewarding to see their products in people’s hands around the world, and this is part of what drives them to continue designing products that people love to use.

­ The 2016 Alumni Awards luncheon and ceremony will recognize 13 alumni and one civic leader. Help celebrate these extraordinary winners on Friday, April 29 at 11 a.m. in Hermann Hall. Registration is required, and tickets are $50 each.