Volunteer Gardening in the Redondo Beach Unified School District

The CEO of Beryl Capital Management, David Witkin is also a Beryl Heights Elementary School parent who serves on the board of the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) as vice president. In this role, David Witkin has orchestrated a number of well-received initiatives including the college-counselor-led “College Savings Nights” seminars and has successfully guided efforts to pass the ballot Measure K, which allowed funding plans to go forward. 

RBUSD maintains a volunteer-driven community presence and more than 150 people recently turned out to pull weeds, replant seeds, and harvest vegetables across nine campus gardens district wide. The day of volunteer activity was organized in tandem with Beach Cities Health District, which helped launch the Live Well Kids and school gardens programs in a decade ago. 

The long term benefits of the programs, which focus on reading food labels and learning about nutrition, are well documented, with student obesity rates declining from 20 percent to 8 percent over their duration. Among the volunteers who turned out at the gardening day at grade schools were local restaurant workers who created a summer salad using freshly picked basil and zucchini. The effort was described as vital in helping kids visualize the “garden to plate” process and really understand where their food comes from.

What is Merger Arbitrage?

David Witkin, CEO of Beryl Capital Management, is dedicated to serving his community, which he has done recently as a Little League coach. A Harvard graduate, David Witkin wrote his senior thesis on international merger arbitrage.

Arbitrage is the act of simultaneously buying an asset at one location and selling it at another with the goal of making a profit based on the price difference between the two places. Although the price difference can be very small, arbitrageurs, also referred to as arbs, generally trade on a regular basis and in large volume, thus increasing the possible profits.

A merger arbitrageur analyzes the risk associated with the deal not closing on time or not at all. This slight uncertainty can cause the target company's stock to sell at a reduced priced compared to its price once the merger is closed. The arbitrageur's profit lies in this discrepancy. The strategy, however, is not foolproof. It relies on split-second timing and can backfire if changes occur in interest rates, currency exchange rates, prices, or a number of other factors not anticipated by the arbitrageurs.