The Network Journal 40 Under Forty Award: Hank Torbert

The Network Journal’s Forty Under Forty Achievement Awards honors men and women under 40 years old whose professional accomplishments have significantly impacted an industry or profession, and who also have made an important contribution to their community.

Hank L. Torbert is executive vice president and chief operating officer at Broadcast Capital Inc. (Broadcap), which provides private equity financing for the acquisition and construction of media properties. He is responsible for investment selection and analysis, investor relations and portfolio management. Among his many accomplishments, he structured, capitalized and launched Blackstar Media, L.P., a new $50 million private equity fund, and he currently manages Broadcap’s portfolio investment in Latin Entertainment Network. At just 34, Torbert has a clear picture of where he wants to be. “Since I was 14, I wanted to do exactly what I am doing now, which is to run a company which held assets,” he says. In preparation, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and two master’s degrees from the same school, in finance and international finance. In his pre-Broadcap experience, he held management positions at JP Morgan Chase Inc. and worked as an associate for the mutual fund New Africa Advisors in North Carolina and South Africa.

Torbert maintains close ties with his family in Ohio. He is the first in his father’s family to graduate from college but recalls the inspiration he derived from his grandmother’s attending college in her fifties. An early mentor, Clement Buenger, the late Cincinnati, Ohio, banker and a founding member of INROADS, played a key role in shaping his professional success, he says.

Though he no longer mentors formally, Torbert is still very involved in helping others. “I come across a lot of entrepreneurs, college and high school kids who need guidance about life or career,” he says. Broadcap itself is committed to helping, and has assisted more than 3,000 minority-owned broadcast properties. “Part of what I do is to help entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams,” Torbert says.

Torbert is happy living his dream, conceived when he was a teenager and realized through hard work and a drive to succeed. “A champ always looks up, even when he is knocked down,” he observes.