Sashi Menon : From reigning aces to an ace investment banker

Sashi Menon was a famous Indian tennis player in the 80’s. He was part of the Indian Davis Cup team which included the famous Amritraj brothers—Vijay and Anand. Fast forward to the early 2000’s, Sashi hung up his rackets and pursue a fresh innings in investment banking. And just like the pro he was on the tennis circuit, today, he heads Menon/Brown Advisory Group, one of the leading investment advisory firms, based out of California. In the process, he became the first Indian tennis player to make a niche for himself as an international investment banker and stock expert.

It’s interesting to plot the career graph of someone who has played the likes of the legendary Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors to ending up as an ace in stocks and investments.  One of the major reasons was that he had an economics background (he graduated in Economics from Pune University), before basing himself in the US, which was the home of all aspiring tennis players from across the world.

Sashi enrolled himself as a sophomore in the University of Southern California, where along with tennis he pursued a business degree. On the tennis courts, he has some notable wins over the likes of Brian Gottfried (World No 8), Bill Scanlon (World No 15) and Mark Edmondson (former Australian Open champ). More importantly, he was part of the Indian Davis Cup team for more than 16 years.

Once his form declined, Sashi realised the need to have a second innings in some other field. And this is where his Business degree helped as he got calls from investment firms. His journey as a finance expert took off in 1984, when Drexel Burnham employed him in their Beverly Hills office.  From then on there was no looking back for Sashi Menon as he went from strength to strength.

Thereafter, he had successful stints at other investment companies honing the skills of an stockbroker, investment banker, portfolio manager and investment advisor. After changing three companies, Sashi gained confidence and in 2005 he set up his own investment advisory firm Menon/Brown. The company which is based out of San Juan, Capistrano, California. The firm is listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Sashi Menon also has another important achievement apart from his investment firm and tennis. He successfully opened a Bajaj Auto assembly and distribution network for Central America and Caribbean in the early 2000’s.