Andre Hakkak Net Worth 2026: White Oak’s Credit Empire

Andre Hakkak is the co-founder and chief executive of White Oak Global Advisors, a private-credit firm that manages more than $10 billion for institutional investors. No major wealth tracker — not Forbes, Bloomberg, or Celebrity Net Worth — publishes a figure for him, but the named estimates that do exist cluster between $200 million and $400 million. His fortune sits in an illiquid private-firm stake that no outsider can price precisely.

Hakkak’s defining achievement is timing. He launched White Oak in 2007, just before the financial crisis, to lend to mid-sized companies that banks were abandoning. As banks retreated from middle-market lending after 2008, private credit boomed — and White Oak grew with it. He is still running the firm: in June 2026 he was quoted as CEO and co-founder in the announcement of a $192 million credit facility his affiliate closed for Royal Cup Coffee and Tea.

Net Worth at a Glance

How a Private-Credit Founder Gets Paid

White Oak is a private-credit firm. Instead of taking deposits like a bank, it raises money from pension funds and insurers and lends it to mid-sized companies that fall between bank lending and bond markets. The $10 billion-plus it reports is assets under management — other people’s money that the firm invests for a fee.

Hakkak’s personal wealth comes from three streams off that machine. First, management fees: private-credit firms typically charge annual fees of around 1–2% of the assets they manage, and as a co-founder Hakkak owns a share of that fee income. Second, carried interest — the industry’s performance bonus, usually about 20% of profits above an agreed minimum return. When White Oak’s loans perform well, a slice of the upside flows to the firm’s owners. Third, the equity stake itself: owning part of a firm managing $10 billion-plus is an asset that grows more valuable as the firm grows, even before any sale.

This is why “$10 billion in AUM” does not make him a billionaire. AUM is client money the firm manages; his wealth is his slice of the fees, the profit share, and the firm’s own value. It is the same valuation puzzle trackers face with any private-company founder.

The Legal Record: What Is Decided and What Is Only Alleged

Any honest account of Hakkak’s money has to include the courtroom record — because lawsuits have moved real money in and out of his firm. The discipline that matters: separate what courts have decided from what is merely alleged.

Decided: the pension case. The New York State Nurses Association Pension Plan accused White Oak of breaching its fiduciary duties under ERISA — the US law protecting pension money — through conflicted transactions. An arbitrator ordered the firm to return more than $96 million to the pension plan and give up management fees earned during the misconduct. In 2022, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld the award. That was firm money, not Hakkak’s personal money — but it came directly out of the fee income his fortune is built on. A separate July 2022 civil suit named Hakkak personally alongside another co-founder over the same ERISA issues, according to his BrokerCheck record as reported by Kurta Law Firm.

Alleged: the healthcare dispute. Isaac Soleimani, the former CEO of White Oak Healthcare, sued Hakkak personally and other White Oak principals in Delaware’s Court of Chancery (case C.A. No. 2023-0948-LWW). In May 2024 the court confirmed Soleimani as manager of the White Oak healthcare entities pending further order, per the published opinion on Justia. The underlying claims remain unproven.

Alleged: the $1 billion malpractice suit. White Oak expanded a $1 billion legal-malpractice lawsuit — first filed against King & Spalding — to include the merged firm HSF Kramer, accusing the lawyers of working against White Oak’s interests in its healthcare business, per JDJournal and Bloomberg Law reporting from September 2026. Note the direction: here White Oak is the plaintiff, seeking damages. Both law firms dispute the claims, and nothing has been proven.

The net effect: the pension case was a genuine nine-figure hit to firm income, and the rest is unresolved. No criminal fraud charges against Hakkak surfaced in credible reporting.

The Career Before White Oak

Hakkak was born in Tehran and moved to the United States as a child, according to biographical profiles. He studied finance and marketing at UC Berkeley and earned a master’s in finance from the University of Chicago. Early in his career he worked in credit and investment roles, including a stint at American Capital in the late 1990s, where profiles say he built his deal-making experience.

Before White Oak, he founded Alpine Global, an investment firm focused on alternative fixed income and real estate, where he served as chief investment officer, and co-founded Suisse Global Investments. In 2007 he co-founded White Oak Global Advisors to lend to small and mid-sized businesses. The timing proved lucrative: as banks retreated from middle-market lending after the 2008 crisis, private credit boomed.

His wife is Marissa Shipman, the founder and CEO of the beauty brand theBalm. Through the Hakkak Family Foundation, the couple supports education and healthcare initiatives.

Net Worth Over the Years

No credible net-worth-over-time series exists for Hakkak — the published figures only go back a couple of years. A table of yearly figures would be invented, so none is shown here. What the record does show is direction: the firm’s assets under management grew steadily from its 2007 founding through the post-2008 private-credit boom, and the named estimates ($200 million in 2025 profiles, up to a projected $400 million) reflect that growth. Anyone presenting a precise year-by-year fortune is guessing.

How the Estimate Is Built

Here is what the named sources actually say. JustBiography (2025) and Paperblog (2025) each put him at $200 million. TechBehindIt gives $200 million. The Tradable (2025) estimates about $100 million. WEEX projected roughly $400 million. Mirror Review gives around $10 million, and one oddly precise page claims about $28 million.

The $200–$400 million band is the defensible range because it is where the independent, method-showing profiles cluster — and because it matches the economics: a co-founder’s slice of a $10-billion-AUM private-credit firm, after the pension case took a nine-figure bite out of fee income. The $10 billion figure that sometimes appears beside his name is the firm’s assets under management, not his wealth. Forbes and Bloomberg have never published an estimate for him.

Personal Life and Philanthropy

Hakkak’s wife is Marissa Shipman, the founder and CEO of the beauty brand theBalm, known for its cruelty-free cosmetics. The couple married in 2015 after meeting at a tech convention in 2012, according to biographical profiles, and they have two children.

Through the Hakkak Family Foundation, they support education and healthcare initiatives. Profiles also note their involvement with charitable organizations including the nonprofit Project Glimmer. It is the standard profile of a finance fortune at this level: the money is private, the giving is public.

FAQs

Is Andre Hakkak a billionaire?
No credible source puts him above $1 billion. The confusion comes from his firm’s $10 billion-plus in assets under management — client money the firm manages, not his personal wealth.

Did Hakkak personally pay the $96 million pension penalty?
No. The arbitration award and the federal court order were against White Oak Global Advisors, the firm — not against Hakkak personally. It did, however, reduce the fee income his fortune depends on.