Joel Greenblatt, born on December 13, 1957, is a renowned investor, author, and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979 and a Master of Business Administration degree in 1980. While at Wharton, he co-authored the paper 'How the Small Investor Can Beat the Market' with Rich Pzena and Bruce Newberg, published in The Journal of Portfolio Management. He briefly attended Stanford Law School for one year before leaving to pursue a career in finance. Greenblatt is the founder of Gotham Capital, a value-oriented hedge fund that achieved approximately 50% annualized returns from 1985 to 1995, focusing on junk bonds and high-yield small-cap stocks. He is the author of 'The Little Book That Beats the Market.' Currently, he co-manages Gotham Asset Management with partner Robert Goldstein. Additional roles include former chairman of the board of Alliant Techsystems (1994-1995), founder of the New York Securities Auction Corporation, and director at Pzena Investment Management, a value investing firm.