James Dinan has an economics degree from University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He started his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, working as an investment banker for two years until 1983. Later he worked in merger arbitrage at Kellner DiLeo & Co. Dinan lost his entire savings on Black Monday in 1987, but he came back in 1991 by founding his own investment management firm, York Capital Management, with $3.6 million.