Who: Co-founder and managing director of Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm.

Degree: A.B. ’77, M.B.A. ’83, J.D. ’84

House: Winthrop

Current Residence: Rye, New York

Spotlight: Everyone eyed Silver Lake askance when they announced their intentions to bring Wall Street to Silicon Valley. But Hutchins and the rest of his “amigos” proved breezily that yes, leveraged buyouts do indeed work with the volatile fledgling technology industry—it didn’t hurt, either, that some of their high-profile deals have been worth billions. While his partners bring the hi-tech expertise, Hutchins is the group’s acknowledged financial wizard, with his credentials gained at Thomas H. Lee Co., the Blackstone Group, and the Clinton administration, where he served briefly as health care and economic advisor. Hutchins almost single-handedly saved the $11 billion SunGard Data Systems deal—the second largest LBO ever—when five out of the seven investors wanted to back out at the 11th hour. In the two days before the deadline, he talked three firms into staying and found another two to replace the dropouts. No wonder Business Week thinks he’s “Wall Street’s New Alchemist.”

Friends: Fellow co-founders who complete the “four amigos”: Jim Davidson, formerly of Hambrecht & Quist; Roger McNamee, a Yalie and a venture capitalist of Integral Partners who provided the seed money; and David Roux (A.B. ’78, M.B.A. ’84), a friend from Harvard days and former executive of Lotus and Oracle. Also, David Bonderman (L.L.B. ’66), founder of Texas Pacific Group.

In his own words: No fuzzy math here: “In God we trust. All others bring data.” He also likens private equity investors to aliens: organizing the SunGard deal resembled “the bar scene in the Star Wars movie, with rooms full of a variety of odd and impressive characters.”

What’s in a name: The seven-year-old Silver Lake was named after the main village at Deer Valley Resort, Utah, where the four partners ski together and where Hutchins gave his agreement to join the firm.

Where the money’s at: A glance at Silver Lake’s roster of investors inspires nothing but confidence: the heavyweights include Bill Gates (College class of ’77), Larry Ellison of Oracle, John Doerr (M.B.A. ’76) of Kleiner Perkins, Michael Dell of Dell Computer, and David Stockman of the Blackstone Group.

Open Secrets: In the 2000 campaign, Hutchins stayed true to the tech industry and gave $2000 to the inventor of the Internet. He also donated $4000 each to Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry. Too bad his $23,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2004 didn’t seem to do much good; this year he’s trying again with $26,700.

School Pride: Not only does Hutchins serve on committees at Harvard and the board of trustees at the Lawrenceville School, but he also donated $500,000 to his dad’s old school, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Splitting Image: MyHeritage.com sees in Hutchins Hogwarts’s favorite Transfigurations Professor, Maggie Smith (McGonagall), 62%; Jerry Garcia, 61%; Martin Sheen, 56%; and the dashing, somersaulting Miroslav Klose, 53%.