Famous for being romantically linked to journalist Hoda Kotb, Joel Schiffman has built a successful career as an American financier and entrepreneur. Before his relationship with the celebrity journalist, he existed anonymously in business meetings and board rooms outside the walls of media attention.
However, that changed after the world learned that the two are an item. Fans of the journalist grew eager to learn all there is to know about the financier and their relationship which has lasted more than seven years and produced two children.
Joel Schiffman And Hoda Kotb Met At A Wall Street Event
In her profession as a TV host, businesses and organizations contract Hoda to give talks at various events. In 2013, thanks to coercion from a friend and executive producer of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, Joanne LaMarca Mathisen, Hoda Kotb reluctantly attended and addressed a Wall Street event.
The speech itself was not memorable but it produced a life-changing moment. After it ended, Kotb signed a few photographs, one of which was presented by Joel, whose comment ‘make it out to me’ drew Hoda’s attention. Intrigued by his statement, Kotb confirmed his relationship status and found he was single. An email exchange occurred afterward and they hit it off from there.
Seeing as Hoda loves sharing her life with her millions of fans, Joel, who has become a significant part of it, is now a public figure.
They Are Both Divorcees
One only needs to go through Hoda’s Instagram page to see that a lot has changed since they became a couple, especially for Joel. At first, they kept their relationship under wraps but eventually let the cat out of the bag after gracing an interview together on The Daily Mail in 2015.
They attend media events together and are often a fixture on the red carpet. These have made Joel a rare exception as a recognizable financier in an industry known for shying away from media attention. Additionally, it has also allowed fans to learn more about him, from his professional to personal life.
Seeing as the two have been in love, it is easy to presume it’s their first serious relationship. However, it is not. Both used to be married – Hoda to former University of New Orleans tennis coach, Burzis Kanga, and Joel to an unknown woman. Hoda’s first marriage ended in 2008 after three years, and Joel’s produced one daughter, Kyle Schiffman.
Joel Schiffman And Hoda Kotb Are Parents To Three Children
When Hoda famously battled breast cancer, she discovered the disease made it impossible for her to bear children. Regardless, the TODAY host always wanted a child, thus, she opted for adoption. After sharing her desire to adopt a child, Joel supported her, and the two set a plan in motion.
On February 21, 2017, she announced the adoption of her first child, Haley Joy Kotb. Two years after, the family grew with the adoption of a second daughter, Hope Catherine Kotb. During the process of adoption, the lovebirds were advised against using the American financier’s last name in the adoption process as it may likely delay the process.
Together with Joel’s daughter from his first marriage, the blended family has been living happily together. In an interview with Closer Weekly, Kyle Schiffman shared her excitement at having little stepsisters. She also mentioned her father’s commitment to raising them, with her approval that he is doing a great job. Kyle is a law student studying in Paris.
Joel And Hoda Got Engaged In November 2019, After Welcoming Their Second Child Together
After they began their relationship in 2013, things developed nicely, in a slow but steady manner. They moved in together in late 2016 and welcomed their first child together in 2017. Months after adopting their second child in 2019, Joel Schiffman proposed to Hoda Kotb during a vacation in Mexico in November 2019.
The financier asked Hoda to marry him in the middle of a meal, after regaling her with a flurry of beautiful words. After their long-expected engagement, the couple went into planning mode for a wedding scheduled for fall in 2020. Unfortunately, 2020’s global pandemic truncated their plans.
Hoda admitted in June 2020 that the couple would postpone their planned destination wedding, and a new date was yet to be determined. However, according to Kotb, the ceremony is nothing but a formality as they are already joined for life.
In the meantime, Hoda hunkers down with the rest of the world, learning more about a man who is just as impressive at being an investment manager as he is at being a life partner and father.
How Joel Schiffman Began His Career At Kidder Peabody
Much of Joel Schiffman’s familial background remains unknown but he attended the University of California, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics between 1976 and 1981.
As a college student, Joel was an outgoing young man. He was part of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and he was a member of the UCLA Rugby team. Three years after graduation, he began his career at Kidder Peabody, a retail investment company based in Los Angeles.
He worked his way up to become Senior Vice President, and according to his LinkedIn, helped transform the company into an institutional consulting practice. About the same year he left Kidder, he expanded his academic and professional qualifications.
Joel Schiffman became a Certified Investment Management Analyst after studying at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In August 1995, he added another qualification as a Certified Investment Management Consultant, from the Investment Management Consultant Association.
He Has Held Prominent Positions In Several Major Investment Companies
After he left Kidder Peabody in 1994, he moved to Denver where he became a Consulting Group Director at Smith Barney, now known as Morgan Stanley. There, he led consultant for endowments & foundations, as well as corporate pension plans and family offices.
He spent nine years in the position before moving to Trail Ridge Capital, LLC, where he served as Principal, Director of Marketing. At Trail, Joel Schiffman’s expertise was deployed at developing sales and marketing strategies for a start-up hedge fund. His time was short, relocating to Los Angeles in September 2005 as Senior Vice President at Reed, Connor & Birdwell.
Between September 2005 and January 2019, Joel worked for other companies like Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC, Columbia Management, and Janus Henderson Investors. He was working at Columbia Management, a New York-based firm as Senior Relationship manager when he met Hoda Kotb and began a longterm relationship with her.
Joel Schiffman currently works at Schroder Investment Management, a Wall Street business he joined in January 2019. He initially worked as Head of US Defined Contribution and Insurance Sales before he became Head of Intermediary Distribution, North America, in January 2020.
Joel Schiffman Is A Multimillionaire
From that brief walk through his resume, you have probably deduced that Joel is a rich man. How rich? Possibly with a net worth of between $15 and $18 million, if online reports are anything to go by. But we know that figure might be far from the mark. Despite his new-found fame as the partner of the Today show star, he still maintains a degree of privacy, especially when it comes to his finances.
Regardless of his estimated worth, a career that has spanned more than two decades, with billions of dollars in play, we would not be surprised if we discover he is worth a lot more than the quoted figure.
