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Marson Blair Hull, Jr. (born September 3, 1942), commonly known as Blair Hull, is an American businessman and politician, notable for his attempt to win the Democratic Party nomination to serve in the United States Senate from Illinois in 2004.

He is the founder and CEO of the Hull Group, an equity option market making firm that was sold to Goldman Sachs. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Matlock Capital, a family office.

In early media polls leading up to the March 16 2004 primary election Hull enjoyed a substantial lead and widespread name recognition resulting from a well-financed advertisement effort. He spent over $28 million of his personal wealth on the campaign.

When allegations that Hull had abused his ex-wife were reported in the media, Hull's poll numbers dropped and he failed to win the nomination. Illinois State Senator Barack Obama later became the nominee.

Education

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, his MBA from Santa Clara University and graduated from the Harvard OPM Program.

Career

Hull spent 6 years in the Army after graduating University.

In 1980 he worked as a market maker on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) where he successfully continued to apply his valuation techniques, eventually being named one of the CBOE’s first Designated Primary Market Makers.

In 1985, Hull founded Hull Trading Company in Chicago and set up a team qualified in investing, science and mathematics. This multi-disciplinary group designed and implemented innovations that combined trading knowledge technological innovations and quantitative models by using computerized trading to capture thousands of very short-term stock and options mispricings each day while continually calculating portfolio-wide risk on a real-time basis. Hull Trading Company became one of the world’s premier market-making firms and was acquired by Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1999 for $531 million. Shortly thereafter, Blair Hull formed his current company, Matlock Capital.

Personal

A month before the primary elections a news story broke regarding his divorce from his ex-wife. The controversy ended up destroying the Hull campaign. Hull tried to keep the divorce records sealed, but pressure from journalists and his opposing candidates forced him to release them.

The papers claimed that his ex-wife alleged that during a physical fight between them he had threatened to kill her. This led to his arrest for battery, however no charges were ever filed.