Our Principals

Jeff Hood

Along with Joel Stevens, Jeff Hood serves as a principal of Austin Value Capital. Prior to forming Austin Value Capital in June 2013, he successfully managed the equity investments in his personal account for many years according to value-based principles. Mr. Hood's prior equity investment experience has involved considerable study and application of the value-based tenets of many of the great investors, including Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, Charles T. Munger, Philip Fisher, and Howard Marks, among others. Mr. Hood also has a broad array of experience in various real estate investments, including the ownership and management of a number of multi-family apartment complexes in the Austin area, ownership and management of a large farm and ranch operation in southeast Texas, investment in residential land development, and ownership and management of timber property in Washington state. Mr. Hood focuses primarily on identification and analysis of investment opportunities, using both fundamental analysis and an understanding of market/investor psychology as guides for underlying value.

Mr. Hood is currently a Director of the law firm of Kowert, Hood, Munyon, Rankin, & Goetzel (KHMRG), an intellectual property law firm based in Austin, Texas. His law practice is primarily focused on the procurement of patents for various clients, and also includes counseling clients regarding various aspects of intellectual property protection, including patent enforcement counseling as well as infringement and validity analysis. Prior to founding MHKKG, Mr. Hood was a shareholder of the law firms of Conley Rose and Gambrell, Wilson & Hamilton.

Mr. Hood received his Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) and his Master's of Electrical Engineering (MEE) from Rice University in 1988 and 1989, respectively. Mr. Hood attended Rice on a football scholarship and played throughout his college career, starting his last 2 years as an outside linebacker. He earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center in December 1992.

Joel Stevens

Along with Jeff Hood, Joel Stevens serves as a principal of Austin Value Capital. Prior to forming Austin Value Capital in June 2013, he successfully managed his personal investments according to the principles of Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher, and Howard Marks. Mr. Stevens focuses primarily on risk management and in-depth analysis of current and potential investments.

Additionally, Mr. Stevens works in the intellectual property field at KHMRG, where he counsels clients regarding patent procurement, portfolio management, and patent acquisition in a number of diverse industries. In that capacity, Mr. Stevens assists his clients in obtaining patent protection on various technologies, including areas such as computer architecture, wireless communications, and computer automation, among others. Notably, for the last several years, Mr. Stevens has managed a team of patent attorneys and agents in maximizing the value of a multi-billion dollar patent portfolio.

Mr. Stevens received his Bachelor's of Science degree in Chemistry from Rice University, graduating magna cum laude. He has authored or co-authored publications in the fields of biochemistry (DNA Computation), nanotechnology (functionalization of fluoronanotubes, also covered in U.S. Patent Number 7,452,519), and organic chemistry (synthesis of heliquinomycin and lactonamycin). Mr. Stevens has also worked on the computationally complex problems involved in protein folding with Professor Cecilia Clementi at Rice University. Additionally, he has been involved in numerous web-based startup companies and also has experience in the area of Information Technology, including work for Sigma-Genosys and BioTX Automations.