Meet Oliver Haarmann: A Multifaceted Financier, Generous Philanthropist, and Potential Love Interest for Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon and financier Oliver Haarmann were spotted in New York City on Thursday, September 4, for an Assouline opening event that also hosted guests like Roger Federer and Anna Wintour. The outing, according to multiple celebrity news and gossip websites, was the pair’s second one together in just over a month.
The duo, according to People, was previously photographed in the Big Apple on July 30, where they dined at L’Artusi in the West Village neighborhood. So, is it safe to say that they are dating? Well, according to intel from sources of the earlier-mentioned publication, the Big Little Lies actress and the financier could be casually seeing each other.
On the note of Reese Witherspoon’s readiness to welcome a new partner after her 2023 divorce from Jim Toth, here is a succinct overview of the individual who has rekindled the Hollywood star’s emotions.
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Haarmann, according to his LinkedIn profile, is a Brown University and Harvard University graduate, the latter of which he earned his Master’s in Business Administration. The financier started his career at the London-based global investment firm KKR before leaving to establish Searchlight Capital Partners, a private equity firm, in 2010. He has continued his role as a partner at the company, according to his bio on their website.
Haarmann, according to a 2023 report by Sportico, is also a minority stakeholder in the NHL’s New York Islanders.
As for his personal life, Haarmann was previously married, just like Witherspoon. He and his ex-wife, Mala Gaonkar, according to People, share two children. Gaonkar, for her part, is a successful financier who started her own hedge fund, SurgoCap Partners, in 2022. She, too, like her ex-husband, earned her MBA from Harvard. Gaonkar is also a writer and reportedly collaborated with musician David Byrne to write a theater performance in 2016. The two attended the 2023 Oscar Awards together.
Back to Haarmann: besides being a sports team owner and a financier, he is also a philanthropist. How demure of him! Haarmann founded a charity called Surgo Foundation alongside his ex-wife and their family friend Sema Sgaier, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation veteran. “If you don’t actually listen to people and find out what they really care about, you’re not helping anyone,” he told W Magazine in May 2017 of the charity’s purpose.
So, yeah! That’s pretty much all that we could dig up about Witherspoon’s potential new man. No one should tell the actress though, because we heard she doesn’t want to be the focus. “She’s busy with work and her son,” an insider told People of Witherspoon. “These are her biggest priorities.”
The Legally Blonde star and the Hello Sunshine founder share one child, 11-year-old Tennessee, with Jim Toth. She also shares daughter Ava, 24, and son Deacon, 20, with her first husband, fellow actor Ryan Phillippe.
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