Alice Schroeder was a managing director at Morgan Stanley and a well-known insurance industry analyst and writer. Warren Buffett first met her when she published research on Berkshire Hathaway; he was so struck by her knowledge and insight that he granted her access to his archives and to himself. Because of their friendship and mutual respect, she is in an great position to write The Snowball. Schroeder was born in Texas and went to the University of Texas at Austin for her undergraduate and MBA degrees before going east to work in finance. She is a former CPA, and she and her husband live in Connecticut.