[7] After graduating, he worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert, eventually reaching senior vice president in the high yield bond department with responsibility for the new issue/syndicate desk.
[7] In 1990, on the heels of the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert, he co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management with Leon Black, Drexel's managing director, head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, and co-head of the Corporate Finance Department; John Hannan, Drexel's former co-director of international finance; Craig Cogut, a lawyer who worked with Drexel's high-yield division in Los Angeles; Arthur Bilger, the former head of the Drexel's corporate finance department; and Marc Rowan, Josh Harris and Michael Gross, all of whom worked under Black in the mergers and acquisitions department.
[7] In 2005, he belonged to an investment group that made a successful bid led by Mark Attanasio to purchase Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers.
[15][16] To purchase the Hawks, Ressler formed a group that includes former NBA player Grant Hill, Sara Blakely, Jesse Itzler, Steven Price, and Rick Schnall.
Gertz-Ressler High Academy, a member of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, is named after the couple.