A few years ago, the business school held a panel on finance and its influence on society. One of the panelists was David Swensen and he shared his distaste for bankers. Let me pick up on Bob’s [Professor Robert Shiller] comment that there’s a...
Read moreDavid Swensen on Divestment at Yale
The Chief Investment Officer wrote a letter to the Yale community last week. In 2014, the Yale Investments Office developed a plan to address climate change risks in the Endowment portfolio. The plan has been implemented through Yale’s external...
Read moreCharley Ellis on the Yale Model
As former member of the Investment Committee at Yale, Charley Ellis shared what distinguishes the school’s model of investing. The selection of managers has long been dominated by detailed assessments of character; the diversified structure...
Read moreYale Endowment Performance 2019
Yale announced their endowment figures last week. Yale’s endowment earned a 5.7% investment return (net of fees) for the year ending June 30, 2019. The endowment value increased from $29.4 billion on June 30, 2018, to $30.3 billion on June 30...
Read moreDavid Swensen on the Ideal Fund Manager
When looking for a peculiar trait in a fund manager, it helps to also have it yourself. Swensen likes to talk about how he looks for money managers who have “a screw loose.” In terms of self-interest, the rational thing to do if you run a hedge...
Read moreDean Takahashi to Leave Yale Endowment
If Warren Buffett could not have built Berkshire without Charlie Munger, the same could be said of David Swensen and Dean Takahashi. Many consider Swensen and Yale to be the greatest CIO and institutional fund in history. Its success has changed...
Read moreDavid Swensen and His Influence at Yale and Beyond
It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The most obvious and knocked-off element of Yale’s strategy is its radical bet on private markets. When Swensen left Wall Street and took over Yale’s endowment in 1985, nearly three...
Read moreDavid Swensen to Teach Future Fund Managers at Yale
Are you a couple of years out of college? Do you want to become a fund manager? There is a new asset management program at Yale that can teach you. The new degree program is being developed in close collaboration with the Yale Investments Office...
Read moreYale CIO David Swensen on Investment Track Records
A couple of years ago, David Swensen was interviewed at the Council on Foreign Relations. Near the end, he was asked about his views on evaluating the character of a new fund manager who is too young to have a track record. You know, the testing...
Read moreYale Endowment on Puerto Rican Debt
How does Yale’s endowment invest in Puerto Rican debt? Yale does not directly invest in Puerto Rican debt; it invests through fund managers and private equity firms. According to Charles Decker GRD ’18, Ward 9 alder and a leader of the Yale...
Read moreYale CIO David Swensen on 3 Basic Tools for Investors
A few years ago David Swensen lectured on the three basic tools that every investor has to manage and grow their portfolio. So, I’d like to talk about how it is that we got from where we were in the mid-80s to where we ended up in the early- to...
Read moreYale Venture Capital Program
“Yale’s venture capital program, one of the first of its kind, is regarded as among the best in the institutional investment community; the University is frequently cited as a role model by other investors. Yale’s venture capital managers...
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