Scott Richland, Chief Investment Officer at Caltech sits down with David Weisburd to discuss key portfolio secrets inside Caltech’s $4.5B endowment strategy, the importance of strategy discipline in asset management and how direct investments are chosen behind Caltech's opportunistic bucket.
(0:00) Introduction to Caltech's endowment and investment approach
(2:19) Team dynamics and decision-making processes
(4:21) Tax considerations in portfolio optimization
(5:38) Evaluating evergreen fund structures
(7:08) Governance and the investment approval framework
(9:55) Sponsor: Carta
(10:36) Debating conservative investment strategies
(12:51) Leveraging alumni networks for venture capital access
(14:32) Analyzing private equity performance trends
(15:59) The Chief Investment Officer's perspective on macro trends
(18:33) Perspectives on the private credit market
(21:06) Historical financial crisis and current lessons
(24:32) Asset allocation strategies during market downturns
(27:50) Comparing asset allocator and direct investor roles
(30:03) Investment themes and achieving consensus
(32:33) Managerial assessment and capital return considerations
(35:18) Public equities strategy: Index exposure and active management
(37:10) Hedge funds in risk management
(39:15) The CIO's role in filtering market information
(43:34) Leadership principles within investment management
(45:33) Transition to Caltech and adapting to academic culture
(49:10) Conclusion and sponsor acknowledgments
