Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Lane MacDonald – Teamwork, Alignment, and Investing at the Highest Levels at SCS (EP.483)

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Jan 26, 2026

Lane MacDonald, CIO at SCS Financial and former Harvard allocator and U.S. Olympic hockey player, reflects on teamwork and alignment from sport to investing. He discusses domain expertise, picking the right sectors, co-investing mechanics, and building a team-oriented platform. Short, sharp takes on measuring managers, structuring co-invests, and why SCS leans into private markets and alignment.

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ANECDOTE

Hockey Childhood Shaped Work Ethic

Lane MacDonald grew up as a rink rat with a father who played in the NHL and spent childhood skating around pro practices. He learned early that hockey was normal life, not celebrity, which shaped his work ethic and expectations.

ANECDOTE

Choosing Health Over An NHL Contract

Lane was drafted and offered a substantial NHL contract but stopped playing due to repeated concussions and long-term health concerns. He prioritized future quality of life over immediate money and shifted his focus away from pro hockey.

INSIGHT

Domain Expertise Trumps Generalism

Private equity taught Lane the critical importance of deep domain expertise to understand sector-specific economics and risks. Broad sector exposure gave him a foundation of "a little bit about a lot" that later informed allocator work.

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Lane MacDonald is the Chief Investment Officer of SCS Financial, a registered investment adviser and OCIO platform with approximately $46 billion in assets under management. Lane was a U.S. Olympic hockey player and Hobey Baker award winner as the best player in college hockey in the late '80s, but his aspirations of following in his father's footsteps and playing in the NHL were derailed shortly thereafter by injuries. In the decades since, he spent a dozen years in private equity and the last eighteen as an allocator at institutions ranging from the Harvard endowment to the family office for the owners of Fidelity, and now SCS.

Our conversation traces Lane's path from the rink to investing, and from dealmaker to allocator, examining what separates great investors from good ones. We discuss the importance of domain expertise, sector selection, alignment, and identification of a durable edge and structural alpha in increasingly efficient markets. We close with Lane's outlook on private markets and the lessons from hockey, endowments, and family offices that inform the team-oriented platform at SCS.

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All opinions expressed by Ted and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Capital Allocators or their firms. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Capital Allocators or podcast guests may maintain positions and securities discussed on this podcast. All investments include various risks including loss of capital. This recording also contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the participants' current views with respect to certain current and future events. These forward-looking statements are, and will be, subject to many risks, which may cause future events to be materially different from these forward-looking statements, or anything implied therein. Forward-looking statements that reference past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will necessarily continue in the future. Any forward-looking statements in this transcript are based upon information available to the participants on the date of this recording and are not expected to be updated or revised even if experience or future changes.

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