Letter to David Swensen
A mentor from a past career
Yale’s legendary Chief Investment Officer David Swensen passed away last night. He was a great mind who chose to deploy his skills for non-profit organizations, and who inspired many others to do the same.
After college, I worked in the Yale Investments Office for seven years. This prepared me for my current work in lots of ways. I tried to write some thoughts today, but couldn’t beat a letter I wrote to David a few months after leaving.
There will be many tributes that focus on his transformation of institutional investing. This is my small contribution to memorialize his other virtues, including his deeply held ethical compass, his comfort outside the limelight, and his clear and concise writing style.
Dear David,
I am compelled to express how deeply fortunate I am to have begun my career with you. …
Investment skill is the most obvious area in which I benefited from my time at Yale. As I’ve often said to others, there could be no better start to a financial career than working with you. … I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to learn by doing with you.
Even more important than investment skills have been the cognitive and professional skills that I learned from you and from our colleagues, partners and committee members. I learned to focus on concrete bottom-up analysis that I can understand, and to be comfortable discounting arguments too large or too vague to be meaningful. You and Seth gave me the gift of clear and concise writing, allowing me to express myself on paper. And finally, you, Dean, Alan and the entire office taught me the value of good questions. I got to see that Yale’s success rests not on clairvoyance but on a steady stream of piercingly insightful questions and observations about people, firms and investment strategies. Not every workplace fosters these skills …
The final and most important lesson that I learned from you is one of example, both in ethics and in devoting your considerable talents to the benefit of Yale and other non-profit organizations. You gave me confidence in the need to place ethical behavior first and foremost. …
In an industry that encourages pursuit of enormous paydays, forsaking the prospect of dramatic wealth creation is truly unconventional. Not only did your introduction pave my way to Vanguard, your example helped me to prioritize that path. In our conversation about the campaign to dedicate a Swensen College, you described endowment management as a “back-office function” and said that the decision to name a college for you would be left to future generations. In a world teeming with named buildings, your humility is refreshing and inspiring.
On a lighter note, you and Randy taught me to play Poker – and I came in third out of 20 entrants in the Gaming Club’s first tournament of the year. …
Thank you for letting me study with you these past seven years. With this gift comes responsibility to use it for the greater good. I can hope only to make you proud in that regard.
David’s passing is a loss not only for his family and friends but also for Yale, its community, and the world.
May we all remain inspired by the gifts he gave us.