School Notes: School of Management
January/February 2019

Financial stability program expands

September 2018 marked the tenth anniversary of the onset of the global financial crisis. For the Yale Program on Financial Stability (YPFS), the anniversary was an opportunity to expand its efforts to understand the crisis. Led by Andrew Metrick ’89, ’89MA, the Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management, YPFS was founded to create a base of knowledge that can help societies prepare for the next crisis.

The program’s central project collects information on the interventions carried out by policymakers during past crises to assemble a “wartime” playbook for future interventions. YPFS is also building a repository of material called the Financial Crisis Archives, and is creating a set of resources for anyone interesting in learning about the financial crisis in nontechnical language.

Alumni spread Yale model of endowment management

A select group of Yale SOM alumni are overseeing investments at major nonprofit institutions, extending the successful legacy of the Yale model of endowment management.

In October, Bowdoin College reported that its endowment, led by Paula Volent ’97MBA, had posted a 15.7 percent investment gain in 2017–28—according to Bloomberg—the highest return among US schools with substantial endowments.

Many credit Dean Takahashi ’80, ’83MPPM, and David Swensen ’80PhD for creating the Yale model of endowment management during their leadership of Yale’s investments office. Over a period of 30 years, Swensen, Takahashi, and their colleagues have generated returns of 12.8 percent per annum—a record unequaled among institutional investors.

Other Yale SOM alumni leading endowments at prominent institutions today include: Steve Algert ’90MPPM, managing director and assistant treasurer, J. Paul Getty Trust; Peter Ammon ’05MBA, chief investment officer, Penn Office of Investments; Jenny Chan ’18MBA, chief investment officer, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Lisa Howie ’00, ’08MBA, director, Yale Office of Investments; Dale Kunkel ’98MBA, director of hedge fund strategies, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Elena Sands ’91MPPM, senior investment officer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Michael Shay ’09MBA, director of investments, the Museum of Modern Art; and Ellen Shuman ’84MPPM, founder and managing partner, Edgehill Endowment Partners.