The Yale School of Management on Tuesday announced it is establishing the Swensen Asset Management Institute, named in honor of the late David Swensen, who served for years as Yale’s chief investment officer.
Swensen died in 2021 following a battle with cancer. Swensen assumed management of the Yale endowment in 1985, and he handled it for 35 years. During his tenure, the endowment generated $36 billion in added value relative to a benchmark portfolio, according to Yale.
The new institute is being created with the help of a $20 million gift from an anonymous donor, according to Yale.
The institute will have programming aimed at enhancing the practice of asset management. Plans are for the creation of an endowment fund to support its activities, and additional scholarship funds to provide financial aid to students pursuing advanced degrees in asset management. The gift will also enable the creation of a new endowed professorship. The institute will also be involved in asset management-related scholarly inquiry and professional engagement.
Yale President Peter Salovey called Swensen a “visionary leader” and credited him with both transforming the way Yale managed its endowment and changing the field of institutional investing.
“The Swensen Institute, created and named in his honor, will ensure future generations of leaders and investors can follow his example of outstanding investment performance, rigorous ethics, and open-hearted generosity,” Salovey said, in an announcement.
Meghan McMahon, Swensen’s widow, said, “The students in this master’s program represent all that David had hoped for as he worked to create both the program and the curriculum. David was firmly committed to increasing opportunities in the financial sector for women, underrepresented groups, and first-generation students.”
Tobias J. Moskowitz will serve as the new institute’s inaugural director. He joined the Yale School of Management faculty in 2015, and collaborated with Swensen to launch its master’s degree in asset management.
“The new Swensen Asset Management Institute will enhance the school’s existing asset management efforts—from curricular offerings to research to professional connections,” Moskowitz said. “Our programs will leverage the expertise of faculty from across Yale as well as a network of investment practitioners to put the school on the cutting edge of the technical side of investing while also ensuring investment decisions benefit a wide range of stakeholders.”
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