Oct 25, 2021 · 42m · capital-allocators
Paula Volent – Star Endowment Manager's Next Act at Rockefeller University (Capital Allocators, EP.219)
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of Capital Allocators, host Ted Seides interviews star endowment manager Paula Volent, exploring her journey from fine art conservation to leading Bowdoin College's endowment and her transition to Chief Investment Officer at Rockefeller University. Volent outlines her core investment philosophy, detailing manager selection in venture capital and global macro, disciplined risk management, and the formative lessons learned from mentors David Swensen and Stanley Druckenmiller.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Ted holds 23.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Ted as informed peer 3.9 Guest teaching 4.3 Guest disagreement 0.4 Ted pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is Ted, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:20 Rejecting Swensen's view on macro investing
Paula directly challenges the standard institutional dogma, noting David Swensen warned her that no one can predict interest rates, yet she made global macro a Bowdoin pillar.
Hardest push from Ted ▶ 19:53 Ted presses on modern venture accessibilityTed questions whether Paula's early strategy of building top-tier venture relationships is still realistic in today's crowded market.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:51 Demystifying the Yale modelPaula educates allocators that the Yale model is not an off-the-shelf recipe, explaining that asset allocation must be tailored to an institution's distinct risk profile.
Ted holds their own ▶ 24:27 Ted leverages allocator knowledge on macro selectionTed leverages his knowledge of endowment portfolio construction to drill into how Bowdoin successfully integrated global macro when most peer institutions avoid it.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Ted as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Ted pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From Art Conservation to the Yale Investment Office | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Ted opens with a warm, biographical prompt about their shared history at Yale. Paula shares her unconventional journey from paper conservation to the Yale Investment Office and Bowdoin. | |
| Adapting the Yale Model to Bowdoin College | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Ted asks how Paula adapted David Swensen's tenets at Bowdoin. Paula clarifies that the Yale model is not a transferable recipe and explains how she diverged by leaning into macro investing despite Swensen's skepticism. | |
| Portfolio Construction and Launching Bowdoin's Venture Program | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Ted inquires about Bowdoin's portfolio construction. Paula details building the venture program from zero, cold-calling impossible top-tier venture firms in Silicon Valley. | |
| The Evolution of Venture Capital and Emerging Managers | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Ted probes whether accessing elite venture managers is still feasible today. Paula details how venture has changed, highlighting solo VCs, crypto, and operator talent replacing financial engineering. | |
| Sponsor: Ridgeline | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Ted asks about identifying standout early-stage and macro managers. Paula emphasizes rational underwriting, sourcing networks, and identifying managers with distinct perspectives rather than consensus pitches. | |
| Endowment Sizing Advantages and Global Diligence Practices | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Ted explores how endowment size impacts competitive edge. Paula outlines the advantages of small checks and details rigorous on-the-ground global diligence. | |
| Applying Art Conservation Discipline to Portfolio Risk Management | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Ted asks about the primary drivers of Paula's 20-year record and her move to Rockefeller. Paula articulates how art conservation testing mirrors due diligence and downside risk management. | |
| Opportunities Across European Equities, Crypto, ESG, and Macro | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Ted asks where Paula sees prospective opportunities today and how she runs her team. Paula reviews European equities, carbon credits in macro, and breaking asset class silos. |
Statements from this episode (19)
Volent traded art conservation services for works by Ruscha and Francis
“I worked for Ed Ruscha, Sam Francis, you know, a lot of artists today, and we would do trades because they were broken, I was broken, and they could never pay me. So that turned out to be sort of lucrative later on in life.”
Stanley Druckenmiller chaired Bowdoin's investment committee after leaving Soros
“Amazingly, Stanley Druckenmiller was the chair of the committee at that time. He had just left Soros and was doing Duquesne”
The Yale Model is not a transferable recipe for other endowments
“Well, first of all, I think that the Yale model, quote unquote, is not a recipe that can be transferred. It's different for every organization, so it's more the key tenets of thinking about long-term investing rather than a recipe.”
Institutional venture capital is not worth doing without top-tier manager access
“Also, in some of the cases in some asset classes, for instance, venture capital, unless you had access to the very best managers, it wasn't worth doing at all.”
David Swensen urged Bowdoin to exit global macro, but Volent refused
“And when I first got there, David would look over my shoulder and say, no one can anticipate interest rates. You should get rid of these investments in global macro. However, those have been a signature part of Bowdoin's portfolio.”
Bowdoin's endowment outperformance was driven entirely by manager selection, not allocation
“If you look back on the attribution of our performance over the years, it's all manager selection, and I think asset allocation is important, but as, like, even today, asset allocation gets blurry.”
Bowdoin had zero venture capital allocation when Paula Volent became CIO
“We had no venture capital at Bowdoin when I got there. Zero.”
VC fund distribution cycles have lengthened as funds hold public equities longer
“The length of time until you get all your money back is much longer. They hold Publix longer.”
Volent created an emerging manager fund to secure capacity and lower fees
“So one of the things I did at Bowdoin in the hedge fund was start an emerging managers fund where we didn't take economics, but we would usually get capacity rights, maybe a lower fee, like all that.”
VC funds cannot afford concentrated bets in regulatory-risk sectors like Chinese education
“Lately, I've been thinking a lot about risk management because I've been thinking about China and some of the manager's That we're so overweight in some of the education companies and things like that. You can't really do that in venture capital because it's a…”
Volent prefers investing in venture capital firms raising $250M to $350M
“I really like the venture capital firms that are raising 253 hundred and fifty million.”
Scale impairs performance, giving an advantage to smaller, meaningful portfolio allocations
“Scale doesn't work in many asset classes, and so The ability to invest small amounts of money, but it will make a big impact on the bottom line is important.”
During market crashes, ensure managers remain engaged and take calculated risks
“I always remember like in big drawdowns, like in March after the COVID was starting to happen, the March drawdown, you want to make sure your manager is sitting back up on their chair and looking at their screen rather than under their desk, and so I'm always …”
Rockefeller University's tuition-free, 35-student structure creates a unique endowment risk profile
“We only have 35 students, no tuition, not a lot of gifts, a completely different risk profile. So it's not really like a university portfolio.”
In 2021, venture capital funds returned to market faster than ever
“I've never seen funds come back to market so fast in my whole career, and so you're always doing these re-ups, where before you had a lot of time to do the due diligence and think about it.”
One of Volent's macro managers is generating strong returns trading carbon credits
“One of our managers is making good money by trading carbon credits, so that's a really interesting area.”
Volent predicts endowments will eventually face mandatory carbon footprint financial disclosures
“But I do think as time goes on, endowments are gonna have to be more transparent in their financial statements about what their carbon footprints are, so that's something I'm interested in.”
Siloed investment committees risk paying fees for canceling overlapping long-short positions
“When I first came to Bowdoin, they had asset class committees. So they had a hedge fund committee, a core equity, private equity. And it was interesting because there were overlaps, but they're also like on the long, short funnel. Say they're a short Tesla, wh…”
Re-upping into a troubled manager's subsequent fund is never a good idea
“The biggest mistake is not reading legal documents, but the other one is sort of thinking I can give a manager where I have a really bad feeling, and something is happening, or a person left one more chance and re-up to their next fund, thinking I'll squeeze o…”