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Laboy: Hewlett Foundation reduced value manager exposure during the COVID pandemic

Luis Laboy · Senior Decision Makers: Luis Laboy, Hewlett Foundation (EP.512) · Jul 20, 2026 · at 28:02

Luis Laboy, Director of Public Equities at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, explains how the foundation restructured its public equity portfolio during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“We ended up starting to reduce our exposure to, for example, value managers. We thought value would just be a tougher place to be going forward.”

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