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MacDonald: Spinning out HMC internal teams to pay 1.5-and-20 was illogical

Lane MacDonald · Lane MacDonald – Teamwork, Alignment, and Investing at the Highest Levels at SCS (EP.483) · Jan 26, 2026 · at 24:56

Lane MacDonald, CIO of SCS Financial and former HMC managing director, criticizes university public backlash against internal compensation that forced top managers into external hedge funds and private equity firms.

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“All these initiatives at Harvard lead to spinning out these firms. You think about Adage, Highfields, Convexity, Charles Bank. Now you go from them being internal paying them that to them being external in paying them one and a half and 20. And pause some of that for beta. That is so illogical from an investment standpoint.”

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