Read it here. Here is Swensen's distillation of the process of money manager selection:
Swensen says his criteria for selecting outside money managers are simple: “The most important thing is character and the quality of people. That’s also the second most important thing and the third most important thing. It’s everything.” Assessing character involves such deep background checks that, says Swensen, “Some of our managers will tease us about having tracked down their high school geometry teacher.”
Such basic research would have protected investors from the convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff, Swensen says: “If you sat down and had a conversation with him about his investment activities and couldn’t figure out that he was being evasive, shame on you.”
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