JL: For women looking to advance their careers in finance, would you suggest going the way of institutional asset management and seeking CIO roles?
KB: I’d love to see more women in CIO roles, and I’d like to see more women in finance. I tend to see more women on the investor side of institutional asset management than on the general partner side. We don’t see a lot of women in hedge funds or private equity firms. Perhaps our schedules are more regular, but we do travel. Maybe for family considerations, more women chose to work on this side. For me, being a CIO has been a great career path, but I could see women succeeding on either side.
JL: Several schools have moved their endowment offices to major finance centers such as Boston or New York. Any plans to move?
KB: I don’t think we need to. We are willing to travel. There are plenty of managers coming through Columbus to other institutional investors here. Some managers will do a Midwest tour, hitting Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. We have to work a little harder here to get out and see people and talk to people on the phone. I am starting to build out a network with CIOs in Chicago. There’s a real benefit for me to be on campus, and we haven’t had an issue maintaining a strong team here.
JL: What’s it like coming to central Ohio after the Boston area?
KB: Columbus is a wonderful city. I didn’t realize it until we moved here, and I love it. This place has everything that we want except for the ocean. Granville is a lovely town. It’s a little bit like Vermont or New England in the middle of Ohio. The seafood in Boston is great, but we love the steak here.
Lorin is an endowments reporter at Bloomberg News in New York.