GEM was founded in 2007 by now-retired partner Thruston Morton, the former Chief Investment Officer at the Duke University Management Company (DUMAC). He was soon joined by Hugh Wrigley, (also from DUMAC and now retired), and Stephanie Lynch (CIO at The Duke Endowment, the family foundation of James B Duke), who now serves as the firm’s Managing Partner. Bringing principal investing and endowment management experience together, our mission was and remains to make available to other institutional and family office investors the investment management style of the leading endowments.
As a leading Outsourced Chief Investment Office (OCIO), we deliver a sophisticated, endowment-style investment program to investors with a multigenerational horizon. We combine disciplined portfolio management with sound governance and a boutique mindset — integrating with our clients’ organizations as part of their in-house teams.
As client needs have evolved and broadened, we’ve leveraged our multi-asset investing capabilities into tailored solutions for other types of long-term investors. GEM clients access our underwriting process, manager relationships, and integrated partnership via comprehensive OCIO engagements, targeted alternative investments programs, and impact-focused strategies.
We are employee-owned and independent, structurally aligned with our clients’ long-term objectives. No matter the mandate, we look to generate superior risk-adjusted returns over the long term by accessing high-quality investment opportunities, combined with an ethos of partnership built to endure.1
Pioneered by David Swensen and the Yale Investments Office in the mid-‘80s, endowment-style investing is rooted in the belief that perpetual investors have distinct opportunities and advantages relative to traditional investors. Instead of relying solely on conventional asset types in a standard portfolio structure, the leading endowments focus on broad diversification across asset classes, with allocations to alternatives such as private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, and real estate, where skill in differentiated manager selection can generate alpha in less efficient markets.
Our team has extensive experience at leading endowments, private equity firms, hedge funds, and asset managers across the country. GEM’s senior leaders, many of whom were trained as direct investors, operate with a principal mindset. We bring to bear the full weight of our team’s expertise on behalf of each client to ensure exceptional results and partnership.
Strong returns from leading university endowments have reignited discussion about how institutions can sustain performance in a shifting market environment. In commentary for The Wall Street Journal, GEM’s Co-CIO, Matt Bank, reflects on how endowment leaders are preparing for more uncertain conditions ahead.
In a recent Q&A with Buyouts’ Chris Witowsky, GEM’s Caroline Dallas, a Director in our Investment Research Group, shared her perspective on how recent private equity market shifts are influencing talent dynamics, emerging manager activity, and LP appetite across the lower mid-market.
Sourcing and manager selection typically get top billing in conversations around private investments, but one underappreciated aspect of a successful private allocation—explored in our recent whitepaper—is the art of pacing commitments to ensure appropriate portfolio allocation.
Let’s start a conversation about how we can help.
1 Returns are not guaranteed.
