Sandra Robertson
The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Sandra Robertson embodies The Steward archetype, leading Oxford University Endowment Management with a clear sense of intergenerational responsibility and institutional purpose. She articulates her primary risk as depleting the real value of gifts donated to the university, framing every investment decision around preserving capital across centuries rather than chasing short-term returns.
“I don't think, to be honest, it's much different from a lot of our peers. I think that's why we all sort of end up in the same groups. We really want people who We think to have what we would call sustainable competitive advantage. And that doesn't mean they're doing the same thing all the time.”
“No, we had to hilariously mainly UK index tracking funds that would only trade on a Thursday if there was enough interest because it was a charity product. So I got so fed up with it that we sold most of them in August and so I'd love to see I was smart, but my god, I was lucky. And in September 2008, we were mainly in cash.”
“So, every university CIOs listen to this, they'll be laughing. So we not only does oxystraate colleges, but as hundreds of separate trusts that have been set up over the years, that actually the Central University doesn't manage. So we have 40 different investors.”
“I think it was growing different types of investments. Great thing about Wellcome was we tried everything, we tried co-investing, direct investing, emerging markets, very emerging markets, markets that never quite merged. We did hedge funds but never really thought of them as an asset class.”
Money Maze Podcast: “Oxford University Endowment Management: Purpose, Strategy and Implementation - Sandra Robertson, CEO & CIO of OUem”
LISTEN AT THE SOURCE ↗THE RECORD IS CHECKABLE