Tilly Franklin
The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Tilly Franklin emerges in this interview as a quintessential Steward, someone who frames every investment decision through the lens of intergenerational obligation and institutional duty. She repeatedly anchors her thinking in Cambridge's 800-year continuity, arguing that genuine long-term stewardship dissolves the false dichotomy between financial returns and sustainability.
“Maybe although when I started at Alta the portfolio wasn't as established as it was when I left, so in some ways it feels a bit more like going back to the beginning rather than something completely different. But no, I don't think we would put something in the portfolio just to fill a role.”
“In relation to our sustainable investment agenda, also the healthcare industry in China is very innovative, very rapidly developing. So I think the picture is very much more nuanced than we hear about from a sort of high level.”
“That's a really interesting question because one thing that I saw a lot towards the end of my time at Alta was a subset of fund managers actually coming out with much longer duration vehicles.”
“Really wasn't sure what to do. I came back to the UK. I'd actually been studying in the US and I had one of those pivotal moments indeed when I was having coffee with a friend who also recently graduated and was working in consulting. And I said, I really don't know what to do.”
Money Maze Podcast: “Tilly Franklin, CIO Cambridge University Endowment”
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