Institutional Investor is proud to recognize leaders within the allocator community for their outstanding contributions to portfolio development at the second annual AlphaEdge Recognition Dinner. Prior to the event, we sat down with Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA, recognized in the category of Most Influential Women in Investment Management.
Sarah has traversed the industry, alternating between asset management, investing as an asset owner, and her current role in consulting. After she earned her bachelor’s degree in German and Business from the University of New Hampshire, she spent six years at Wellington Management Company and one year at Boston Advisors. Over the course of six years at Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management, she rose from investment officer to Deputy CIO of the then-$70 billion pension fund; at the same, she pursued her MBA at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, then leaned into the allocator space with two years at Wellesley College Investment Office, managing the school’s $2 billion endowment.
In her current role, she leads the $1.7 trillion consultant’s 45-person investment team and partners with clients in the endowment/foundation, family office, healthcare, corporate, and public fund space. In addition, she is an Advisory Board member of Girls Who Invest, non-profit organization focused on education, industry outreach, and career placement for young women enrolled in or transferring to a four-year U.S. college; founder of Private Equity Women Investor Network in Boston (PEWIN); and chair of the 6000-member CFA Boston Society Board.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the biggest challenge facing the industry today?
The biggest challenge facing the industry is the required shift in mental models to adapt to an environment where cash and fixed income are viable options to invest in the face of inflation. These are things that anyone under 38 has not had to develop a skill set for. There’s a whole swathe of investors who need to re-map how their brains work to build portfolios, and it may change some long-standing assumptions.
The other is, do the map: Model out what the deals are today.
What is the most exciting part of the job that gets you up in the morning?
It’s early-stage investing, as well as lending with the right GP partners, so being a lender with smart underwriting: There’s a lot of interesting things, and valuations are very interesting.
I didn’t know this industry existed. I started out as an admin at Wellington. I thought I’d be a lifer as an admin until I saw a woman who was an admin like me. Jean Hines was very commanding and picked healthcare stocks. I watched how she carried herself and the credentials that she got.
I had some other mentors: One was Michael Even, MassPRIM Board Investment Committee member, and the other was Erinn King then Vice President at Wellington Management Company, currently Chief Strategy Officer at Income Research + Management.
If you were not an allocator, what would you be doing today?
I would be teaching people how to ski out in the west or in Europe.
If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
I wish that people could stay focused on to the capital that we oversee and the responsibilities that we have as stewards of capital and that what makes the world go round, remembering the members whose capital we are managing.
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