As a business student at the University of Notre Dame, James Parsons was one of the first undergraduates to take a crack at helping manage the institution's endowment through a new finance course, gaining real-world experience in the process.
That experience helped cement Mr. Parsons' choice of a career in money management. And now the founder of Junto Capital Management LP and his wife, Carrie Quinn, herself a Notre Dame alumna, are aiming to pay it forward.
The two recently gave a $20 million personal gift to the University of Notre Dame to endow the school's new Institute for Global Investing within the Mendoza College of Business.
The institute was launched in the spring to further the university's investment management research and educational outreach “on a global scale.”
Mr. Parsons said in an interview “the school hopes to hire more faculty, offer more classes (particularly around alternatives like private equity, hedge funds and real estate), provide resources for additional research and practitioner involvement and expand internships and career placement offerings.”
“I feel like I am a byproduct of the business school and what they've done over the years. There's a connection and a sense of gratitude I have,” said Mr. Parsons, who received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1996. “I wanted to build on their recent momentum and enhance an already strong foundation.”
Mr. Parsons founded Junto Capital in 2014. He was formerly a senior portfolio manager at Viking Global Investors LP.
