Stanford University and CalPERS have teamed up to offer students a one-year program called the Long-Term Investing Fellowship designed to help them explore finance and investment careers at organizations such as public pension funds, university endowments, charitable foundations and sovereign funds.
Ashby H.B. Monk, executive and research director at the Stanford Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing, said he will direct the program, overseeing all aspects of selection and administration.
Noting it is a brand new fellowship, Monk said the purpose of the program is twofold. “First, it will provide CalPERS and public pensions generally with a new and unique pipeline of highly talented candidates for employment,” he said. “Second, it will help to raise awareness among graduating students and recent graduates about this extraordinary world of long-term investing and offer them a new pathway to work for these organizations.”
A spokesperson for the $494.6 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, said the ultimate goal of the program — a fully paid work experience — is to develop the next generation of institutional investors.
Stanford will select and hire candidates in the spring of each year, the CalPERS spokesperson said. “Students will design a project, engage in an intensive apprenticeship at CalPERS, and return to Stanford to present their findings to the next group of incoming fellows,” he added.
The program is open to all graduating university students and recent graduates from around the world, not just Stanford students, Monk said, “This year we’ll admit four students to the fellowship. We are looking for the best fellows we can find, anywhere,” he noted. “The ideal candidate is one with integrity, grit, passion and curiosity.”
Stanford and CalPERS, Monk added, have partnered on this project because both organizations “see it as part of their mission to develop this talent pipeline.”
This program will mark the first partnership between these two organizations. Monk said the success of the program will be measured by how much it grows, “such as the four fellows this year growing to eight next year and 16 the year after that, with other pensions joining CalPERS leadership in this domain.”
By 2034, Monk said, he would love to place 100 of the world's best graduates at pension funds for a year-long fellowship.
