{"podcast":{"title":"Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry","slug":"capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional-investment-industry-222998","podcast_index_feed_id":222998,"rss_url":"https://tedseides.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://capitalallocators.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/f/b/7/6/fb76e1c8bfb69e8dd959afa2a1bf1c87/CA_Square_logo_light_background_6.26.24.jpg","author":"Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert","episode_count":797,"summary":"Allocator and asset management expert, Ted Seides, conducts in-depth interviews with leaders in the institutional investing industry. Guests include Chief Investment Officers from leading allocators, asset managers, strategists, thought leaders, and many more. Our mission is to learn, share, and help implement the process of premier investors. Learn more and join our community at capitalallocators.com.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional-investment-industry-222998"},"episode":{"title":"Bruce MacDonald – The Playbook for Building a Mid-Sized Endowment from Scratch (EP.495)","slug":"bruce-macdonald-the-playbook-for-building-a-mid-sized-endowment-from-scratch-ep-495","published_at":"2026-04-06T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional-investment-industry-222998/bruce-macdonald-the-playbook-for-building-a-mid-sized-endowment-from-scratch-ep-495","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional-investment-industry-222998","url":"https://tedseides.libsyn.com/bruce-macdonald-the-playbook-for-building-a-mid-sized-endowment-from-scratch-ep495","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/tedseides/CA_-_Bruce_MacDonald_-_AUDIO_V1.mp3?dest-id=482814","summary":"Bruce MacDonald is the CEO and CIO of the Virginia Commonwealth University Investment Management Company, which runs $2.5 billion for VCU's endowment and health system. Bruce joined the University in 2015 and shortly thereafter, had the opportunity to sell the portfolio and start fresh. Since being promoted to CIO in 2022, VCU has been a top decile performer with a team of just five investment professionals. Our conversation covers Bruce's unconventional path from a religion major at Wesleyan to fixed income investing at Putnam and endowment roles at Columbia and UVIMCO before arriving at VCU. We discuss the principles of VCU's approach, including building a portfolio around secular tailwinds like India, Vietnam, gold, and artificial intelligence while maintaining abundant liquidity to act countercyclically during market dislocations. We explore VCU's team-based underwriting process, lessons learned from mistakes, and personal influences that have shaped Bruce's investment philosophy. Learn more about our Strategic Investments: Ascension. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant ( ⁠ https://thepodcastconsultant.com ⁠ )","meta_description":"Bruce MacDonald is the CEO and CIO of the Virginia Commonwealth University Investment Management Company, which runs $2.5 billion for VCU's endowment and…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3620,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional-investment-industry-222998/episodes/bruce-macdonald-the-playbook-for-building-a-mid-sized-endowment-from-scratch-ep-495/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/capital-allocators-inside-the-institutional-investment-industry-222998/bruce-macdonald-the-playbook-for-building-a-mid-sized-endowment-from-scratch-ep-495.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}