Episode summary
A Power Couple Talks Private Markets, Quarterly Earnings, and More | At Barron's
At Barron's
· · Hosts: Andy Serwer · Guests: Amy Falls, Hartley Rogers
Summary
Northwestern University CIO Amy Falls and Hamilton Lane executive co-chairman Hartley Rogers argued that private markets remain central to long-term investing, but the asset class is changing as liquidity, secondaries, and retail access expand. Falls said Northwestern’s roughly $15 billion endowment keeps about half its assets in private markets and still favors private equity and venture capital for earnings growth, though she is watching liquidity and may edge exposure down slightly. Rogers said Hamilton Lane, with about $140 billion in assets under management, is increasingly building evergreen funds around secondaries, co-investments, and private credit to meet demand from wealth and retail clients.
Both were cautious on public markets. Falls said valuations look rich, especially with a narrow market led by the Mag 7, and she sees a disconnect between fully priced equities and weak IPO activity. She also called the macro backdrop hard to forecast, with tame inflation but uncertain AI effects and signs of labor-market softening. On quarterly reporting, she was intrigued by President Trump’s idea but preferred more transparency over less.
They also discussed higher education, philanthropy, and the social case for broader capital-market participation. Falls said universities face more varied operating realities and that education alone is not enough without housing, nutrition, and stability. Rogers said Hamilton Lane competes by focusing on the middle market, where he thinks alpha is more accessible than in the largest buyouts.
Key takeaways
- Falls said Northwestern’s endowment is about $15 billion and has roughly half its assets in private markets, with only a slight trim under consideration.
- Rogers said Hamilton Lane has about $140 billion in AUM and invests $25 billion to $30 billion annually into newly raised private markets funds.
- Falls expects public markets to stay challenging because valuations look stretched while IPO volume and private-company exits remain weak.
- Rogers said evergreen funds are getting strong deal flow because institutional investors are still constrained by poor distributions from 2020 and 2021.
- Falls is cautious on AI, saying it could reshape employment and create both opportunity and disintermediation.
- Rogers said Hamilton Lane targets the middle market, where he believes returns offer more alpha than the largest private equity deals.
Notable quotes
“we are 15 billion in change. Uh we are different in that we provide a lot of budget support”
“Private assets are about half of the assets of the endowment. There's a lot of questions about liquidity though these days”
“if you really want to access alpha in the asset class, you want to get into this part of that middle market area”
How the episode opens
Hello everyone and welcome to At Barrens. I'm Andy Serwarter and welcome to our guests Amy Falls and Hartley Rogers, an accomplished married couple in the world of finance. Amy is the chief investment officer at Northwestern University and on a number of high-profile boards.
and Hartley is the let me make sure I got this right Hartley executive co-chairman at Hamilton Lane which is an alternative investment manager. Welcome to both of you. Thank you.
Thanks. Great to be here. Amy, let's start off with you.
I want to ask you about the Northwestern Endowment and your job there. How big is it and how is it different maybe from other universities or how do you think about running it? So we are 15 billion in change.
Uh we are different in that we provide a lot of budget support but not as much of some as some of our better capitalized peers. So we're about 25% of the budget and Princeton would be 60 5560. There's a wide spectrum.
We're not at the lowest end of the spectrum but for the breadth and importance of the institution I feel we have to run it hard because we we're under capitalized relative to our mission. And Harley, tell us about Hamilton Lane. It's kind of got a really interesting backstory that you were involved in, but give us the sort of thumbnail.
Sure. Uh, Hamilton Lane is a private markets asset manager, which means we work for investors all the way from small individuals to giant pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, helping them to access the private markets. And that means we manage money for some, we advise for some, although managing money is really the core really the core business today.
And what about how much money is over there?
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- private markets
- quarterly earnings
- power couple
- chief investment officer
- investment strategy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Hamilton Lane
Watch the episode
Watch “A Power Couple Talks Private Markets, Quarterly Earnings, and More | At Barron's” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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