James Williams – Curating The Getty’s Assets (Capital Allocators, EP.50)

<p>Jim Williams is the Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, and Treasurer of the Getty Trust, where he oversees a $7 billion portfolio for the Getty Museum. Before joining the Getty in 2002, Jim spent three years as the President of Harbor Capital Advisors and prior to that, was manager of the Ford Motor Company pension department.</p> <p>Our rich conversation covers all aspects of managing a significant pool of non-profit assets including modeling liquidity, creating a specialist team structure, sourcing managers, discerning between talented managers, co-investing, sizing manager positions, investing in venture capital, viewing hedge funds like a basketball point guard, working with a constructive board, and finding opportunities in the current “least dirty shirt” market.</p> <p>This conversation ranks way up there in the breadth, depth, and quality of discussion. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed speaking to Jim.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Learn More</strong></p> <p>Join Ted's mailing list at <a href= "http://capitalallocatorspodcast.com">CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com</a></p> <p>Write a review on <a href= "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/capital-allocators-with-ted-seides/id1223764016">iTunes</a></p> <p>Follow Ted on twitter at <a href= "http://www.twitter.com/tseides">@tseides</a></p> <p>For more episodes go to <a href= "http://capitalallocatorspodcast.com/podcast">CapitalAllocatorsPodcast.com/Podcast</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Show Notes</strong></p> <p>2:40 – A look at Jim’s background and how he got to the Getty Museum</p> <p>8:23 – A look at the pool of capital at Getty</p> <p>9:47 – How does the high dependence of the endowment on the institution impact asset allocation</p> <p>12:17 -  How do they think about liquidity</p> <p>14:29 – What happens when they find a priceless work of art to acquire</p> <p>17:52 – What beliefs did Jim bring to the table in shaping how Getty allocated capital</p> <p>22:46 – How does Jim think about asset allocation vs manager selection</p> <p>24:17 – Their