He walked away from the stock market, built a network of elite private funds, and created a fortune with no end in sight.

“Swensen is a legend at Yale, and its highest-paid employee. But he’s neither the university president nor the football coach. He’s the money manager who for 34 years has been in charge of the endowment—the multibillion-dollar pool of money, seeded and fed by donations, that comprises Yale’s fortune. It’s largely thanks to Swensen that the university can woo star scholars, that its admissions can be need-blind, its libraries and cafeterias staffed, its sports teams fielded, its grad students stipended, its antique windows tended, and its lawns aerated...

He walked away from the stock market, built a network of elite private funds, and created a fortune with no end in sight.

“Swensen is a legend at Yale, and its highest-paid employee. But he’s neither the university president nor the football coach. He’s the money manager who for 34 years has been in charge of the endowment—the multibillion-dollar pool of money, seeded and fed by donations, that comprises Yale’s fortune. It’s largely thanks to Swensen that the university can woo star scholars, that its admissions can be need-blind, its libraries and cafeterias staffed, its sports teams fielded, its grad students stipended, its antique windows tended, and its lawns aerated...