Ex-Harvard Managers Thrive on the Outside

Harvard University has educated more than its fair share of U.S. Presidents and Supreme Court justices. It's also been a launchpad for some of the most successful money managers. Since leaving the world's richest school, a core group of the university's former endowment managers have scaled the top ranks of hedge funds and private equity.

A roster of Boston investment firms run by former employees of Harvard Management Co. oversee more than $43 billion, besting the university's $27.6 billion fund. The Harvard offshoots have stuck together. Four of them—Adage Capital Management, Charlesbank Capital Partners, Convexity Capital Management, and Highfields Capital Management—are in the John Hancock Tower, while Regiment Capital Advisors is just a block away. "It's an economic loss for Harvard but a windfall for all the partners who are building these great businesses and making way more than they would have within the four walls of Harvard Management," says Lawrence E. Golub, the chairman of Golub Capital and a Harvard alum.