E302: Legendary CIO Larry Kochard On Where Alpha is Today

What actually creates sustainable alpha in endowment portfolios and why do most investors mistake activity for edge? In this episode, I talk with Larry Kochard about building investment programs that endure across cycles. Drawing on his experience as CIO at Georgetown and the University of Virginia and later at Makena Capital, Larry explains why preparation before crises matters more than heroics during them, how governance and stakeholder buy-in reduce behavioral mistakes, and where real alpha still exists in increasingly efficient markets. We unpack liquidity discipline, rebalancing under stress, manager sizing, and why “people are upstream of everything.”