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David Magerman - Penn donor who chose to break up with his alma mater
Meet David Magerman, a native of South Miami who went on to earn a B.S. from UPenn and a PhD in computer science from Stanford. David is an investor and a philanthropist. In terms of investing, he spent 22 years working at the quantitative hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, which is one of the world’s largest hedge funds with over $100B assets under management. After leaving Renaissance, David founded a venture capital firm called Differential Ventures. Since graduating Penn, David has made it a priority to give back to the institution. He has served on boards and has given over $5M to various initiatives. This strong commitment to the institution formally ended earlier this month when David published an open letter to UPenn’s president, Liz Magill. In the letter, David makes it clear that unlike other outspoken donors, he is not calling for the current president to step-down, instead, he is simply stating he is breaking up with the university. In his interview on CNN with Jim Acosta, when asked why subsequent statements by the university didn’t satisfy him, David responded, “I felt like the reaction they had at first was authentic, it represented who they were and I didn’t think anything they said could change that. Their values aren’t my values.” In this conversation, David and I do a deep dive into the following:
- His relationship to Penn
- What went into his decision to write the letter
- Why he believes Penn is mired in moral relativism
- Why it is critical to know the values of the institutions you support
- His research into the $15-20B of undocumented gifts received by leading institutions like Penn
- The importance of Israel to the Jewish people
- Fun round of quick fire questions where I foolishly ask a kosher person for his favorite place for a Philly cheesesteak
I thank David for making the time to meet with all of us and for being a clear, intelligent and passionate voice during a time when America and the Jewish people need one.--Outro music: The Riders Of Rohan from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers).
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By Tyler GodoffMeet David Magerman, a native of South Miami who went on to earn a B.S. from UPenn and a PhD in computer science from Stanford. David is an investor and a philanthropist. In terms of investing, he spent 22 years working at the quantitative hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, which is one of the world’s largest hedge funds with over $100B assets under management. After leaving Renaissance, David founded a venture capital firm called Differential Ventures. Since graduating Penn, David has made it a priority to give back to the institution. He has served on boards and has given over $5M to various initiatives. This strong commitment to the institution formally ended earlier this month when David published an open letter to UPenn’s president, Liz Magill. In the letter, David makes it clear that unlike other outspoken donors, he is not calling for the current president to step-down, instead, he is simply stating he is breaking up with the university. In his interview on CNN with Jim Acosta, when asked why subsequent statements by the university didn’t satisfy him, David responded, “I felt like the reaction they had at first was authentic, it represented who they were and I didn’t think anything they said could change that. Their values aren’t my values.” In this conversation, David and I do a deep dive into the following:
- His relationship to Penn
- What went into his decision to write the letter
- Why he believes Penn is mired in moral relativism
- Why it is critical to know the values of the institutions you support
- His research into the $15-20B of undocumented gifts received by leading institutions like Penn
- The importance of Israel to the Jewish people
- Fun round of quick fire questions where I foolishly ask a kosher person for his favorite place for a Philly cheesesteak
I thank David for making the time to meet with all of us and for being a clear, intelligent and passionate voice during a time when America and the Jewish people need one.--Outro music: The Riders Of Rohan from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers).