Beyond the Cap Table

Shannon O’Leary from the St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation on how diversity drives top decile returns, what makes managers stand out in diligence, and how to land institutional LPs

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This is an episode of January Ventures’ Beyond the Cap Table podcast, hosted by Jennifer Neundorfer. We aim to demystify the various parts of venture capital and highlight founders, funders, and other game changers who are building new networks and enabling the new establishment in the startup and venture world. Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode, we talk with Shannon O’Leary, Chief Investment Officer of the St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation. In this episode, Shannon shares:

  • Her strategy for the Foundation’s $1.7B investment portfolio
  • How she delivers top decile returns by investing in diversity
  • What actually stands out in a diligence process, and why an “edge” is overrated
  • What emerging managers can do to land their first institutional LPs
  • Why she assesses funds on DEI and what it tells her about prospective managers
  • What emerging fund managers can do to derisk themselves

    • Shannon O’Leary is the Chief Investment Officer of the St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation. Shannon oversees the Foundation’s Investments team as well as all aspects of the Foundation’s $1.7 billion investment portfolios for individual donors, nonprofit endowment holders as well as two partner foundations, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation. In her role, Shannon works closely with the investment committees, Foundation staff and others on portfolio decision-making to maintain and grow assets that sustain the Foundations’ grantmaking, ensuring secure annual income and offering other investment funding, education and capacity-building resources for the 200+ nonprofits it serves. Since joining the Foundation in 2019, Shannon has implemented an approach that both quantifies and preferences Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as ESG investing strategies that align with the Foundation’s work to inspire generosity, advocate for equity, and invest in community-led solutions. An experienced leader with depth and breadth in building and managing investment teams, processes and procedures, Shannon joined the Foundation after serving as CIO at The Advocate Group, a Minnesota-based wealth management firm. Previously, Shannon spent seven years as the manager of wealth planning and investments for a large family office and served as a member of its Investment Committee.

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    Beyond the Cap TableBy Jennifer Neundorfer, January Ventures
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