🎥 HarbourVest's John Toomey - over 40 years of "earning investors' trust"

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode dives into the nuances of private markets with one of the industry’s leaders.

We sat down with HarbourVest CEO John Toomey, where he leads a firm that has over $160B in AUM and has over 43 years of experience across primary funds, secondary transactions, direct co-investments, and building customized programs for LPs.

John has been at HarbourVest for almost 30 years, joining the firm in 1997 as an Analyst in the Direct team. He spent 10 years as one of the leaders of the Secondary business before serving on Global Investment Committees for nearly a decade. He also served as the original CFO for the HarbourVest Global Private Equity vehicle, which went public in 2007 on Euronext Amsterdam.

John is also a member of the Firm’s Conflicts Committee, Sustainable Investing Council, and DEI Council. He received a BA (cum laude) in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John and I had a fascinating and thought-provoking conversation about the evolution of private markets as an industry. We covered:

The biggest differences between private markets in the 1990s and private markets today.

How private markets has evolved over the past 30 years.

What LPs are looking for today in their manager relationships.

Do LPs want more choice or less?

Why LPs, both institutions and wealth investors, might outsource private markets capabilities.

How the institutionalization of private wealth platforms is shaping how alternative asset managers partner with the wealth channel.

Where scale matters for alternative asset managers.

Where allocators should be “narrow and limited” with their GP relationships and where allocators should be diversified.

What is required for managers that launch and manage evergreen vehicles.

The why and the how behind launching a private wealth solutions business.

Thanks John for coming on the show to share your wisdom, expertise, and passion for private markets.

Thanks for reading Alt Goes Mainstream! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work - writing and podcasting about the convergence of private markets and private wealth since December 2020.

A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions

This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.

That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.

Learn more: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.

We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.

Show Notes

01:17 Message from our Sponsor, Ultimus

02:12 Meet John Toomey

04:36 HarbourVest’s Early Days

05:34 LP Needs Then Versus Now

07:37 Why Outsource Private Markets

09:27 Program Approach Explained

11:00 Earning LP Trust

12:53 Building Blocks And Scale

14:20 GP Needs And Access Points

17:35 Co-Invest Partnership Model

18:54 Middle Market Diversification

21:26 Punching Above Weight

24:22 Big Or Niche Debate

27:25 Investing In Data And AI

28:27 Evergreens And Wealth Channel

30:34 Scale Needed For Evergreens

31:43 Multi Manager Future

32:39 Wealth Platform Consolidation

33:08 Who Can Build Evergreens

34:45 Evergreen Deal Flow Mix

36:58 How Wealth Wants Access

38:20 Centralized CIO Trend

39:21 Manager Selection Matters

40:56 Diversification Versus Alpha

42:41 Funding From Public Markets

45:16 Starting Private Equity Today

46:54 Institutional Program Evolution

51:13 Institutions Using Evergreens

53:16 Liquidity And LP Transparency

55:40 What Creates Manager Edge

58:54 Non-Obvious Data Insights

01:01:05 Closing Thoughts

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Join over 15,600 Substack subscribers & followers who are thought leaders and executives from top private markets firms and wealth management like Blackstone, Apollo, Ares, KKR, EQT, Carlyle, Blue Owl, CVC, TPG, Brookfield, Vista, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock, Fidelity, iCapital, Franklin Templeton, Nuveen, Hg, Permira, Stonepeak, Hightower, Focus Financial, Cerity Partners, and more.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit altgoesmainstream.substack.com