Geetanjali Gupta Named CIO of New York Public Library

Geetanjali Gupta

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has named Geetanjali Gupta, a senior vice president at Harvard University’s endowment, as its new CIO to manage the public library’s $1.2 billion in financial assets.

Gupta is the second executive to announce their departure from Harvard in recent days. Rich Hall, Harvard Management Company’s (HMC) head of private equity, announced he would leave in early February to become deputy CIO at University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO).

Gupta, whose first day on the job will be Feb. 26, replaces Todd Corbin, who stepped down at the end of February 2017 to become managing director at Summit Rock Advisors, a New York-based investment company. Michael Dardia, vice president for finance and assistant treasurer, helped manage the CIO responsibilities in the interim. Gupta will report to NYPL Chief Operating Officer Iris Weinshall, and will work with the library’s board of trustees’ investment committee.

“She is a proven and trusted investor, with demonstrated expertise of strong long-term portfolio performance,” said NPYL CEO Tony Marx in a statement. “We look forward to Geetanjali’s financial stewardship and to the ways her leadership will strengthen our ability to serve library communities for many years to come.”

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Prior to joining NYPL, Gupta was with the Harvard Management Company (HMC) in Boston for more than 11 years, most recently serving as the head of absolute return and public market funds. At HMC, Gupta helped manage portfolios valued at more than $15 billion across a diverse range of asset classes. Aside from a one-year stint at Goldman Sachs prior to attending graduate school, it will be the first time Gupta has left Harvard since her freshman year as an undergrad in 1996.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join the leadership team at The New York Public Library,” said Gupta in a statement. “I hope to achieve excellent returns, build an outstanding investment team, and be an active leader.”

The CIO search committee was led by Dinakar Singh, the chair of the library’s board of trustees’ investment committee, as well as board of trustees chairman Evan Chesler, trustees Ray McGuire and Tony Yoseloff, and Weinshall.

“Our investment strategy must be robust and forward-thinking,” said Weinshall. “The New York Public Library will greatly benefit from Geetanjali’s thoughtful analysis, portfolio, and team management expertise.”

Gupta has a bachelor of arts degree in applied mathematics and economics, as well as master of business administration, and juris doctor degrees from Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School.

Tags: Geetanjali Gupta, Harvard, New York Public Library

Vanessa Selbst

The world’s top female poker tournament player, Vanessa Selbst, has joined Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, according to Bloomberg.

In 12 years, Selbst won $11.9 million, the highest winnings ever for a female player.

But if holding and folding can be applied to a hedge fund, perhaps Selbst would know. Her mother was an options trader who taught her the game.

In an earlier interview with Bloomberg, Selbst compared business to poker playing, saying, “You have to have cutthroat tendencies to succeed in poker, just like in Wall Street.” And that they both were “a game of numbers and pushing around small edges” where one takes “calculated risks” and “downswings” without “going on tilts.”

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Competing in worldwide tournaments, along with her million-dollar winnings, Selbst became the first and only woman to win three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win.

Between poker tournaments, she earned her law degree at Yale by squirreling away to study nine hours a day, passed the bar, and, in 2010, launched a foundation which funds projects that fight for racial justice and economic equality, and against police misconduct and government abuse of authority, according to her website. A reporter from the Financial Times called her “terrifyingly smart.”

In a Dec. 31 Facebook post, the 33-year-old Brooklyn resident wrote that she was officially parting ways from her professional poker career, with no specific reason other than as she turned from her 20s to early 30s, her “priorities changed toward building a stable home and community and starting a family,” and that “the constant travel is no longer tenable.” Without naming Bridgewater, she wrote, “My next career I’m giving a shot is at a hedge fund. I’m doing trading research and strategy.” She noted that she’s been at the hedge fund for four months, and “the environment feels a lot like poker did back in the day—a bunch of nerdy kids collaborating to try to beat our opponents at a game.”

She said working at the hedge fund was “freaking difficult” and she had much to learn. “I think I’m getting the hang of it, the next day I fail at the next challenge. It’s exhausting, exciting, and completely humbling every single day.”

Following in her late mother’s footsteps, she said she’d always play poker for fun. She added, “It’s pretty difficult to find the next thing when your first career was so much damned fun.”

By Christine Giordano

Tags: Bridgewater, poker, Strategy, Vanessa Selbst