Focusing Capital on the Long-Term

Sarah Williamson is the CEO of FCLTGlobal, a non-profit consortium of large asset managers, allocators, and corporations dedicated to encouraging long-term behavior in business and investment decision-making. FCLTGlobal conducts research, convenes business leaders, develops actionable tools, and generates broad awareness of ways in which a longer-term focus can increase innovation, economic growth, and future savings.

Prior to joining FCLTGlobal in 2016, Sarah spent 21 years at Wellington Management Company, where she was most recently a Partner and Director of Alternative Investments. She started her career at Goldman Sachs, and had stints at the U.S. Department of State and McKinsey before joining Wellington.

Our conversation beings with Sarah’s career and turns to FCLTGlobal. We talk about potential improvements at the corporate level, including eliminating quarterly guidance, executive compensation, capital allocation, and Board dynamics, and then turn to the relationship between money managers and allocators, including fee structures, setting expectations, reporting returns, and governance. Lastly, Sarah discusses new research initiatives.

I’m pulling for Sarah. If her work bears fruit, we all will be better off, and most importantly, so will our clients.