• JONATHAN FARRAR

    Jon joined the Investments Office in October of 2014. Prior to Wesleyan University, he was a Director at Highmount Capital, a multi-family office where he was responsible for managing the firm’s external investment manager selection and due diligence efforts in the public markets. Beginning in 2007, Jon was a member of the research team at Veritable, LP, a multi-family office where he covered international investment managers for one of the firm’s internally managed commingled investment pools.

    Jon graduated summa cum laude from Lafayette College with a B.S. in Physics and B.A. in Mathematics and was elected to the college's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Society of Sigma Xi and Pi Mu Epsilon. He is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) and a CFA charterholder. He served as Chair of the Finance Committee and on the board of the Rockfall Foundation in Middletown, CT, in addition to volunteering as treasurer for his children’s schools throughout the years. He also advises the U.S. Hereditary Angioedema Association on their endowment.

What do you love about Wesleyan?

The students here are remarkably independent and passionate. Maybe I’m too far removed from my own college years to remember, but I don’t recall experiencing such a strong sense of identity and purpose with my own peers at such a young age. It’s inspiring to see how Wesleyan as an institution nurtures and even encourages that spirit of independence and individuality year after year.

Both of my parents, including my mother who immigrated here and restarted her life from scratch as an adolescent, have worked tirelessly to give me opportunities. I think that has drawn me to environments that empower people to chart their own paths. Wesleyan embodies that ethos so well. I love being based on campus and getting to witness how the institution cultivates that spirit in its students.

One moment that stood out to me early on was during my first few months here. I was eating in the Usdan Marketplace, catching up on some reading, when someone stood up and began playing their flute. The whole dining hall went silent as she navigated a couple of pieces, and when she finished, everyone quietly resumed their conversations. It was such a beautiful, spontaneous moment that encapsulated just one of the many things that makes Wesleyan so special.

What inspires you?

There are so many talented people doing amazing things here that it’s easy to draw inspiration from the institution that attracts such great young people. In my first year here, I had the opportunity to meet Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner when they were on campus for a WESeminar on social entrepreneurship. I’m sure they don’t remember me, but since then, I’ve been a supporter and even had the opportunity to visit SHOFCO in Nairobi. If you’ve read their book or heard them speak, it’s hard not to be inspired by what they’ve accomplished together.

Broadly speaking, I’m inspired by independent thinkers who have the courage of their convictions to act. In investing, there are so many challenges that take thoughtful conviction, because the feedback loops are so long to figure out if you made the right decisions or not. It’s easy to get lost along the way or paralyzed by indecision when you don’t have some guiding principles or strategy to lay an anchor to the windward. I see this in the endowment’s investment partners and the long-term strategies they’re implementing, but I also see it in parenting my three kids (for which my wife assuredly deserves the credit!).

What do you care about / do for fun?

I used to say I play golf, but at some point, you have to admit it’s not really a hobby anymore if you’re not actually playing! Whatever spare time I have these days is mostly spent coaching my kids and their teammates within our small town. Springs are usually baseball and softball season for my eldest and youngest, and in the winter, I coach our town’s travel basketball team for my middle daughter. I often feel like a chauffeur shuttling our kids around to their sporting events or music recitals, but I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.