Jeff Van Harte is an experienced investment professional and higher education philanthropist. A graduate of California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), he has generously supported his alma mater, giving to and soliciting donations for the Center for Healthy Neighborhoods, the Center for Oral and Public History, the Center for Sports Performance, and the College of Business & Economics (CBE). By supporting a public university whose funding pales in comparison to larger, private institutions, Jeff Van Harte seeks to do his part to equalize the wealth divide in higher education.
Jeff Van Harte’s financial contributions to CSUF includes providing the initial funding for the Titan Capital Management (TCM) program, formerly known as the Applied Securities Analysis Program. He then partnered with CSUF to provide additional funding to build adjacent facilities in the CBE, as well as provide more assets for TCM to manage. This yearlong program provides an immersive learning experience for students interested in pursuing careers in investment management. The additional investments are paying off. Titan Capital Management won the America’s Championship at the 2023 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge, as well as finishing in the top 6 globally out of more than 1,000 universities.
Jeff Van Harte holds the Chartered Financial Analyst accreditation and a bachelor’s degree in financefrom CSUF. He paid for his undergraduate education by working as a ride operator at Disneyland, and upon his graduation, he was hired by Transamerica as a money market trader. Jeff Van Harte went on to rise through the company’s ranks, culminating in his position as a principal and executive vice president at Transamerica Investment Management.
In 2005, Jeff Van Harte left Transamerica to lead the Focus Growth Equity team at Delaware Investments. Recognizing that he could better serve his institutional clients through an independent company, he and his colleagues formed Jackson Square Partners in 2014. Under his leadership as chairman and chief investment officer, Jackson Square Partners grew to manage $30 billion in assets.
Mr. Van Harte stepped down from his position as chief investment officer in 2022, then retired from the firm in 2023. Today, along with his philanthropic activities, he enjoys reading, traveling, golf, and spending time with his family.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
My typical day starts around stock market hours, which on the West Coast, is 6:30am. I am a news and information junkie, so I review headline articles in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, as well as research from brokerage houses on new recommendations. I usually have 150-200 e-mails from various investment information sources like Seeking Alpha and other investment research publications. To make my day productive, I stay focused on priority issues that are under time pressure deadlines or have revealed important new sources of information that have significantly affected my thinking on my various portfolio holdings.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Idea generation can fit into different buckets. It can come from a top down view of the economy or any industry that is changing or it can come from the bottom up where an individual company is experiencing changes that are driving value north. Every idea must be framed within how Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) is moving vs the company’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) and an inflection in the company’s growth rate. The wider the spread between ROIC and WACC, the more value is getting created, but the key is anticipating that change before the Street is on to it.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Artificial Intelligence is all the current rage, and I believe in it and have several investments related to it. But I really like what I see in the healthcare space with regard to weight control and GLP-1 inhibitors (glucagon-like peptides). This space is going to go way beyond what I believe the market thinks because there will be a myriad of indicated uses outside of just weight control like cardiovascular, kidney and liver disease, and even sleep and psychiatric disorders.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I make a list of issues I need to address when I am a bit overwhelmed with several projects at hand, and then I make an effort to prioritize the list by importance or time constraints.
What advice would you give your younger self?
There’s not much I would change, but if I had to pick one thing, I would say to stop yourself every once in awhile and take in and appreciate what you have accomplished. That is, give yourself a rest and a pat on the back and do something fun as opposed to moving immediately to the next goal.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
A popular saying regarding history is that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” I think there is less truth to that today simply because the marriage of silicon compute power with billions of human eyeballs produces non-linear change. Human beings tend to be comfortable with linearity. I would say throw out a lot of history and get comfortable with an extremely fast pace of non-linear change whether it’s business, politics, or geopolitical events.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Exercise. Exercise keeps you on better thought train and sleep routine. I can’t work out as hard as I used to and I can’t run anymore, but I do walk for one hour per day. It’s critical to give your mind a rest and change your surroundings and sometimes process your thoughts.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Exercise, then make a list.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
While it sounds too simple, staying focused on what you do best is important. Growing a business can produce huge distractions and you can very easily get bogged down in administrative or personnel matters. Hire people to handle that and stay focused on your highest and best use.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
I failed to trust my intuition on a good idea that was very early stage and involved in a new technology—the emergence of mobile phones!! I let senior people laugh me out of the room and shame my idea. After that, I vowed to trust my intuition and also pay more attention to younger people that have fresher ideas than older senior people that were married to their past biases.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Microsoft Excel. I use it to link my personal portfolio to Bloomberg, and since it is customizable, I can create spreadsheets that really help me see the total picture of my portfolio.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
In my early career years, I read a book called The Aggressive Conservative Investor by Martin Whitman. It heavily influenced me to bet heavily when the odds are clearly in your favor. It’s available now in paperback. More recently, I have adopted several podcasts that are very informative. Namely, All-In, BG squared, and Acquired are excellent pods for investors.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I always look for interesting story lines and rich characters as opposed to the actual genre of entertainment. I really enjoyed Breaking Bad, Ozarks, and Yellowstone, but I also like comedies like Shrinking and Loudermilk. Movies are problematic for me. Hollywood seems to be making them longer and longer, and I don’t have the patience to watch a 3-hour movie.
Key learnings
- When you’re overwhelmed, take the time to slow down, make a list, and prioritize what needs to get done.
- When you succeed, take a moment to enjoy your success and share it with others.
- Focus on what you are best at and keep distractions to a minimum.
- Take a break during the day that involves exercise and try to have consistent routines that keep your eating and sleep schedules reliable.
- Intuition is more important than you think. Trust it and act on it.