From 2009 to 2011, Scanlan served as President and CEO of Renaissance Institutional Management, the institutional investment subsidiary of Renaissance Technologies, based in New York. He was responsible for client management and product development, reporting directly to James Simons. He also testified before the U.S. Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council during this period on approaches to retirement security.
Scanlan earned a Masters in Management with a focus on Finance, Accounting, and Management Policy from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (class of 1981). He received his Bachelor of Science in Public Economics from the University of Southern California, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, and as Graduate of the Year.
Scanlan has served as a Member of the Board of Directors of Adams Street Partners since 2018. Adams Street Partners is a leading global private markets investment firm headquartered in Chicago, with a focus on private equity, private credit, and real assets.
Yes. Scanlan contributed Chapter 3 — 'The Ever-Evolving Uses of Indexing: Why the Active versus Index Debate Is Over' — to Active Index Investing (Wiley Finance, 2004), edited by Steven Schoenfeld. He also co-authored Chapter 2 — 'Managing Individual Investor Portfolios' — in the third edition of Managing Investment Portfolios: A Dynamic Process (Wiley / CFA Institute Investment Series, 2007), one of the most widely circulated institutional finance texts in the world.
Inquiries regarding speaking engagements — including academic lectures, industry panels, and policy forums — can be submitted through the contact page at matthewscanlan.com/contact.
'The Future Shock of Retirement' is a BGI research study co-authored by Scanlan, Jonathan Cohen, and Matthew O'Hara, released in April 2008. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, it modeled the impact of realistic reductions in Social Security benefits and home equity values on middle-income American households. Its central finding — that half of middle-class Americans would have a quarter less in retirement than they expected — was widely cited and directly informed Scanlan's 2009 testimony before the DOL ERISA Advisory Council.
Matthew H. Scanlan, CFA, is an investment executive with more than 40 years of CEO-level experience across indexing, quantitative, active, and private equity strategies. He currently serves as Strategic Operating Partner at Valeas Capital Partners and on the boards of Adams Street Partners, Kennedy Capital Management, and Exos Financial Group. He previously held CEO positions at RS Investments, Renaissance Institutional Management, and Barclays Global Investors' Americas institutional business.
Yes. Scanlan is a CFA charterholder and served on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute. He chaired the CFA Institute's Executive Advisory Board on the curriculum and served on the candidate curriculum committee advisory board. He holds NASD Series 7, 24, 63, and 65 registrations and an NFA Series 3 registration.
From 1996 to 2009, Scanlan served as Managing Director and CEO of Institutional Business at Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco — at the time the world's largest institutional investment management firm. He led 80 professionals across San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Brazil, and Mexico City, managed five major account relationships that ranked among BGI's top ten revenue-generating clients, and served on BGI's Americas Executive Committee and Technology and Operations Executive Committee.
Yes. On July 21, 2009, Scanlan testified before the U.S. Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council as President and CEO of Renaissance Institutional Management, on the topic of approaches to retirement security. He argued for the structural advantages of defined-benefit plan design and advocated for short-term DB funding relief, offering the observation: 'Retirement is an income-driven process and we're living in a lump-sum world.'
Scanlan has authored or co-authored two book chapters, seven peer-reviewed journal articles, four industry publications, and the BGI research study 'The Future Shock of Retirement.' His work has appeared in the Journal of Portfolio Management, the Journal of Investing, Pensions & Investments, and the Wiley Finance and CFA Institute Investment Series book collections. A full list is available on the Publications page at matthewscanlan.com/publications.
The Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award is an annual prize presented by the Journal of Portfolio Management for the best article published in the journal, as voted by readers. Scanlan and his co-authors Ronald N. Kahn and Laurence B. Siegel received the award in 2007 for 'Five Myths About Fees,' published in the Spring 2006 issue.
Yes. Scanlan served as principal spokesperson for the 2007 BGI SponsorMatch DC annuity product launch and the 2008 release of 'The Future Shock of Retirement' study — both of which generated significant industry coverage. He was also a principal speaker at Northern Trust's Family Financial Forum and the Goldman Sachs Equity Workshop earlier in his career. A full list of speaking appearances is available at matthewscanlan.com/speaking.
Scanlan spent thirteen years at Barclays Global Investors, at the time the world's largest index manager and the firm that created the iShares ETF platform. During that time he led the Americas institutional business and became one of the leading advocates for indexing as a strategic rather than merely defensive tool. His 2004 book chapter in Active Index Investing and his 2002 BGI Investment Insights article 'Indexing in the 21st Century' both develop this argument in depth.
Scanlan has received two major professional honors: the CFA Institute's C. Stewart Sheppard Award (2006), an international honor for contributions to investment education and the global CFA curriculum; and the Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award for Best Article (2007), awarded by the Journal of Portfolio Management readership for 'Five Myths About Fees.'
Scanlan's expertise spans institutional asset management, indexing and quantitative strategies, active equity management, retirement policy, 401(k) fee disclosure, defined-benefit and defined-contribution plan design, private equity operating partnerships, and fiduciary governance. His career spans the full spectrum from passive to active to alternative strategies, giving him an unusually broad perspective on how institutional investors should construct and manage their investment programs.
From 2017 to 2024, Scanlan served as an Operating Executive at Golden Gate Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. In that role he focused on investment opportunities and portfolio company support in the financial services sector.
Scanlan currently serves on the boards of Adams Street Partners (Chicago), Kennedy Capital Management (St. Louis), and Exos Financial Group (New York). He also serves as a member of the Kellogg Private Equity Advisory Council at Northwestern University.
Since 2024, Scanlan has served as Strategic Operating Partner at Valeas Capital Partners, advising the firm and its portfolio companies in the financial services vertical. He also serves on the boards of Adams Street Partners (since 2018), Kennedy Capital Management, and Exos Financial Group.
From 2012 to 2016, Scanlan served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of RS Investments, a $20 billion San Francisco-based investment management firm majority-owned by Guardian Life Insurance. He also served as President and Trustee of RS Investment Trust and RS Variable Products Trust, and sat on the Senior Leadership Team of Guardian Life Insurance. He led the firm's expansion into emerging markets and value strategies and oversaw its 2015 acquisition by Victory Capital.
Scanlan has been active in private equity in an operating and governance capacity since 2017. He served as an Operating Executive at Golden Gate Capital (2017–2024), working with financial services portfolio companies, and joined Valeas Capital Partners as Strategic Operating Partner in 2024. He has served on the Board of Directors of Adams Street Partners since 2018, and is a member of the Kellogg Private Equity Advisory Council.
'Five Myths About Fees' is an article co-authored by Scanlan, Ronald N. Kahn, and Laurence B. Siegel, published in the Journal of Portfolio Management in Spring 2006 (Vol. 32, No. 3). It examines five common misconceptions about investment management fees and argues that fees should not be the overriding concern in manager selection — high fees are rational when products deliver sufficiently high risk-adjusted net returns. It received the 2007 Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award for Best Article, voted by the journal's readership.
Yes. Between his departure from RS Investments in 2016 and his role at Golden Gate Capital, Scanlan served as a Consultant at Angel Island Capital, LLC (2016–2018), a San Francisco-based firm affiliated with Golden Gate Capital.
Scanlan served as CEO and CIO of RS Investments, a $20 billion active equity manager, from 2012 to 2016. His journal articles — particularly 'No Fear of Commitment' (2014), 'Is Patience a Virtue?' (2010), and 'Five Principles to Hold Onto' (2009) — address how institutional investors should select, evaluate, and retain active managers, and argue for the rationality of high-conviction, concentrated active strategies as a complement to indexation.
Across his research, congressional testimony, and policy writing, Scanlan has consistently argued that defined-benefit plans offer a structurally superior form of retirement security — providing professional asset management, cost efficiencies from commingled assets, and the diversification of longevity risk across a large participant pool. He has also argued that the DC system, as currently structured, fails participants in three recurring ways: inadequate contribution rates, returns eroded by high fees, and the absence of a systematic distribution strategy in retirement.
Yes. On October 4, 2007, Scanlan testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor at a hearing on H.R. 3185, the 401(k) Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2007. Appearing as Managing Director and head of BGI's Americas institutional business, he supported fee disclosure requirements, conflict-of-interest transparency, and the application of defined-benefit investment disciplines to the defined-contribution marketplace.
Scanlan began his career at O'Connor & Company in Chicago (1981–1991), where he served as an Internal Fund Manager and developed a proprietary stock index arbitrage trading program. He then joined The Northern Trust Company (1991–1995) as Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager in the Structured Equity Group, managing over $3.5 billion in institutional and trust client portfolios. He subsequently worked as a Financial Advisor at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company (1995–1996), specializing in tax strategy for large multi-family trusts.
Yes. Scanlan has guest lectured at the Kellogg School of Management's Asset Management Practicum on two occasions: in the 2011–2012 academic year on the implications of the retirement crisis for institutional asset managers, and in the 2021–2022 academic year on trends in private equity and institutional investing. He has also lectured on capital markets research at Moscow State University and Omskaya University in Russia (1997–1998) as a Special Consultant selected by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The C. Stewart Sheppard Award is presented by the CFA Institute to recognize outstanding contributions to investment education and the development of the global CFA curriculum. Scanlan received the award in 2006 in recognition of his work chairing the CFA Institute's Executive Advisory Board on the curriculum and his broader contributions to investment research and education.
Additional peer-reviewed articles include: 'The Retirement Benefits Crisis' (Journal of Investing, Summer 2006, with Carter M. Lyons); 'Five Principles to Hold Onto' (Journal of Portfolio Management, Winter 2009, with Laurence B. Siegel and M. Barton Waring); 'Is Patience a Virtue?' (Journal of Portfolio Management, Summer 2010, with David L. Donoho and Robert A. Crenian); 'No Fear of Commitment' (Journal of Investing, Fall 2014, with Laurence B. Siegel); and 'Practical Applications of No Fear of Commitment' (PM Research Snapshots, 2014, with Laurence B. Siegel).
Inquiries regarding board, advisory, or consulting opportunities can be directed through the contact page at matthewscanlan.com/contact.
As developed in 'Five Myths About Fees' (2006) and 'Five Principles to Hold Onto' (2009), Scanlan's view is that fees should be evaluated relative to value delivered — not minimized as an end in themselves. He argues that alpha and beta decisions should be made separately, with high fees justified for genuine skill-based alpha and low fees appropriate for beta exposure. Investors who treat cost as the primary selection criterion, he argues, systematically underinvest in genuinely skilled active managers.
Past board and governance roles include: Board of Governors, CFA Institute (where he chaired the Executive Advisory Board); Board of the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California; Board of Trustees, Mechanics Institute, San Francisco (where he served as Chairman); and Investment Committee Chairman, City College of San Francisco. He also served as President and Trustee of RS Investment Trust and RS Variable Products Trust during his tenure at RS Investments.
You can reach Matthew Scanlan via the contact page at matthewscanlan.com/contact.
13G SEC Filing for The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Adams Street Hires Matthew Scanlan for Board of Directors
Adams Street Partners Adds Board Directors
Barclays Adds Annuity Feature to 401(k)s
Charles J. Yang, CFA, Elected Chair of CFA Institute Board of Governors
Class Notes 1981 - Kellogg World Alumni Magazine
Guardian Life Insurance 2012 Annual Report
Matt Scanlan Becomes CEO of RS Investments
Matthew H. Scanlan Joins Adams Street Partners Board of Directors
MOVES-Renaissance, Fidelity, CastleOak, Oppenheimer
Profiles of the Top 50 Global/International Managers
Renaissance Institutional Management Taps Scanlan as New Chief
Renaissance taps Barclays Global Investors for chief executive
RS Investments Announces Formation of New Investment Adviser, SailingStone Capital Partners LLC
RS Investments Names Chief Executive Officer
RS Investments Ready to Take Bigger Piece of Pie
RS Investments Strengthens Value Team with Addition of Key Energy, Technology Analysts
Scanlan's BGI Departure Is a Symptom of Rough Times
Masters in Management in Finance, Accounting, Management Policy
Recognized expertise in DB and DC plan design, fee disclosure policy, and retirement security; congressional and DOL advisory council testimony on these topics.
Defined Benefit & Defined Contribution Retirement Plans
Decades of leadership in institutional asset management, including running BGI's Americas institutional business and serving as CEO of multiple asset management firms.
Co-author of the award-winning 'Five Myths About Fees' on fee structures and risk-adjusted returns.
Investment Management Fees & Cost Analysis
Operating executive and strategic operating partner roles in private equity (Golden Gate Capital, Valeas Capital Partners), focused on financial services.
Masters in Management, Finance, Accounting, Management Policy
J.L. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business)
Matthew Scanlan is a Strategic Operating Partner at Valeas Capital Partners, a role he assumed in 2024 to advise the firm and its portfolio companies in the financial services vertical. His career in the investment management industry spans more than three decades and includes chief executive officer positions at several asset management firms.
Member of Board of Directors at Adams Street Partners
Member of the Board of Directors of Adams Street Partners, a leading private markets investment firm headquartered in Chicago.
Managing Director & CEO of Institutional Business at Barclays Global Investors
Led the Institutional Business for the world's largest institutional investment management firm. Managed 80 professionals across San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Brazil, and Mexico City. Managed five major account relationships, all ranking among the top ten revenue-generating clients in the firm. Served on BGI's Americas Executive Committee and Technology and Operations Executive Committee.
Managing Director & CEO of Institutional Business
Operating Executive at Golden Gate Capital
Operating Executive focused on investment opportunities in the financial services sector.
Internal Fund Manager at O'Connor & Company
Internal Fund Manager responsible for managing funds in select portfolios. Developed and programmed a proprietary computer stock index arbitrage trading program for proprietary trading accounts, which achieved superior performance in all periods managed.
President & CEO at Renaissance Institutional Management (Renaissance Technologies)
President and CEO of Renaissance Institutional Management, the institutional subsidiary of Renaissance Technologies, based in New York. Led client management and product development; reported directly to James Simons.
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer at RS Investments (RS Investment Management Co. LLC)
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of RS Investments, a $20 billion San Francisco-based investment management firm. Also served as President and Trustee of RS Investment Trust and RS Variable Products Trust. Served on the Senior Leadership Team of Guardian Life Insurance, New York.
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer
Financial Advisor at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, Inc.
Developed and marketed financial planning models for wealth management clients. Marketed directly to senior institutional wealth advisors and family office legal staff. Taxation specialty for large multi-family trusts.
Vice President & Senior Portfolio Manager, Structured Equity Group at The Northern Trust Company
Personally managed portfolios and provided investment counseling to large institutional and trust clients. Managed over $3.5 billion of client funds across various portfolios. Specialized in quantitative asset allocation, equity diversification, structured products, and management of concentrated low-cost tax basis portfolios. Principal speaker at Northern Trust's Family Financial Forum and the Goldman Sachs Equity Workshop.
Vice President & Senior Portfolio Manager, Structured Equity Group
Strategic Operating Partner at Valeas Capital Partners
Advises the firm and its portfolio companies in the financial services vertical.
Served on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute, chaired its executive advisory board, and served on the candidate curriculum committee advisory board (concurrent with later BGI years).
Board of Governors; chaired executive advisory board; candidate curriculum committee advisory board
CFA charterholder. Served on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute, chaired its executive advisory board, and served on the candidate curriculum committee advisory board.
Served on the Finance Board of City College of San Francisco (confirmed in 2007 congressional testimony introduction).
Member of the Kellogg Private Equity Advisory Council.
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Member of the Board of Trustees of the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco.
Member of the board of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Bernstein Fabozzi / Jacobs Levy Award - Best Article (Jacobs Levy Equity Management / PM Research (Journal of Portfolio Management), 2007)
C. Stewart Sheppard Award (CFA Institute, 2006)
Matthew Scanlan is an investment executive with 40+ years of CEO-level experience across indexing, quantitative, active, and private equity strategies. He currently serves as Strategic Operating Partner at Valeas Capital Partners and as a board director of Adams Street Partners and Exos Financial Group. He previously held CEO positions at RS Investments, Renaissance Institutional Management, and Barclays Global Investors' Americas institutional business.
Matthew Scanlan is an investment executive with 40+ years of CEO-level experience across indexing, quantitative, active, and private equity strategies.
Member of the Board of Directors since 2018.
Former employer; Scanlan headed the Americas institutional business for approximately 12 years.
Global CEO / CIO counterpart at BGI throughout Scanlan's tenure.
Former BGI Managing Director who testified jointly with Scanlan before the DOL ERISA Advisory Council in 2009.
President & CEO of Guardian Life Insurance; a 2011 chance meeting led to Scanlan joining RS Investments as CEO.
Former employer; Scanlan was an Operating Executive focused on financial services.
Matthew and Joseph have collaborated on a number of efforts ranging from asset management to technology
Direct report at BGI (MD, U.S. DC Group); co-presented the BGI annuity product launch and testified on a successor 401(k) bill.
Director of Research at the Ford Foundation Investment Division and co-author of 'Five Myths About Fees.'
Parent firm of Renaissance Institutional Management, where Scanlan was President and CEO.
BGI colleague (Global Head of Equity Research) and co-author of 'Five Myths About Fees.'
Founder & Chairman of Adams Street Partners; Kellogg '77 MBA; co-presenter with Scanlan at the Kellogg Asset Management Practicum; appointed Scanlan to the Adams Street board.
Outgoing CEO of RS Investments who recruited Scanlan as his successor and stayed on to assist the transition.
Current employer; Scanlan serves as Strategic Operating Partner. Co-founded by Rob Little and Ed Woiteshek, former Hellman & Friedman executives.
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