Dakota Live! Podcast

On the Road in Waco, Texas | Inside Baylor University with CIOs, Allocators & Students

Robert Morier Season 1 Episode 152

In this special On the Road episode, we travel to Baylor University in Waco, Texas, to record a live, on-campus conversation with some of the most thoughtful allocators and investment leaders in the institutional investment world.
Hosted from Baylor’s campus, this episode brings together endowment leadership, OCIOs, asset managers, and students for a wide-ranging discussion on long-term investing, manager research, risk, character, and relationship-driven decision-making—the things that actually matter when capital is on the line.
Joining the conversation:

  • Dave Morehead, Chief Investment Officer, Baylor University

  • Renee Hanna, Managing Director of Investments, Baylor University

  • Chris Dion, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Brockenbrough

  • Michael Holmberg, Senior Portfolio Manager, Neuberger Berman

Together, they explore how real investment decisions are made—not in theory, but in practice.
What this episode covers

  • How institutional investors think about risk, conviction, and portfolio construction

  • Why relationships and trust are competitive advantages in manager selection

  • The role of character in underwriting GPs, OCIOs, and long-term partners

  • Emerging managers vs. scale managers: where alpha really comes from

  • Why Baylor has avoided private credit—and what that says about discipline

  • How allocators collaborate with one another while still competing

  • What “wearing risk” actually means inside an investment office

  • Advice for students entering asset management, investing, and finance careers

The episode opens with personal travel stories—missed flights, first road trips, international misadventures—that set the tone for a broader theme: learning happens on the road, through experience, mistakes, and shared perspective. From there, the conversation moves deep into the realities of endowment management, OCIO partnerships, and strategic alignment between LPs and GPs.
This recording is also part of an experiential learning initiative that brought Drexel University students to Baylor through a competitive writing contest, giving them firsthand exposure to institutional investing, allocator thinking, and professional dialogue in action.
If you’re interested in:

  • Institutional investing

  • Endowments and foundations

  • Manager research and due diligence

  • OCIO models

  • Private markets and portfolio construction

  • Teaching finance through real-world experience

…this episode offers a rare, candid look inside how thoughtful investors think, collaborate, and lead.
Recorded live at Baylor University | Waco, Texas.
Part of the On the Road series.