Jane Buchan PhD ’97 has always been a contender. A former track and field star, Buchan once competed for a spot on the 1988 Olympics team. Today, she’s a powerhouse in the hedge fund world as CEO and managing director of PAAMCO.
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) was where she chose to pivot from elite sports to academia. “The graduate program gave me the training to do original work and to leverage my research on what’s already been done. When you’re working in a really innovative field, that’s critical,” says Buchan.
Her GSAS degree gave Buchan the opportunity to do cutting-edge research on financial markets with top faculty and then to apply what she learned to the investment industry. It also gave her the tools to compete, often as one of the few women CEOs in her field.
“To be blunt, to have the intellectual training and the PhD credentials is really important for someone not typically thought of in this space,” says Buchan.
In gratitude, she has made an unrestricted gift to the Graduate School Fund. “I give because basic research is critical in advancing knowledge,” says Buchan. “I want to support scholars who are willing to do research and publish for the good of general society.”