📝 Retail and the City #2: 2025 Summer of Love … or just another fling? Five takeaways from the Trump EO
Written by Susan Long McAndrews, Former Partner, Pantheon
So much is happening at the intersection of private markets and private wealth — at such a dizzying pace — that it can be hard to cut through the noise.
There are so many different pieces to the private markets puzzle: a sea of investment strategies, complex asset allocation frameworks, new product innovation, endless amounts of educational materials, technology improvements, and operational challenges.
Alt Goes Mainstream aims to help put together the pieces of the puzzle and connect the dots for GPs and LPs alike that are navigating this rapidly evolving ecosystem.
Who better to help private markets and private wealth decode the biggest themes and challenges than industry experts who have helped to shape what private markets is today.
The latest Op-Ed on Alt Goes Mainstream features private markets pioneer Susan Long McAndrews.
She recently closed a meaningful chapter of her career as a Partner at Pantheon, which has over $71B in discretionary AUM.
Susan led Pantheon’s global business development team and overall capital formation and investor relations strategy. She was a member of Pantheon’s Executive Committee, International Investment Committee, and was the CEO of Pantheon Securities, LLC, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer. In her role with Pantheon, she worked with many of the GPs that have defined private markets.
Building Pantheon’s private wealth solutions and distribution efforts, Susan found a passion for bringing an institutional mindset to the wealth channel. She launched one of the first private equity evergreen funds at Pantheon, where she was the co-portfolio manager of the AMG Pantheon Fund. The fund, P-PEXX, was one of the earliest private equity 40 Act-registered funds designed for accredited investors and has since grown to $5.58B AUM.
She was at Pantheon for almost 23 years and also worked at Russell Investments and in the US Department of Defense in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Asian & Pacific Security Affairs.
Please enjoy this Op-Ed by Susan, who brings a wealth of experience that combines thoughtful, strategic perspectives with practical, actionable advice to bear in private markets, private wealth, and how to best implement private markets in both institutional LP and wealth management LP portfolios to the AGM community.
Susan is an independent private markets specialist with no shortage of opinions. Passionate about the private ownership model and better investment outcomes for individuals. Buckeye born, UNC and Stanford educated, Fighting Irish by marriage. You can find her on LinkedIn here.
Susan Long McAndrews, Former Partner, Pantheon, Former CEO, Pantheon Securities, LLC
I was not around for the original Summer of Love — a social phenomenon in San Francisco in the summer of 1967 when thousands of young people and countercultural figures convened to protest the Vietnam War and promote free love in Golden Gate Park.
Over 50 years later, the 2025 version takes a stand against antiquated 401k plan options and attempts to promote innovation by providing plan sponsors with regulatory air cover. Imagine any other industry where innovation literally stopped in the 1970s? Individual retirement savings is a massive industry sitting adjacent to taxable wealth where there is massive transformation occurring. Not very fair to most Americans.
Last month, private markets and retirement specialists gathered in the City of Brotherly Love to promote access to private markets in 401k retirement plans. DCALTA hosted the event on its tenth anniversary, and the mood was ebullient on the eve of an Executive Order to key regulators. The Executive Order has been a waiting game of “will they, won’t they” since last spring and time has served to potentially diminish the fact that this is a BFD which it is.
5 takeaways
(1) Who started the fire
No, it was not Billy Joel, but a small cohort of innovative public pension plans in the late 1970s and early 1980s. High inflation, crappy stock market…why not try something else? Note public equities are below 30% in 1972!
(2) Leadership matters
Trump didn’t open the door, he kicked it down. Easy for Monday morning quarterbacks to say that “nothing has changed, there is no mandate, there is no legislation.” Wrong. While adoption will certainly take time, the snowball is now at least rolling thanks to the EO and vocal leaders like Ed Murphy of Empower.
(3) What am I watching for?
The investment return case for private equity is proven, the plumbing is ready but we need litigation reform to protect plan sponsors who want to innovate. American savers need regulatory outcomes from the EO that will curb ERISA litigation which has not served retirees but has strangled 401(k) investment options.
(4) Private equity first
Private equity is the Comstock Lode of private markets. I just don’t buy the recent narrative that private credit will open DC. We have 50 years of data about equity in private companies and its unique model of corporate governance and alignment of interest. The shrinking public equity markets is a cornerstone of the public policy rationale, and a potentially diluted “private markets” program may not suffice.
(5) Ignore crypto
As predicted, the inclusion of digital assets in the EO drew undo attention from the media and will do the same from certain legislators. Private equity was the only asset class addressed in the June 2020 Department of Labor information letter. Just five years later, private equity has become a broad menu of private assets which randomly adopted digital assets as its third cousin. I’m not a luddite, but let’s stick with what we know works at this important crossroads.
Alt Goes Mainstream’s work is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should always do your own research and consult advisors on these subjects. Alt Goes Mainstream’s work may feature entities in which Broadhaven Ventures or the author has invested in.