HarbourVest's John Toomey - over 40 years of "earning investors' trust"

HarbourVest's John Toomey - over 40 years of "earning investors' trust"

From Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets by Michael Sidgmore

April 14, 2026 · 59 min · Episode 206

About this episode

The episode features a discussion with HarbourVest CEO John Toomey about the evolution of private markets and investor relationships over the past 30 years.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. Today’s episode dives into the nuances of private markets with one of the industry’s leaders. We sat down with HarbourVest CEO John Toomey , where he leads a firm that has over $160B in AUM and has over 43 years of experience across primary funds, secondary transactions, direct co-investments, and building customized programs for LPs. John has been at HarbourVest for almost 30 years, joining the firm in 1997 as an Analyst in the Direct team. He spent 10 years as one of the leaders of the Secondary business before serving on Global Investment Committees for nearly a decade. He also served as the original CFO for the HarbourVest Global Private Equity vehicle, which went public in 2007 on Euronext Amsterdam. John is also a member of the Firm’s Conflicts Committee, Sustainable Investing Council, and DEI Council. He received a BA (cum laude) in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. John and I had a fascinating and thought-provoking conversation about the evolution of private markets as an industry. We covered: The biggest differences between private markets in the 1990s and private…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Sidgmore

Guest: John Toomey

Topics covered

  • private markets
  • investment strategies
  • LP relationships
  • industry evolution
  • HarbourVest
  • trust in investing

Keywords

  • private markets
  • HarbourVest
  • investment
  • LPs
  • trust
  • secondary transactions
  • co-investments
  • wealth investors

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HarbourVest, Harvard University, Harvard Business School, HarbourVest Global Private Equity

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