Newcomb-Tulane College announces Tulane’s first-ever Stanford Long-Term Investing Fellow

Recent Newcomb-Tulane College graduate Mateo Lucas Proaño will spend next year immersed in the world of long-term investing as Tulane University’s first-ever recipient of the Stanford Long-Term Investing Fellowship (SLTIF). 

Fellows will take a week of classes at Stanford before being assigned to teams working with the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the U.S. Through opportunities like these, SLTIF gives its fellows experience working with stable, slow-growth vehicles such as endowments and pensions, preparing them for mission-driven careers that prioritize responsibility and lasting impact. 

“I’ve worked with students interested in SLTIF before, but I’ve never seen the level of commitment that Mateo Proaño brings to finance,” said Edith Wolfe, associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at Newcomb-Tulane College. “He has such a strong moral compass and a deep sensitivity to the ethics of investment, partly because of his experiences in Latin America and the opportunity he saw there during studies and family visits.” 

Proaño, who is from Weston, Florida, earned a Bachelor of Arts in international development from the School of Liberal Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Management in finance from the A. B. Freeman School of Business in 2026. He said his interdisciplinary coursework uniquely positioned him to navigate the complexities of pursuing sustainable growth over quick profits. He noted that his academic journey began with a fundamental question: “Why doesn't capital flow to the most pressing issues facing our world, whether that’s climate or development?” 

“I wanted to understand the structural reasons behind that gap and contribute to fixing it,” said Proaño. 

In addition to experiences studying abroad, Proaño’s perspective was shaped by understanding the potential for new technologies to transform finance. 

“Working at Morgan Stanley last summer in their firmwide AI department opened my eyes to the critical role technology will play in the future of finance, and that experience only strengthened my commitment to sustainability,” said Proaño. “Using technology to unlock the most impactful sustainable investment opportunities is what motivated me to pursue this fellowship.” 

The knowledge and skills Proaño will gain through this fellowship will help him achieve his career goals, which he said are rooted in Tulane’s motto of “non sibi sed suis,” or “not for oneself, but for one’s own.” 

“I want to pursue a career in helping the billions of people who are underserved by our current capital markets system, where basic survival needs are too often overlooked in pursuit of a better rate of return,” said Proaño. “My goal is to help institutions and individuals de-risk and create bankable, investable projects that improve the livelihoods of people who struggle to survive every day.”