Dakota Live! Podcast: Client Service as Strategy: Verger Capital’s OCIO Approach

In this special episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, host Robert Morier takes the show back on the road to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he sits down with Jim Dunn, Chief Executive Officer of Verger Capital Management.
From his beginnings as a first-generation college graduate and collegiate soccer goalie to leading one of the most respected OCIO firms in the country, Jim shares how formative experiences in athletics, lifeguarding, and family life shaped his views on risk, leadership, and client service.
Jim offers candid insights into:

• How Verger’s client-first service model differentiates it in a crowded OCIO marketplace.
  
  
• The evolution of the OCIO landscape, from investment performance to operational excellence and governance.
  
  
• The risks of private credit: “When we look at these private credit portfolios, a lot of them have high PIK rates… when there’s distress, that becomes equity. Your correlations go to one. And then what are you going to do?” Actionable takeaway: stress test exposures, as today’s yield can quickly morph into equity-like risk in downturns.
  
  
• Why the move of private equity into 401(k) portfolios will likely lower return expectations and reshape how the asset class is accessed.
  
  
• How allocators evaluate venture capital and emerging managers, not just on investment edge but on the durability of their business model across Fund I, II, and III.
  
  
• Why saying “yes” to uncomfortable opportunities can open the door to leadership.
  
  

Recorded in Verger’s Winston-Salem offices with Wake Forest University as our backdrop, this episode feels like a “back-to-school” conversation, reminding us that leadership and stewardship are learned through discipline, service, and the willingness to listen.