Jane Mendillo

Jane Mendillo ’84, a member of the board of directors of General Motors and the former CEO of the Harvard Management Company, on how her partnership with her husband, Ralph Earle ’84, has formed the foundation for her life and career.

The financial crisis of 2008 is a looming figure in current economic thinking. The global economy is still slowly recovering from the shock, and policymakers and academics continue to discuss the structural changes needed to prevent a recurrence. The stress of the last half decade has made two things very clear: A productive and innovative financial system is essential to the broader economy, but financial innovations made irresponsibly—without consideration of systemic risk and other impacts on society—can wreak havoc.