Former Portfolio Manager
Palo Alto, CA and Sun Valley, ID
Serena Vinton is a former portfolio manager with over three decades of experience in investment management. At Franklin Templeton, she served as Lead Portfolio Manager of the Franklin Growth Fund, overseeing a $20 billion portfolio of high-quality growth companies. She guided the fund through multiple market cycles, including the Global Financial Crisis, with disciplined research, risk management, and long-term value creation.
Earlier, Serena managed equity and international fixed income portfolios, developing a broad perspective across markets. She has mentored talent and contributed to firmwide initiatives, including serving on the Sustainability and Stewardship Counsel. Her work has been recognized by the San Francisco Business Times, and she has spoken on investment strategy and ESG integration, including as a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Serena is exploring how disciplined thinking from financial markets can inform other fields. She is particularly drawn to the intersection of design, craft, and the environment, and how these disciplines can inspire more resilient systems.
Serena earned her BA in Business Economics from Brown University, where she was a varsity rower, and is a CFA charterholder. She serves on nonprofit and educational boards and lives in Palo Alto and Sun Valley, spending summers in Stanley, ID. She and her husband, Henry, have three daughters—one works at Stanford and two are in college. Outside work, she enjoys cycling, hiking, and skiing, and pursues jewelry design, ceramics, cooking, and reading. She has completed expeditions to the base of Mount Everest (Tibet), Mount Kilimanjaro, and Chomolhari.
