Gustavo Schwed

Biography

Gustavo Schwed is a Professor of Management Practice in the Finance Department at NYU Stern. He teaches private equity courses to MBA and undergraduate students and is currently the Faculty Advisor for the Stern Private Equity Club and the Latin American Business Association. Professor Schwed was named NYU Stern’s Professor of the Year in 2015 and 2023 and received Stern’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020.

Prior to joining Stern in 2013, Schwed was an investment professional in the private equity industry. During his twenty-five-year career, he worked at venture capital and large buy-out firms and lived in and practiced private equity in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

Professor Schwed was a partner and Managing Director at Providence Equity Partners, the world’s largest media and telecommunications specialist private equity firm. Working in the London office, he was one of the partners responsible for the firm’s European business. He participated in the fund raising of Providence VI, a $12 billion fund, the largest industry specialized private equity fund raised at the time. At Providence he led several transactions in the telecommunications industry, including the largest LBO in European history at the time. He was a member of the firm’s Valuation and Portfolio Committees.

Prior to joining Providence, Schwed was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Private Equity, where he was co-head of the European private equity business, prior to which, he launched and ran the Latin American private equity business and was the Chairman of the Global Emerging Markets Fund, Morgan Stanley’s vehicle for private equity investing in Latin America, Asia, and Central Europe.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Schwed was an Executive Director at Bassini, Playfair + Associates where he helped raise and manage a $300 million Latin America private equity fund, one of the first of its kind, and opened and co-ran the firm’s Brazilian office. He began his post-MBA career at the New York office of the Sprout Group, the venture capital affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) where he developed the firm’s practice in medical devices.

Schwed served on the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College between 2010 and 2022, chairing the Finance committee and overseeing the endowment’s investments in private equity and venture capital.

Schwed earned a BA with High Honors from Swarthmore College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a citizen of the US, UK, and Argentina and speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Courses Taught

• Private Equity Finance

Academic Background

MBA, 1988
Stanford University

BA, 1984
Swarthmore College