40 Under 40 2019

Some of the best Wall Street investors succeed by taking the contrarian path. Brooke Jones flashed that instinct after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. She passed up an invitation from Goldman Sachs to accept a Fulbright scholarship in Peru, only to discover upon arrival that her sponsoring professor had ditched her in favor of a long vacation.
 

She quickly adapted. Out went her plan to study title ownership for average Peruvians—“Yes, that’s the kind of 21-year-old I was”—and in came the decision to examine why clusters of Peruvian borrowers would more than occasionally stop paying their mortgage and other bills. (Answer: Their neighbors were doing it.)
 

After stints in economic development and institutional investing, Jones now oversees $1 billion worth of emerging-market and hedge-fund investments, or about a third of Carnegie Corp.’s portfolio. The nonprofit has a mission to foster international understanding.
 

Carnegie invested in China after its stock market got hit in 2013. With a Chinese partner, Jones identified 20 stocks available only to locals and invested $25 million. Initially the investment lost money. But she doubled down with $15 million more. That was wise. The stake has since doubled and is now Carnegie’s best performer.

Correction: An earlier version of this story had a lower figure for Jones' initial investment in Chinese stocks.