---
title: "Jim Dunn Featured on the Work Ethic Podcast: a conversation about long-term investing with Doug Scott"
description: Jim Dunn shares insights on the Work Ethic Podcast with Doug Scott on endowment management, leadership, trust, and the importance of failure as a teacher.
image: https://blog.vergercapital.com/hubfs/2026%20Work%20Ethic%20Podcast%20cover%20image.jpg
---

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![Jim Dunn and Doug Scott on the Work Ethic Podcast](https://blog.vergercapital.com/hubfs/2026%20Work%20Ethic%20Podcast%20cover%20image.jpg)

Tuesday, October 13th, 2026

[Philosophy](https://blog.vergercapital.com/news/tag/philosophy) [Endowment Management](https://blog.vergercapital.com/news/tag/endowment-management)

# Jim Dunn Featured on the Work Ethic Podcast: a conversation about long-term investing with Doug Scott

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Announcement: Tricia Walker Promoted to Managing Director

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Verger in the Community: Ronald McDonald House

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## What changes when every investment decision has to make sense today and decades from now?

That was one of the questions at the heart of the conversation when Verger CEO [Jim Dunn](https://vergercapital.com/team/jim-dunn/)recently appeared on Ethic’s [Work Ethic podcast](https://www.ethic.com/work-ethic/investing-for-the-next-40-years-or-jim-dunn-verger-capital). ‘Work Ethic’ is an interview series promoting conversations with leaders in the wealth management industry, encouraging them to share honest takes on what it takes to lead, along with the personal stories behind it.

Together with Ethic CEO and co-founder Doug Scott, Jim traced his own path into endowment investing — as a first-generation college student who saw the role capital could play in helping more students afford an education like his — through to the leadership principles that guide Verger today, including how leaders build a culture where people feel safe taking risks.

Jim also traces how his view of investing shifted once he understood Wake Forest’s mission firsthand, and why responsibility means something different when serving as a caretaker for nonprofit endowments. He speaks candidly about past missteps — what he calls ‘small graves’ — and why failure can be one of the most valuable things a candidate brings to an interview.

> The episode ends on an idea that perfectly reflects the DNA Jim has infused into Verger from the beginning:
> 
> trust compounds.

 

Platforms like ‘Work Ethic’ create an opportunity for leaders to build some of that trust by bringing conversations that might once have happened behind closed doors into the open, including the failures, lessons, and personal experiences that rarely make it into a quarterly letter or conference presentation.

We’re grateful to Doug Scott and the Ethic team for the conversation, and for building a platform where industry leaders can learn from each other with more candor than a quarterly letter allows.

You can view and listen to the full episode linked [here](https://www.ethic.com/work-ethic/investing-for-the-next-40-years-or-jim-dunn-verger-capital)and below.

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