As founder and chief information officer of Sound Point Capital Management, Steve Ketchum is someone who thinks about long-term investments for a living. But like so many people, when it came to his personal estate planning, Ketchum dragged his feet a bit. After he got married in 2002, however, he took the thoughtful approach that he has honed working for more than 30 years in the credit markets and applied it to his own situation.

Ketchum established a bequest intention that will support HBS as part of his estate plan. Making a legacy gift to the School qualifies Ketchum for membership in the John C. Whitehead Society, the School’s planned giving society. As he crafted his will, Ketchum recalled a conversation with former Dean Nitin Nohria who asked whether HBS had changed his life for the better. The answer was an unequivocal “Yes,” which inspired Ketchum to think more broadly about his philanthropy. “I wanted to support the people and the institutions that had made a difference in my life,” he says. “Obviously, HBS was one of them.”

Admitting with a laugh that like most entrepreneurs he has some tendencies toward micromanaging, Ketchum says that there is no way he can know what the School will need many years from now. He notes that since his gift won’t benefit the School until after his passing, and because he is confident the future stewards of HBS will use his support where it will have the biggest impact, he sees tremendous value in providing flexible funding through the HBS Fund. “The School has been incredibly thoughtful and progressive, and I trust its leaders to continue on the right path,” he says.

While it took him some time to create his estate plan, including HBS in his philanthropy is not new for the New England native. Five years ago, Ketchum established a fellowship fund that supports MBA students. “If someone deserves to come to HBS but cannot afford it, it is incredibly meaningful to me to help close the financial gap for them,” he says.

Ketchum recalls when he was admitted to HBS back in 1988. He was living in Boston’s Back Bay and immediately drove to campus with the envelope he received from the admissions office. “I wanted the full HBS experience,” he says, describing the spring day that he sat in front of Baker Library and opened his acceptance letter. He thoroughly enjoyed his time as a student. The case method, he says, helped him understand that there usually isn’t just one right answer. “I see the world in grays,” he says. “Not black and white.” The School also opened the door to his first job on Wall Street: he spent a decade at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, rising to the role of managing director, an experience that helped him eventually launch his own endeavor, Sound Point Capital, in 2008. Today his firm, which specializes in credit strategies, manages over $28 billion in assets.

Supporting HBS fellowships and including the School in his estate plan, Ketchum says, are both very important to him—because he believes in the School’s mission and because his own life has been profoundly changed by his HBS experience. “There are a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to do, including creating Sound Point, if it weren’t for HBS, and for that, I am thankful.”

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