Faculty Directory | Gustavo Schwed

Gustavo Schwed is a Professor of Management Practice at NYU Stern, where he teaches private equity courses to MBA and undergraduate students and serves as faculty advisor to the Stern Private Equity Club and the Latin American Business Association. He was named NYU Stern’s Professor of the Year in 2015 and 2023 and received Stern’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020. He also serves as Chair of the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College.

Before joining Stern in 2013, Schwed spent 25 years in private equity and venture capital, investing across the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

Schwed was a partner and managing director at Providence Equity Partners, a leading media- and telecommunications-focused private equity firm. Based in London, he helped lead the firm’s European business, helped raise Providence VI, a $12 billion fund, and led several telecommunications transactions, including what was then the largest leveraged buyout in European history. He also served on the firm’s Valuation and Portfolio Committees.

Previously, Schwed was a managing director at Morgan Stanley Private Equity, where he served as co-head of the European private equity business. Before moving to Europe, he launched and led the firm’s Latin American private equity business and chaired the Global Emerging Markets Fund, Morgan Stanley’s vehicle for private equity investing in Latin America, Asia, and Central Europe.

Earlier in his career, Schwed was an executive director at Bassini, Playfair + Associates, where he helped raise and manage a $300 million Latin American private equity fund, one of the first of its kind, and helped open and lead the firm’s Brazilian office. He began his post-MBA career in the New York office of the Sprout Group, the venture capital affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he helped develop the firm’s medical-device investment practice.

Schwed currently serves as Chair of the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College. He previously served on the Board from 2010 to 2022, including as Chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Investment Committee. In the latter role, he helped oversee the College’s endowment, including its 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. A citizen of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Argentina, he speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.