Robert Boulware

Technology Management Program, UC Santa Barbara

Robert Boulware is a lecturer at UC Santa Barbara’s Technology Management Program, where he teaches venture capital and private equity through the lens of real-world investing. His career spans public and private markets, with deep experience in fund innovation, asset management leadership, and expanding access to private market investments.

Boulware began his investment career in the public markets and previously served as President and CEO of ING Funds Distributors, where he led one of the nation’s largest mutual fund complexes. During his tenure, he was responsible for corporate strategy, investment product development, and institutional and retail business leadership across a multibillion-dollar platform.

He currently serves as Chair of the Investment Committee for Brighthouse Financial Trust, which oversees investment strategy for over $110 billion in assets tied to one of the largest variable annuity platforms in the U.S. In this role, he helps guide long-duration capital allocation across public and private asset classes in support of long-term retirement income and insurance obligations.

Boulware is also the creator and founding architect of The Private Shares Fund, the first SEC-registered retail mutual fund to offer interval-fund access to late-stage, venture-backed private companies. With more than $1 billion in assets under management, the fund represents a pioneering step toward democratizing access to private markets for individual investors and financial advisors.

At UCSB, Boulware teaches TMP 191VC/PE, an applied course in venture capital and private equity covering capital formation, term sheets, fund structures, secondary liquidity, and emerging market dynamics. His instruction integrates institutional investing frameworks, evolving fund design models, and live case studies from industry leaders to prepare students for careers in innovation finance and entrepreneurship.

He is widely recognized for his thought leadership on the structural evolution of private markets—including evergreen and interval fund innovation, secondary liquidity solutions, and the convergence of public and private capital frameworks. Boulware holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) from Northern Arizona University and remains actively engaged as a mentor, speaker, and advocate for next-generation investing.