Credit crunch, Madoff, Lehman brothers – we are all wise after the event. But what does it take not to lose all your savings.

Leora Meridor is an experienced  banker and wife of a minister in the Israeli government. She sits on the board of many leading international companies. So what? How many others can point to similar resumes and still lost their trousers?

In March 2009, she was appointed by Tel Aviv University as head of their committee to supervise the institutions’ investments. No small matter. In Jerusalem, the Madoff crisis had wiped out a series of student grants. Tel Aviv’s portfolio had lost over US$40 million over the previous 6 months.

First of all, Meridor opened up the files to understand for herself what her portfolio contained. In other words, she got her hands dirty and did not merely rely on advisors.

She then realised who her client is – an academic institution, which should not be looking to take risks for short term gains.

The President of the university may not have liked her active intervention. Yes, as stock markets have zoomed up by tens of percentage points, the portfolio has missed out some of these gains.

As the global crisis demonstrated, Rome can be built in a day. But it can also collapse in a matter of hours. Tel Aviv University, a fine house of academia, now has a much firmer financial future to develop a path of learning for others.