Jane Mendillo has been chosen as the new president and chief executive officer of the Harvard Management Company, which runs the university’s $35-billion endowment, Harvard officials announced today.
Ms. Mendillo, the chief investment officer at Wellesley College since 2002, will be Harvard’s first woman endowment manager when she takes office July 1. She’s no stranger to the Harvard management group, however, having served as a senior investment officer under Jack R. Meyer, who increased the fund to $26-billion from $5-billion in his 15 years as manager.
The top endowment chiefs in higher education are rock stars on Wall Street, which pays close attention to their investment strategies. As a result, some of the wealthiest universities have struggled to retain their fund managers, who can command giant salaries in private industry. Ms. Mendillo’s predecessor at Harvard, Mohamed A. El-Erian, left after less than two years on the job.
Ms. Mendillo has been successful at Wellesley, where the endowment grew to $1.7-billion last year, from $1-billion in 2002. And with 15 years of experience working with Harvard’s endowment, she knows that the university has come under fire for the high compensation it awards to fund managers. Mr. Meyer’s annual pay crested at about $7-million before he left to run a hedge fund. —Paul Fain