After several months of searching, the Virginia Tech Foundation has hired a new chief investment officer.
David Greenberg, who was the CIO at the California Endowment, has been hired by the VTF to establish operations and expand its investment team in Richmond, Virginia, the foundation confirmed to Institutional Investor on Wednesday.
“I am pleased to join VTF at this moment in time,” Greenberg said in a statement. “The increasing complexity of markets demands sophisticated investment acumen to guide university endowments. It is an honor to join my VTF colleagues as a steward of Virginia Tech’s assets, to guide the capital decisions that will advance the University’s vision.”
VTF’s assets roughly doubled over the past seven years, hitting roughly $2.8 billion as of June 2023. The growth prompted the organization to hire a consultant to help with staff expansion in July 2022, Institutional Investor’s Essential Allocator newsletter reported at the time.
In November, II reported that Dan Ward transitioned into a portfolio manager role and would support the organization “in many other ways” moving forward. At the time, VTF hired David Barrett Partners to recruit for the CIO post.
According to VTF CEO Elizabeth McClanahan, Greenberg is arriving at an important time for the foundation. “As we celebrate 75 years of serving the university, its students, its faculty, and its community, we look forward to launching investment initiatives that maximize potential and equip the university to fulfill its mission,” she said in a statement.
VTF manages Virginia Tech University’s endowment, in addition to an extensive real estate portfolio. In 2022, VTF nearly doubled its allocation to real estate, hitting 9.5 percent. Like many of its peers in 2022, VTF saw its public equities decline and its private equity allocation rise. VTF also reduced cash holdings and added 7.4 percent to its total Treasury bond allocation.
The organization’s particular structure — acting as an asset manager for Virginia Tech, rather than operating within the university — informs its investment style.
“Operating separately, VTF manages and grows the university’s assets, which include the generous gifts given to the university directly by donors,” said Starlette Johnson, chair of the VTF board. “As these assets port over to VTF, it is essential, especially during this era of vast global change, for VTF to sustain investment practices that advance growth and remain aligned with the university’s strategic priorities.”
Greenberg joins after spending nearly 13 years at the California Endowment, which manages $4 billion. He worked his way into the role from a deputy CIO post, earning a promotion in 2021 after ex-CIO Ruth Wernig retired. As CIO, he managed a team of eight.
Other previous roles include head of absolute return at the University of Southern California and vice president and portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Alternative Asset Management.
As for the California Endowment’s next steps? A spokeswoman for the organization said: “We do not comment on personnel matters, so we can only confirm that David Greenberg is no longer employed at the endowment. As for his replacement, we are in process of determining that process and do not have anything to release at this time.”
