Major U.S. nonprofits love the investment talent at Carnegie Corporation.
The $11 billion foundation has lost three senior staffers so far this month, all of them hired as chief investment officers by peer institutions.
Women’s college Bryn Mawr has nabbed Carnegie managing director Brooke Jones as the inaugural CIO of its $888 million endowment, according to the school’s president. Jones follows Carnegie chief Kim Lew, who is departing to take over Columbia University’s massive and high-profile endowment. Another managing director also recently accepted a nonprofit CIO role elsewhere, sources said.
Carnegie Corporation’s plan for replacing these outgoing investment leaders is not yet clear.
Jones joins the Pennsylvania liberal arts college in mid-October, Bryn Mawr president Kim Cassidy told stakeholders in a recent letter.
She is starting an investment office from scratch. “One of Brooke’s first efforts will be to recruit a strong and diverse team, which will be based in New York City. Brooke herself will be on campus each week,” Cassidy wrote.
A group of trustees, aided by investment consult Cambridge Associates, has voluntarily steered the portfolio until now — a common arrangement for small and mid-sized nonprofits. Around the $1 billion mark, organizations often choose to professionalize and bring in dedicated investment staff.
The trustees have built an alternatives-heavy portfolio, similar in asset allocation to many Yale-aspiring U.S. endowment funds, financial statements show.
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Listed equity represented a little more than a third ($316.5 million) of the $888 million portfolio as of May 31, 2019. Private equity, including venture capital, amounted to a quarter ($222 million), and real assets took up almost $100 million. Bryn Mawr had $132 million invested in hedge funds or “diversifying strategies.” Just $75 million — or 8.5 percent — was in fixed income.
Cassidy praised the transition committee for supplying “the college with an outstanding pool of applicants during a tumultuous time.”
Bryn Mawr hired the go-to executive recruiting firm for elite endowments — David Barrett Partners — to help with the search. Barrett, reached by email Wednesday morning, said “DBP is proud to be part of a highly selective process that resulted in such a good outcome for all involved.”
Jones has worked at Carnegie since 2012, and previously managed public equities investments at Stanford University’s endowment.
