News and Notes

Harvard Management Company, which manages Harvard’s $34.9 billion endowment, has named a new president and chief executive. Jane Mendillo, a 49-year-old Yale alumna, will take over the position on July 1 following a six-year tenure as the chief investment officer (CIO) for Wellesley College’s endowment.

Mendillo will join Harvard President Drew Faust as a woman serving in a top position at Harvard and will be one of the six women among the managers of the 25 largest university endowments in the nation.

At Wellesley, Mendillo oversaw endowment growth from $1 billion to $1.7 billion between 2002 and 2007. Before working at Wellesley, Mendillo spent 15 years with Harvard Management Company, rising to the position of vice president for external management, where she oversaw $7 billion of endowment investments.

Harvard Business School professor Robert Kaplan has been serving as the fund’s interim manager since Nov. 12, when the previous president, Mohamed El-Erian, left Harvard to become co-CEO and co-CIO at Pacific Investment Management Company.

El-Erian left Harvard after less than two years with the endowment, following the 15-year presidency of Jack Meyer. Meyer left Harvard in 2005 amid criticism over top manager income. He then started his own hedge fund, taking many Harvard Management Company staff members with him.

Mendillo’s income prospects have not been disclosed, though her salary is expected to be tied to the fund’s performance, according to the Wall Street Journal. El-Erian was paid $6.5 million for the fiscal year ending in 2007.

Princeton’s $15.8 billion endowment is run by the Princeton University Investment Company, whose president, Andrew Golden, was paid $1.1 million for the fiscal year ending in 2006.