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Corporate Moves

Brown University Names New Investment Managers

Joseph Dowling III, Jane Dietze promoted to CEO, CIO respectively.

By Michael Katz

Brown University has promoted CIO Joseph Dowling III to the newly created role of CEO of its investment office and named Jane Dietze, currently managing director, as its new CIO. Both promotions were effective as of July 1.

Dowling and Dietze will work directly with Brown’s investment committee to implement the investment strategy for the university’s $3.7 billion endowment.

As CEO, Dowling, who had been Brown’s CIO since 2013, will lead the development of new partnerships for the investment office, develop investment opportunities, and support the university on key strategic projects. Dietze, who joined the investment office as managing director in 2013, will manage the investment office’s operations, and will lead the capital allocation and investment process for Brown.

“The complexity and scope of the requirements of the role of chief investment officer for Brown have continued to grow,” Robert Goodman, chair of the investment committee, said in a release. “We recognized an opportunity to separate the core executive and investment functions into two complementary roles.”

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Before joining Brown, Dowling was the founder and CEO of Narragansett Asset Management, where he managed funds for institutions, pension funds, and endowments. He has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University.

Prior to Brown, Dietze served as the director of private equity at Bowdoin College. Before she joined Bowdoin, she was a managing director in the credit funds group at Fortress Investment. Dietze was also previously a general partner at Columbia Capital Corp., a private equity fund focused on information technology and communications.

Dietze earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University, and a master’s degree in international economics and Russian studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

The university also named Joshua Kennedy as the investment office’s managing director, filling the void created by Dietze’s promotion. A 1997 graduate of Brown, Kennedy joined the office as investment director in 2016.

According to the university, the endowment’s performance was in the top quartile of endowments and foundations for three-, five- and 10-year trailing periods, as measured by Cambridge Associates through the end of fiscal year 2017.

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Home > News > Regulation > SEC Charges KBR with Inflating Performance Metric
Regulation

SEC Charges KBR with Inflating Performance Metric

Firm agrees to pay $2.5 million fine to settle with regulator.

By Michael Katz

Engineering and construction company KBR Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty to settle SEC charges that it inflated a key performance metric known as work in backlog.  

KBR’s work in backlog is an important metric of its business. It is mentioned in the company’s press releases, and analysts cite it when evaluating the company’s performance. According to the company’s SEC filings, backlog represents the dollar amount of revenue it expects to realize in the future as a result of performing work on contracts awarded. 

“Non-financial statement metrics such as backlog can provide additional insight to investors regarding a company’s performance,” Shamoil Shipchandler, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, said in a release.  “To the extent that companies use these kinds of metrics, they must ensure they are accurate and not misleading.”

The SEC found that in the second quarter of 2012, KBR included $459 million in its publicly disclosed backlog for one of seven contracts it entered into to complete pipe fabrication and modular assembly contracts in Canada. However, KBR had not received any firm orders under the contract, and therefore violated its internal reporting policies, and misled investors by overstating its work in backlog by including the $459 million in its disclosures.

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According to the SEC’s charges, the inaccurate backlog recording remained in place during the next six quarters, even after it became clear that KBR was receiving far fewer work authorizations under the contract than expected.

Following an investigation led by its audit committee, KBR concluded that a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting existed in the Canadian pipe fabrication and modular assembly business, which it blamed on insufficiently trained personnel.

The committee also determined that there was an ineffective control environment, because the culture at the Canadian pipe fabrication and modular assembly business “facilitated delayed identification and communication of project concerns and the proper preparation of complete and accurate estimates,” said the SEC’s order.

KBR neither admitted nor denied the allegations, but consented to entry of the SEC’s order.

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