(October 22, 2009) – The $3.6 billion Rice University endowment will be managed now by an internal company similar to that seen with larger American endowments.
The new company—christened the Rice Management Co. (RMC)—will still be part of the university and is not a separate legal entity, according to the Houston Business Journal. However, RMC will have its own bylaws and a separate board of directors, all of whom will be appointed by the university’s board of trustees.
Scott Wise, formerly the Vice President for Investments and the university’s Treasurer, will be RMC’s President. Under him will be 13 investment managers.
Although Rice had a poor year investment-wise—dropping 18.2% in fiscal 2009—it actually performed better than the two largest American university endowments, Harvard and Yale. Both of these Ivy funds utilize slightly differing versions of internal management.
To contact the <em>aiCIO</em> editor of this story: Kristopher McDaniel at <a href='mailto:kmcdaniel@assetinternational.com'>kmcdaniel@assetinternational.com</a>