Brown University Names New Investment Managers

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.”

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.