Home ListingJune 21, 2016

Harvard Cuts More Equities Staff Members

Harvard’s endowment is further reducing staff size and discontinuing direct equity investments.<br />

Reported by Featured Author

On the heels of last month’s layoffs, Harvard University’s endowment has further downsized its in-house equities team.

The downsizing—announced in an employee memo obtained by CIO—includes the departure of Mike Ryan, head of public markets and absolute return.

A total of four staffers left Harvard Management Company on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The endowment had eliminated eight positions as of last month.

The internal email, sent by Interim CEO Bob Ettl, said the departures stem from an increased focus on external manager relationships, as well as a consolidation of internal platforms. The in-house equities team will be merged with the fixed income, credit, and commodities group to form a single public-markets platform, Ettl said.

The fund will also discontinue its strategy of selective direct equity investments.

“We continuously evaluate how we can best allocate capital and leverage HMC’s comparative advantages to maximize performance over the long term,” a firm spokesperson said.

René Canezin, named interim co-chair of HMC’s investment committee with Rich Hall during CEO Stephen Blyth’s medical leave, will oversee the entire internal public markets platform in addition to his current responsibilities as head of natural resources.

A search will be conducted to replace Ryan as head of absolute return and public markets. In the meantime, Managing Director Elise McDonald will oversee the team.