Harvard Management Company

Infobox_Company
company_name = Harvard Management Company
company_
company_type = Nonprofit
foundation = 1974
location = Boston, Massachusetts
key_people = Jane Mendillo, CEO and President
Marc Seidner, Vice President for Domestic Fixed Income
homepage = [http://www.hmc.harvard.edu , www.hmc.harvard.edu]
industry = Finance and Insurance

Harvard Management Company (HMC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvard University, charged with managing the university's endowment, pension assets, working capital, and non-cash gifts. [cite web | author="Harvard Management Company" | year=2008| title="About HMC" | url=http://hmc.harvard.edu/about_hmc/ | access date=March 24 | accessyear=2008] HMC is perhaps best known for managing the university's $34.9 billion endowment, [cite web | author="The Wall Street Journal" | year=2007| title="Harvard's Fund Returns 23%, Boosting Size to $34.9 Billion" | url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118771455093604172.html | access date=August 21| accessyear=2007] the largest endowment in higher education. [cite web | author="The Harvard Crimson" | year=2005| title="Super-Size Me" | url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=508665 | access date=May 15| accessyear=2006]

The company employs financial professionals to manage the approximately 11,000 funds that constitute the endowment. The company directly manages about 60% of the total endowment portfolio, while working closely with the external companies that manage the rest. [cite web | author="Harvard College Fund" | year=2008| title="The Endowment" | url=http://post.harvard.edu/harvard/hcf/html/hcf_fas_endowment.htm#10 | access date=March 24| accessyear=2008] The HMC is headed by a professional, who is appointed the title of president and chief executive officer of the company. Its well-known recent president Jack Meyer managed HMC from 1990 to September 30, 2005, beginning with an endowment worth $4.8 billion and ending with a value of $25.9 billion (including new contributions). During the last decade of his tenure, the endowment earned an annualized return of 15.9%. [cite web | author="BusinessWeek" | year=2005| title="Harvard Loses an Investing Star" | url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2005/nf20050112_5034_db016.htm | access date=March 24| accessyear=2008]

Management

The university hired Mohamed A. El-Erian to succeed Jack Meyer as HMC's next president and CEO. Mr. El-Erian came from the bond trading company Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) and has pledged to "rebuild and reinvent" the company. He announced his leaving September 12 to return to PIMCO after guiding the endowment to a one-year return of 23%. [cite web | author="The New York Times" | year=2007| title="Fund Chief at Harvard Will Depart" | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/business/12endow.html | access date=September 12| accessyear=2007]

Harvard University announced that Jane Mendillo will become the new head of Harvard Management Co., effective July 1. Mendillo has been Wellesley College’s chief investment officer since 2002. Prior to that, Mendillo served as vice president for external management at Harvard Management Co. A 1984 graduate of Yale University who got her MBA at Yale’s School of Management, Mendillo first joined Harvard Management Co. as an equities analyst in 1987. [cite web | author="Boston Herald" | year=2008| title="Harvard Management Co. appoints new chief" | url=http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1083226&srvc=rss | access date=March 27| accessyear=2008]

Marc Seidner has also joined HMC as vice president for domestic fixed income in an effort to revamp the company's bond division. Mr. Seidner was previously the director of active core strategies at Standish Mellon Asset Management. [Mossavar, Cyrus. "Harvard Management Company Hires Two Senior Exercutives in Plan to Remake HMC" "The Harvard Crimson", April 20, 2006.]

Harvard Management Company and Harken Energy

In 2002, Harvard Management Company was linked to George W. Bush's Harken Energy scandal, more appropriately known as the "Harken Energy kerfuffle," since no wrongdoing was found to have occurred in this "scandal" by any investigating authority. [Kranish, Michael. " [http://unansweredquestions.org/index.php/2002/07/19/uq-wire-harvards-millions-poured-into-harken/ Harvard fund poured millions into Bush-connected oil firm: Family connection raised as factor] ". The Boston Globe, July 18, 2002, p. A12] [ [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=217942 Harvard Stock Under Scrutiny] The Harvard Crimson, July 19, 2002.] [Conason, Joe. [http://dir.salon.com/story/news/col/cona/2002/07/11/bush/index.html Did those "boutique" liberals bail out Bush?] (Salon.com, July 11, 2002)] Specifically, Michael R. Eisenson, who would later found private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners was the Harvard representative on the Harken Energy board when Harvard made a $30 million investment into the ill fated oil company venture. [Fitts, Catherine Austin. [http://www.newsmakingnews.com/catharvardmain.htm THE MONEY LORDS OF HARVARD: HOW THE MONEY WORKS AT THE WORLD'S RICHEST UNIVERSITY] ] At the time, employees were accused of improperly investing their own money into Harken but Harvard deemed those investments appropriate. [ [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=255426 Harvard Investors Call Harken Deal Clean] The Harvard Crimson, November 21, 2002]

Notes

External links

Articles

* [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118771455093604172.html "The Wall Street Journal" :: "Harvard's Fund Returns 23%, Boosting Size to $34.9 Billion"]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513308 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "Endowment Chief Speaks to Students"]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512897 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "Harvard Management Company Hires Two Senior Executives in Plan to Remake HMC"]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510756 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "HMC Salaries Fall From Highs"]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509123 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "Top Bond Manager to Lead Endowment"]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=508767 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "Endowment Reaches $25.9 Billion"]

Further reading

* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=511091 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "Ex-HMC Chief Opens $6B Fund"]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=511157 "The Harvard Crimson" :: "Yale's Chief Investor Says HMC Overpays"]