University Adds Chief Investment Officer

Pamela H. Peedin, formerly a managing director and investment consultant for Cambridge Associates LLC, has been named Boston University’s first chief investment officer. She starts her new job on May 14.

Joseph Mercurio, executive vice president of the University, says the appointment is a major step forward and one that will shift the management function of BU’s investment portfolio from a Board of Trustees committee to a senior executive.

“The CIO will change the paradigm of how the University will oversee its investment portfolio,” Mercurio says.

Currently, the Board’s Investment Committee meets monthly to oversee the University’s portfolio. As the CIO, Peedin will manage BU’s investments on a day-to-day basis, using the committee as an advisory board to provide input, set policy, and determine investment strategies.

Peedin’s first order of business, Mercurio says, will be to familiarize herself with BU’s already structured portfolio of investments. “Once she’s done that,” he says, “she will have to go out and meet many of the investment advisors that we use and portfolio managers that we have funds invested with to familiarize herself at a fairly detailed level with the types of investments that underlie the portfolios.”

Mercurio says that bringing on board a chief investment officer is necessary for two reasons: first, because the University’s endowment now exceeds $1 billion and requires active, day-to-day oversight. Second, trustee Peter Vermilye, chairman of the Investment Committee for more than 30 years, will be retiring from the position at the end of this year.

“It seemed like an appropriate time for transition,” says Mercurio. “Pamela brings some really excellent experience that is highly compatible with what we need here at Boston University.”

President Robert Brown says the University’s endowment will be increasingly important for the funding of core programs. “The trustees and senior leadership join me in welcoming Pamela Peedin to Boston University,” he says. “We are very excited to have her as a member of our team and at the helm of the endowment investment. Pam’s outstanding experience and knowledge will guide these efforts.”

For the past nine years, Peedin’s client focus at Boston-based Cambridge Associates has been colleges, universities, cultural organizations, foundations, and independent schools. In her consulting capacity, she’s worked with clients on investment issues such as asset allocation strategy, manager sourcing and selection, and investment program evaluation, as well as cultivated a specialty focus in marketable alternatives. In several relationships, she worked intensively with clients to provide integrated advice across all asset classes, acting as driver of oversight and results, while managing the rest of the consulting team to conduct portfolio administration and performance monitoring.

Founded in 1973, Cambridge Associates delivers investment consulting, independent research, and performance monitoring services to more than 750 institutional clients worldwide.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Boston University community,” says Peedin. “I’m looking forward to working collaboratively with the University’s Investment Committee in managing the endowment to achieve strong, sustainable, long-term returns that will benefit current and future generations of students.”

Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, Peedin earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Nicole Laskowski can be reached at nicolel@bu.edu.