The Office of Investments

Under the oversight of the CFO, Paul Ellinger, the Office of Investments oversees the investment of the University System’s Operating and Endowment assets, including farmland donated to the University.

Operating and Endowment assets are invested through carefully selected external investment firms, while farmland is primarily managed internally by the Agricultural Property Services department.

$202.9M was distributed to System Units in FY24.

SUPPORTING OUR UNIVERSITIES

The Investment Program generates investment income that is distributed to units across the University System.
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$4.90B
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT
$3.66B
OPERATING POOL

Over the past five years, the Endowment Pool's diversity allocation has increased more than 300%.

SAFEKEEPING ASSETS

The investment objective for the Endowment Pool is to preserve the purchasing power of pool assets and provide annual support for an infinite period.

The investment objective for the Operating Pool is to preserve the value of the principal, maintain liquidity appropriate to the forecasted working capital requirements of the System, provide prudent diversification and maximize the rate of return on investment.

The Endowment Pool ranked in the top decile relative to peers for the 10 year period as of June 2020.

OUR STAFF

Photo of Geri Melchiorre

GERI MELCHIORRE

Sr. Director of Investments

Photo of Misty Lockhart

MISTY LOCKHART

Associate Director,
Investment Operations

Photo of Nick Schmidt

NICK SCHMIDT

Coordinator, Investment Operations

Photo of Nick Schmidt

RAEGAN SMITH

Investment Analyst, Investment Operations

PROSPECTIVE INVESTMENT MANAGERS

Given limited staffing and the high volume of investment opportunities that our office receives, we work through our consultant, Fund Evaluation Group (FEG) on fund sourcing.

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