Johns Hopkins Taps Money Manager Specialist for Endowment Post

(Bloomberg) -- The new chief investment officer for Johns Hopkins University's endowment specializes in selecting outside money managers.

Jason Perlioni, 43, will use his expertise at the Baltimore-based university, where he'll be charged with finding and managing outside advisers for more than $6 billion for the endowment of both the university and hospital as well as other assets, the university said Tuesday. Perlioni starts July 1.

“I have spent time with Jason, and know him by reputation, and look forward to working with him to grow the university's financial assets in the coming years,” Andrew Conner, deputy chief investment officer who is interim CIO, said in an email.

Global Portfolios

Perlioni was chief investment officer of Chicago-based Pritzker Asset Management, a unit of Pritzker Group, for the past 10 years. He was responsible for the group's global investment portfolios, including allocations to external investment managers across asset classes, the university said.

He previously was a portfolio manager at Northwestern University's endowment, where he managed hedge fund and distressed credit portfolios at the endowment, according to a bio on Pritzker's website.

Johns Hopkins's endowment was valued at about $3.3 billion at the end of June. In fiscal 2016, the fund had an investment loss of 0.5 percent. U.S. college endowments suffered their biggest loss -- 1.9 percent on average -- since 2009, according to a survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and money manager Commonfund.

Second Chief

The endowment had an average annual gain 5.6 percent in the past 10 years. That's better than the average 5 percent for endowments, according to Nacubo, but still below the median 7.4 percent most say they expect to earn over time.

Perlioni will be Johns Hopkins' second chief investment officer. He succeeds Kathryn Crecelius, who established the university's investment office in 2005 and retired last year.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Kate Smith in New York at ksmith304@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mary Romano at mromano6@bloomberg.net.