Cornell University’s investment office reported that the university’s endowment returned 12.5% for the year ended June 30, raising the fund to an all-time high value of $6.8 billion.
The double-digit returns were led by the endowment’s private equity investments, and public equity investments, which the investment office said benefited from broad gains in global equity markets, particularly in Europe, and in emerging economies.
“We are pleased that the endowment generated solid investment performance this year,” said Donald Opatrny, a Cornell trustee, and chair of the board’s investment committee, “and we will continue the work of positioning the endowment to drive superior investment performance.”
The Office of University Investments said it conducted comprehensive reviews of each asset class, as well as its overall approach to managing the endowment, in order to boost the endowments’ “performance over the time, increase endowment flexibility, reduce fees and increase responsiveness to changing investment trends.”
Kenneth Miranda, Cornell’s CIO, said the initiatives helped the endowment’s performance during the previous fiscal year. He also said that ongoing reviews are expected to produce additional improvements.
Miranda, the former director of the International Monetary Fund’s investment office who was named by Cornell as its CIO in April of 2016, also said that 2017 was a transitional year for the endowment and for investment office staff as they “implemented significant changes to portfolio strategy and management and moved to New York City.”
At the same time last year, the endowment reported a one year loss of 3.3%.Tags: Cornell University, Endowment, Fiscal Year