New York University Endowment Loses CIO

Tina Surh will leave the $3.5 billion endowment on December 31, 2014 after five years as chief investment officer.

New York University’s (NYU) endowment will be short a CIO in the coming year with the departure of current chief Tina Surh. 

The university confirmed that her resignation from the $3.5 billion fund would be effective December 31, 2014.

“Tina has dedicated herself to NYU’s success and has been integral to our efforts to build and protect the endowment,” said Martin Dorph, executive vice president of finance. “She has played a leading role in building the investment function from the ground up and driving substantial development across all aspects of the endowment’s portfolio and management.”

Surh was promoted to CIO in 2009—four years into her career at NYU—inheriting a fund that had lost 11% that fiscal year. As CIO, she also worked closely with hedge fund magnate and former chairman of the endowment’s investment committee Michael Steinhardt.

“Together with my colleagues and the indispensable guidance of the board, we accomplished an incredible amount in creating the NYU endowment’s growth platform while at the same time ensuring it would be resilient to the stresses of the global financial market,” Surh said.

During her tenure, the endowment more than doubled in size from $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion. The university also said the fund returned 8.5% annually for the five years ending September 31, 2014, “meaningfully outperforming its long-term policy benchmark return of 7.1%.”

The endowment returned 13.7% in the fiscal year ending August 31, 2014.

Prior to NYU, Surh worked on manager research and selection with Princeton University’s endowment. She also served as a direct private equity investor with middle market buyout and growth equity investment manager DCMI and began her career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company.

The departing CIO holds a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

According to NYU Local, a news blog run by NYU students, Surh earned $690,265 in 2013.

NYU’s spokesperson confirmed that the university has begun a search for Surh’s successor.

Related Content: Harvard Names New Endowment Head, Underperforms Peers in 2014

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