PIMCO Snags Harvard Talent

(July 13, 2011) — Pacific Investment Management Co., the manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, has hired John Devir after he accepted a position as a managing director at Harvard University’s $27.6 billion endowment.

While Devir was scheduled to begin this month working at Harvard Management Co., where he would have been in charge of developed market stocks, he changed his mind and joined PIMCO as an executive vice president. At Harvard, Devir would have reported to Stephen Blyth, head of internal management.

Describing the structure of Harvard’s endowment, aiCIO wrote in its Summer 2009 issue: “One of the rarer features of the Harvard endowment is its hybrid nature–a portion of the money is managed internally while the rest is invested with external managers. The benefit is clear: Have the manager with the best track record investing your money and you’re likely to get the best returns, regardless of where they work. Under Meyer, Harvard did just that. Instead of sticking to internal managers, Harvard pursued the best investors wherever they were.”

It’s not the first time PIMCO has feasted on Harvard talent. Mohamed El-Erian re-joined PIMCO at the end of 2007 after serving for two years as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, leaving on short notice. At PIMCO, he is now expanding the firm’s lineup of funds, Bloomberg reported. El-Erian’s successor at Harvard, Jane Mendillo, took over the endowment in July 2008.

Similarly, in 2006, Jack Meyer, the former head of Harvard University’s in-house management arm of Harvard Management Co., left to join hedge fund Convexity Capital Management.

Previously, Devir was managing director and head of equity strategies at Barclays Capital Inc. Before that position, he spent three years in a similar role at Lehman Brothers and was director of U.S. and European equity proprietary trading at Credit Suisse First Boston.