As MetaEzra first reported back in February, Donald Fehrs, Cornell’s (largely successful) Chief Investment Officer for the last three years, stepped down this past spring. The University is now announcing his replacement: a British national by the name of James Walsh. Walsh is fairly young – probably no older than 40 or 45, and was previously the ‘Executive Director of Strategy and Alternatives’ for Hermes, a very large pension and investment management firm in London. Prior to that, he worked for the consulting arm of the same company that publishes everybody’s favorite neo-liberal newsmagazine: The Economist. Walsh’s forte appears to be the buzzword that everybody is talking about today: hedge funds. Hedge funds are the largely unregulated and speculative financial vehicles that can bring enormous reward—and risk—to investors. Walsh has spoken at conferences on how to best manage a portfolio of hedge funds, and has also been quoted as being bullish on the often risky commodities market. One can only hope that Walsh will execute Cornell’s endowment with sound management skills as the global economy transitions into a more unpredictable era. And for the time being, I have confidence that he will not treat the University’s entire endowment as a huge hedge fund. Sure, capital appreciation is great, but there is also a lot to be said about capital preservation—especially when the well-being of the university is at stake. n.b. The Cornell News Service also reports that the University’s endowment now stands at $5 billion dollars. If this is true, this number reflects an incredibly large 33 percent increase over the $3.8 billion reported in 2005 (and even more over the $3.3 billion reported in 2004). It most likely reflects both an increase in investment returns and an increase in giving coinciding with the start of the capital campaign, and most certainly points to the fact that the University's fiscal position is strong and is strengthening.
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