Jane L. Mendillo is an American investor, endowment fund manager, and philanthropist. She was the president and chief executive officer of the Harvard Management Company, charged with managing Harvard University's endowment. She led the investment team from 2008 to 2014, when the endowment was valued at $36.4 billion, having recovered fully from the impact of the global financial crisis. Prior to leading the company, from 1987-2002, she was in charge of managing the endowment's domestic equities, venture capital, natural resources investments and charitable trusts. After 15 years in various investment positions at Harvard Management Company, in 2002 she was tapped to be the chief investment officer at Wellesley College. She left Wellesley in 2008, leaving the endowment at $1.67 billion. In the summer of 2008, she returned to Harvard Management as President and CEO. Her time at Harvard was marked by the financial crisis of 2007-2008, during which the University was under severe financial strain, and the endowment came under significant pressure to provide substantial liquidity and perform. In 2009, Forbes Magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women List placed Mendillo as number 37, before Margaret Chan and after Hillary Clinton.
Previous to her graduating with a M.B.A. she worked in the office of investments at Yale University from 1980 to 1982. During 1983, she worked with Lord Abbett in New York as an equities analyst. Jane Mendillo was a management consultant with Bain & Company in Boston from 1984 to 1987.
Harvard beginnings
Jane was employed by the Harvard Management Company from 1987-2001. She occupied various roles, including vice president of external management, in which she had investment responsibility for $7 billion in Harvard assets, including $6 billion in externally managed investments for the Harvard endowment, and $1 billion in Harvard pension and related accounts. Jane's other positions at Harvard Management included domestic equities investment, venture capital investment, and the management and investment of charitable trusts and gifts.
Wellesley's endowment
After fifteen years at Harvard she was tapped by Wellesley College in 2002 to create and lead their investment team. She was the chief investment officer at Wellesley College from 2002 to 2008 and was responsible for the investment policy and management of the College's endowment. During her tenure the college's endowment increased from $1.03 billion to $1.67 billion USD.
Return to Harvard's endowment
She returned to Harvard as its president and chief executive officer on July 1, 2008 and was responsible for directing its $36.9 billion endowment. She assumed leadership of the endowment management team just before the 2008 financial crisis and is credited with kept the university's liquidity above water, although the investments suffered a sharp 27.3% decrease in market value in her first year at the helm. As markets recovered in 2010 and 2011, the endowment posted positive returns of 11%, and 21%, respectively. A the end of fiscal year 2011 as reported by the college's magazine, the endowment had recovered substantially, increasing from $27.6 billion to $32.0 billion, while simultaneously providing hundred of millions of dollars to the University's budget. At the conclusion of the 2014 fiscal year the endowment posted a gain of +15.4%, increasing its value to $36.4 billion, the largest in among all US Universities. The endowment over her tenure exceeded both the University's long term target returns and its market benchmarks. It was reported that her compensation from 2008 to 2014 rose significantly, starting at approximately $2.5 million, eventually leading to a compensation package of $13.8 million in 2014. She retired from managing Harvard's endowment in 2014.
Personal life
Jane lives in Concord, Massachusetts with her husband, Ralph Earle III, and their two children, Elizabeth and Thomas. Mendillo is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and also a member of the boards of directors of General Motors and Lazard. She was previously a member of the Yale University Investment Committee, Rockefeller Foundation Investment Committee, the Mellon Foundation Board and Investment Committee, and the chair of the investment committees of Partners Healthcare System and The Investment Fund for Foundations. Forbes Magazine included Mendillo in the 100 Most Powerful Women list of 2009.
