Commencement Program - Denison University

During the past 13 and one-half years, Jack Meyer has served as
president and CEO of Harvard Management Co. Inc., (HMC), a
nonprofit subsidiary of Harvard University that manages its
endowment portfolio and is based in Cambridge, Mass. During
that period he has grown the endowment from $5.1 billion in
September 1990 to nearly $19.3 billion at the end of June 2003,
giving Harvard the largest endowment of any university in the
United States. Meyer justifiably has been called a gifted investment
strategist and an adept manager, as well as the “Ty Cobb of funds
management.”
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Meyer graduated from Denison
in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. He
continued his education at Harvard Business School, entering as
one of the youngest members of his class and, according to his
recollections, too intimidated to speak up in class for the first six
months. He was awarded an M.B.A. in 1969, and for the following
three years was a security analyst and investment officer with
Brown Brothers Harriman, a private bank in New York City. From
1973 to 1979, Meyer was associated with Lionel D. Edie, an
investment counseling firm in New York City, working in the
research department initially and then in portfolio management
beginning in 1975. He was named chief portfolio officer in 1977.
He next became deputy controller of New York City, managing
the city’s pension funds, sinking funds and treasury funds – about
$20 billion in total – until 1983.
JOHN R. MEYER ’67
Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa
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In that year he was named treasurer and chief investment officer
of the Rockefeller Foundation, responsible for the management
of the foundation’s endowment of $2.1 billion. He served in that
capacity until joining HMC in 1990.
With a staff of 120, HMC manages Harvard’s endowment
assets, pension funds and the charitable trusts and pooled income
funds generated by planned gifts. With a 12.5% return on its
endowment investments for fiscal 2003, Harvard’s gain was not
only one of the highest among colleges in the United States, but
also among large financial funds generally. According to Meyer,
Harvard kept a diversified portfolio with about 22 percent bond
(domestic, foreign and inflation-indexed), 43 percent equities
(domestic, foreign, emerging markets and private) and the
remainder in commodities, real estate and investments chosen
for their absolute return or high yield.
The endowment provides long-term fiscal stability for student
financial aid, the faculty and academic programs. Much of Meyer’s
success is credited to his ability to attract and retain highly talented
and successful portfolio managers and staff to HMC, as well as his
use of a policy portfolio benchmark structure to guide investment
policy.
He and his wife Elizabeth, who is a former researcher and
reporter for Time Magazine, are the parents of Justus and Halsey,
both of whom are students at Harvard. Meyer’s sister Gail ’63 and
brother Richard ’71 are also graduates of Denison. Gail and her
husband Greg Gibson are in the audience today.