PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 11, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hirtle Callaghan, pioneers of the Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) model, announced today that John W. Griffith, former Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Bryn Mawr College, has joined the firm as an Endowment Risk manager. He will lead Hirtle Callaghan's 3-D Endowment Risk Assessment™ -- a concept the firm introduced at the 2008 NACUBO (National Association of College and University Business Officers) conference in New York.
A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=27602
Griffith brings nearly three decades of experience in higher education finance and endowment management to his new position. At Bryn Mawr College, he oversaw an $850 million endowment, managed cash, issued debt and was responsible for budgeting and strategic planning. His efforts in modernizing Bryn Mawr's financial structure were credited with Bryn Mawr being one of the few colleges whose debt rating was upgraded during the recession.
Prior to joining Bryn Mawr College, Griffith served in various financial roles at the University of New Hampshire for more than 15 years. He began his career at Coopers & Lybrand.
In announcing Griffith's appointment, Jonathan J. Hirtle, CEO of Hirtle Callaghan said: "In these extraordinarily challenging times for higher education, everyone associated with endowment management must do more. Simply put, that means higher returns with less risk.
"Sophisticated investors understand that skilled risk management creates more space for harvesting returns. 3-D Endowment Risk Assessment™ recognizes that each institution has its own financial and operating risk factors and that endowment risk should complement those factors. For the past several years we have been working with our endowment clients to assess total enterprise risk.
"Since then, we have seen that understanding, monitoring and exploiting enterprise risk – rather than just investment risk – can create an overall performance multiplier.
"Conversely, investment committees that still view endowment risk in relative isolation cannot maximize return.
"John Griffith brings years of university business office experience and breakthrough risk assessment capability to our endowment clients. His expertise will drive our 3-D Endowment Risk Assessment™, and we are tremendously excited to have him on board."
Nikki Kraus, Director of Institutional Clients, added: "Hirtle Callaghan is about innovation for clients; in this case, it is innovation to capture higher and higher net returns with less and less risk. Our 3-D Endowment Risk Assessment™ is one of our most important recent innovations. It reveals operating and financial risks, so we can complement them, because too much risk will likely be unwound at the worst possible time and too little risk can result in lost opportunity.
"I have known John Griffith for years, and I know that his deep appreciation for the business of higher education will be a major asset for the many endowment clients we serve."
About Hirtle Callaghan
Hirtle Callaghan has established a unique, sophisticated 21st century investment institution that uses its massive purchasing power to represent exclusively owners, rather than users, of capital. The firm is known for its conflict-free, zero product approach, its strong client-centric professional culture and for assembling and managing sophisticated global investment solutions. These highly cost-effective solutions are custom-designed around best-in-class independent money managers, index funds, no fund-of-fund fee hedge and private equity programs and Hirtle Callaghan Manager Style Indexes™ (replicate active manager effects at much lower fees).
Now in its 26th year, Hirtle Callaghan, Americas First Outsourced Chief Investment Officer™, supervises $25 billion of family, endowment, foundation, healthcare and pension assets nationwide.
Prospective family clients are invited to contact Susan H. McEvoy, at smcevoy@hirtlecallaghan.com
Prospective institutional clients are invited to contact Nicole W. Kraus, at nkraus@hirtlecallaghan.com
For career opportunities at Hirtle Callaghan, experienced professionals (including those looking to reenter the workplace) as well as graduate students are invited to contact Gretchen Rose at grose@hirtlecallaghan.com
