Harvard Management Company Announces New Hire

Harvard Management Company, which oversees the University’s endowment, announced yesterday that it has hired John Devir, a former managing director and head of equity strategies at Barclays Capital, as its managing director of stocks in developed markets.

Devir marks the Harvard Management Company’s third senior hire in the past year, following the group’s decision to hire Satu Parikh, its managing director of commodities and former global head of commodities at Lehman Brothers, and Rene Canezin, the former managing director and head of U.S. credit and global high yield trading at Barclays.

“John brings extensive experience of equity markets in the Americas and Europe to Harvard’s internal investment team,” Head of Internal Management Stephen Blyth said in a statement yesterday.

“His insight and knowledge will complement Harvard Management Company’s talented group of portfolio managers across public markets.”

The additions follow several departures from the fund management team, but the Harvard Management Company has previously said that these hires are not to fill holes but to acquire talented investors.

In her 2010 Annual Report, HMC President and CEO Jane L. Mendillo said that “the environment for attracting investment talent and experience to HMC has been favorable over the last two years and we have taken advantage of this opportunity.”

“Recognizing that staff will change over time, our approach is to continue to build depth in each of our teams and to install leadership that is not only extremely well-qualified, but is also committed to Harvard over the long term. HMC is well known for providing valuable experience and training which allows us to regularly hire best-in-class talent,” she wrote.

HMC last fall reported positive annual investment returns across all asset classes, totaling 11 percent.

The increase in returns boosted the endowment value 5.4 percent, from $26 billion to $27.4 billion, increasing the nominal value of funds allocated from the endowment to schools by 4 percent.

Last fall’s returns represented a rebound from the 27.3 percent drop the endowment suffered following the financial crisis of 2008, beating the long-term 8.25 percent annual returns HMC has set as a goal.

—Staff Writer Gautam S. Kumar can be reached at gkumar@college.harvard.edu