Lane MacDonald '88-'89 Named HMC Managing Director

A former Harvard hockey star and active alumnus will become the managing director for private equity at Harvard Management Company, HMC announced in a press release on Monday.

Lane MacDonald ’88-’89, who will take the reigns of the Company’s private equities this December, is currently the managing director for public markets. He was promoted to that position in 2012, four years after joining HMC as senior vice president for private equity in 2008. The Company oversees and invests Harvard’s $33 billion endowment.

“With the right leadership, this is an asset class that presents unique opportunities for attractive returns,” HMC President and CEO Jane L. Mendillo said in the press release. “I am confident that the experience Lane brings to his new position will enable HMC to focus its resources to deliver sustained excellence and market outperformance.”

HMC’s previous private equity director, Peter F. Dolan ’83, left in April with no explanation from the Company or University.

John M. Shue ’91, the senior vice president of private equity, has been serving as interim managing director since Dolan left.

Private equities are one of HMC’s largest asset classes, though they have lagged behind other types of investments in recent years. In HMC’s last annual report, Mendillo wrote that HMC’s performance in private equities for fiscal year 2013, which ended in July, was “fair,” partly because its returns of 11 percent were significantly lower than those of the Company’s public equities.

Head of Alternative Assets Andrew G. Wiltshire, who will oversee MacDonald, said in Monday’s announcement that MacDonald would be a good fit to help reshape the HMC’s private equities strategy.

“Lane has been a terrific contributor to HMC since his arrival and we look forward to his leadership and contribution to our private equity portfolio,” said Wiltshire. “We are continually honing our strategy in this area to ensure we are working with the best managers with the greatest potential, and I know that Lane will add tremendous value as the new Managing Director of this important asset class.”

HMC is not by any means MacDonald’s only connection to Harvard, nor was it his first. In 1988, he represented the United States in the Winter Olympics before going on to captain the men’s hockey team to an NCAA Championship victory in 1989. MacDonald has also served as director of the Harvard Alumni Association and is currently president of the Harvard Varsity Club, an alumni association for former athletes.

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at syweinstock@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @syweinstock.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: Oct. 27, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the chronology of Lane MacDonald ’88-’89’s Harvard hockey career. In fact, he captained the men’s hockey team to an NCAA Championship victory after, not before, representing the United States in the 1988 Winter Olympics.