We are writing to announce an exciting new investment program, the Commonfund Custom Investment OfficeTM, an outsourced investment solution for large nonprofits. Increasingly, more large nonprofit institutions are adopting the outsourced CIO model in part due to the challenge of building and maintaining internal staffs with the requisite risk management infrastructure and the expertise to manage and oversee complex portfolios. The Custom Investment Office extends investor resources and offers an open architecture with the flexibility of separate account management and legacy manager oversight, under a dedicated Commonfund chief investment officer.
This new program will build upon the great success of Commonfund Strategic Solutions®, our outsourced CIO program for mid-sized nonprofits that we launched in 2002, and that now includes 87 institutions and more than $6.9 billion in assets under management. Strategic Solutions, which continues to be led by Sarah Clark, tailors investment programs to each client’s unique asset allocation by investing across a broad range of Commonfund multi-manager investment portfolios, and selectively separate accounts.
Lyn will lead our new program and will serve as the outsourced CIO to clients, leveraging her more than 30 years of experience in serving in this capacity for some of the nation’s largest endowments and foundations. Joining Lyn in this program is MaryEllen Beaudreault, previously the head of our fixed income and commodities team. MaryEllen is well known to many of you and to the nonprofit community in general, having successfully led our fixed income and commodities teams for more than 15 years.
We are exceptionally fortunate to have a deep fixed income and commodities team, having expanded that team in recent years to 11 professionals, and we are also pleased to announce that Alec Rapaport will assume leadership of the fixed income and commodities team with MaryEllen’s shift in responsibilities. Alec has assisted in managing a number of our fixed income portfolios since joining Commonfund in 2000, and has a tremendous knowledge of the fixed income markets and the universe of fixed income managers. Prior to joining Commonfund, Alec was with a leading investment consulting firm as Director of Fixed Income and Currency Research.
Please join us in welcoming MaryEllen and Alec to their new roles. Should you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact either one of us.