Baylor Office of Investments Up for The Allocator Prizes Team of the Year

Contact: Lori Fogleman, Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-709-5959
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WACO, Texas (June 18, 2024) – Baylor University’s Office of Investments, which is responsible for managing Baylor’s $2 billion endowment and other long-term investments of the University, has been named a finalist for Team of the Year by The Allocator Prizes, celebrating the best and brightest in institutional investing. The Allocator Prizes winners, selected by industry luminaries, will be announced Oct. 17 in New York City.

In its finalist announcement, The Allocator Prizes praised the Baylor investment team, led by Chief Investment Officer Dave Morehead:

For taking a small endowment in the middle of Texas and creating an investment program that could rival any of the best — with a staff that is both young (three-in-five are under the age of 32) and 80% female. One of the (multiple) Baylor nominators praised CIO David Morehead for his dedication to his team, noting that he fights to ensure they are paid well and is striving to make the endowment “the best place to work for mothers in the investment industry.” And their performance has been “exceptional.”

“Baylor constituents (students, faculty, parents, staff, alumni and administrators) should take this as industry recognition that Baylor’s endowment is one of the best-managed and best-performing university endowments in the country,” Morehead said. “And, notably, this recognition is due to the capability of the Baylor alumni both in the Office of Investments and on the Investment Committee. Our team is laser-focused on growing the Baylor endowment through investment returns to increasingly benefit the entirety of the University. The endowment will provide funding of nearly $100 million to the University over the next fiscal year, and we expect that dollar amount to grow meaningfully in the years ahead. Onward Bears!”

But none of this success would be possible, Morehead said, without Baylor’s investment team, all of whom are Baylor graduates:

• Renee Hanna, B.B.A. ’05, CFA, Managing Director of Investments, Private Investments
• Jin Dingmore, B.B.A. ’15, CFA, Director of Investments, Private Investments
• Maggie Woodhill, B.B.A. ’20, CFA, Senior Investment Analyst, Marketable Investments
• Kailey Ransom, B.B.A. ’23, Investment Analyst
• Jeff Wallace, B.B.A. ’87, J.D. ‘ 91, CPA, CFP, Managing Director of Investment Operations, Finance and Legal

Besting the Ivy League

The performance of Baylor’s endowment has been in the headlines lately, including The Wall Street Journal, about how Baylor has become a top performer for returns among universities, even besting the gold standard returns of Ivy League institutions. For the 2023 fiscal year, Baylor’s endowment return was 6.4%, ahead of all Ivy endowments. Even more impressive is Baylor’s 10.9% annualized return over the past five years, which again outperformed the Ivies, with the exception of Brown University. According to Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service, Baylor ranks in the top 5% of all U.S. endowments for this time period.

Listen to Baylor CIO Dave Morehead on the Baylor Connections podcast as he takes listeners inside Baylor’s successful investment approach, unpacks common questions surrounding university endowments and casts a vision for future growth of Baylor’s endowment.

A growing endowment is critical to Baylor’s continued fulfillment of its distinctive mission as a preeminent Christian research university for today and for generations to come, as endowed funds foster the long-term affordability and educational excellence essential to attracting talented students in the competitive higher education marketplace. More than $90 million was distributed from the endowment to the University over fiscal year 2024 in support of scholarships, professorships and other mission-related activities of the University.

In addition, the University recently completed its Give Light comprehensive philanthropic campaign, which raised $1.5 billion, a historic achievement that shattered its initial $1.1 billion goal and concluded Give Light as the most successful comprehensive fundraising campaign in Baylor’s 179-year history. The Give Light campaign connected the Baylor Family’s generosity with the growth priorities and needs of the institution, including for endowed funds. Donors pledged or gave $625 million to endowment, resulting in the establishment of 873 endowed scholarships, 330 endowed funds and 48 endowed faculty positions.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.