Hamilton College's $700 million endowment and the alumni investment team that contributes to its success were featured in a New York Times article "How Smaller College Endowments Still Reap Big Returns" (11/04/07). The article noted that while it is sometimes difficult for smaller college endowments to match the returns of Ivies like Harvard and Yale, Hamilton with its $700 million endowment returned 21.1 percent last year. Henry Bedford '76, Richard Bernstein '80, David Solomon '84 and Robert Morris '76 were acknowledged in the article as providing "alumni expertise" to Hamilton's endowment. Bedford is portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management, Bernstein is chief investment strategist at Merrill Lynch, Solomon is co-head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Morris is founder of Olympus Partners, a private equity firm.
The article noted that Hamilton's portfolio is not as diversified as those of some larger rivals. "We have some oil and gas royalties but we don't have a big exposure to commodities or timber," Bedford noted in the article. "One of the things that has worked for us is to use the expertise of the committee members, and we don't have a lumberjack on the committee."
The article noted that Hamilton's portfolio is not as diversified as those of some larger rivals. "We have some oil and gas royalties but we don't have a big exposure to commodities or timber," Bedford noted in the article. "One of the things that has worked for us is to use the expertise of the committee members, and we don't have a lumberjack on the committee."
