Kathryn J Crecelius

Kathryn J. Crecelius came to The Johns Hopkins University in the newly created position of chief investment officer in October 2005.

Crecelius, who is responsible for overall investment strategy and management of the university's endowment, had been managing director for marketable alternative investments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1998.

At MIT, Crecelius built the marketable alternatives portfolio — including such investments as hedge funds — from 5 percent to more than 20 percent of the institute's total endowment. She was also responsible for nearly a fifth of retirement plan assets.

At Johns Hopkins, she is building the university's first separate investment office staff. Until her arrival, university investments had been handled in the Treasurer's Office, which also was responsible for such functions as cash management, external financing, bank relations, risk management and insurance.

Before joining MIT, Crecelius was a consultant at Cambridge Associates Inc. and head of risk in the Global Custody Network Group at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. She held several positions from 1988 to 1995 at Bank of Boston and Baybank N.A.

Before entering the world of finance and investment, she served a previous term at MIT in an altogether different capacity: From 1978 to 1988, she was associate professor of French and coordinator of the French Department, helping to double French enrollments and publishing a book and 18 scholarly articles.

Crecelius is a 1973 summa cum laude graduate of Bryn Mawr College and earned her Ph.D. in French from Yale University in 1978. She won recognition as a chartered financial analyst in 1994.

[Updated January 2006]