University of Chicago

Paula Volent serves as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, a role she assumed in 2021. She oversees the investment office and sets strategic asset allocation in consultation with the university's investment committee. Volent previously spent 20 years as CIO at Bowdoin College, where she built a reputation for early-stage venture manager selection.

The team relies on a concentrated network of existing general partner relationships, direct outreach, and referrals from the university's extensive alumni community. Volent's two decades in endowment management also provide access to managers she backed successfully in earlier roles. The office conducts deep fundamental diligence, often drawing on domain expertise from university faculty in fields like computer science, economics, and biophysics.

The endowment primarily commits to external managers through fund vehicles but also participates in select direct co-investments and secondary transactions. This hybrid approach gives the team flexibility to concentrate capital behind its highest-conviction exposures while maintaining diversification through fund commitments.

In fiscal year 2023, the endowment distributed roughly $350 million to the university's operating budget, covering approximately 18 percent of total expenditures. This distribution supports financial aid, faculty positions, research programs, and campus facilities.

The investment office reports to the university's Board of Trustees through an investment committee. The CIO has significant autonomy over manager selection and tactical allocation within ranges approved by the committee. The university's president and CFO are not involved in day-to-day investment decisions, maintaining a separation between the portfolio and operating budgets.

Volent is known for an alternatives-heavy, conviction-weighted approach that favors deep relationships with a smaller number of managers over broad diversification. At Bowdoin, she built top-quartile performance by committing early to venture capital firms like Sequoia and Union Square Ventures. She has publicly emphasized underwriting manager quality and alignment of incentives as central to endowment investing.

The University of Chicago has not adopted broad divestment policies tied to specific sectors. The investment office evaluates environmental, social, and governance factors as part of its risk assessment framework, but the university's official posture emphasizes engagement and research over exclusionary screening.