Joseph Bohrer Named Chief Investment Officer

Joseph S. Bohrer, an investment director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, has been named chief investment officer at Lafayette College.

Joseph Bohrer

Bohrer will be the first person to serve in the new position. His appointment is effective July 1.

Bohrer brings more than 25 years of experience in asset management. He joined the Sloan Foundation in 2004, following a distinguished 17 year-career at J.P. Morgan. During Bohrer’s time at Sloan, the foundation’s assets grew from $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion. With J.P. Morgan, he worked primarily in international asset management, serving as portfolio manager for the International Equity Group in London; chief investment officer, Asia (except Japan), and head of office in Singapore; and head of Institutional Japan Business and president of Morgan Trust Bank in Tokyo. He began his career at J.P. Morgan as portfolio manager, U.S. fixed income, in New York.

President Alison Byerly said, “We are delighted to welcome Joseph Bohrer to the Lafayette community. At a time when institutions of higher education need to manage their assets as strategically as possible, we are fortunate to have a dedicated professional with Joe’s experience with us to ensure that the College’s endowment supports our aspirations, now and in the future.”

The value of Lafayette’s endowment, more than $800 million, places the College among the top 10 percent of American colleges and universities in endowment per student. Since 1999, the endowment has been managed by the Board of Trustees’ Committee on Investments with assistance from two outside consultants who supported the board in asset-allocation decisions and investment considerations. Given the significant increase in the size of the endowment over the past 15 years and the complexity and dynamic nature of investment markets, the committee recommended that the day-to-day management and appropriate decision-making be delegated to a chief investment officer, reporting jointly to the Committee on Investments and the president of the College. The board approved the committee’s recommendation in October 2013. A national search was undertaken, culminating in Bohrer’s selection.

“Joe Bohrer is a man of exceptional talents and depth of experience in complex financial markets,” said J. Peter Simon ’75, chair of the trustees’ Committee on Investments. “His energy, drive, and knowledge will serve the College well.” Simon is co-chairman of William E. Simon & Sons LLC.

Bohrer holds a B.A. from Columbia University, where he majored in English literature, and an MBA from Stern School of Business at New York University.

“Lafayette not only represents the best of the liberal arts tradition—one I believe in deeply and experienced myself—but also boasts a top engineering program along with the determination to innovate and lead in today’s rapidly changing higher education environment,” he said. “It feels like the perfect place to build an investment office that combines discipline and rigorous analysis with flexible thinking and the willingness to challenge conventional investment views.”