The board of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) voted unanimously on Thursday to appoint Mark Warner, senior managing director and head of natural resources and emerging markets investments, as interim chief investment officer and chief executive officer while the board searches for a replacement for long-time CIO and CEO Bruce Zimmerman, who resigned earlier this week.
The board also authorized the creation of a search advisory committee and the hiring of an executive search firm to assist with finding Zimmerman’s successor.
Warner, who served as acting CIO for three weeks in September when Zimmerman was away on vacation, joined UTIMCO in 2007. He previously headed up the Austin, Texas office of the regional merchant bank Growth Capital Partners. From 1995 to 2000, Warner was a director with Enron Capital and Trade Resources in Houston, Texas.
“We have the utmost confidence in Mark Warner and his ability to provide leadership and make progress while we conduct a national search for UTIMCO’s next CEO/CIO,” said Jeffery Hildebrand, chairman of the UTIMCO board and vice chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, in a statement. “We have a tremendous opportunity to build on UTIMCO’s strong foundation, and I have no doubt that the opening will attract the best possible talent to both protect and grow our investments for the benefit of Texas public higher education.”
Austin, Texas-based UTIMCO has about $37 billion in assets under management and invests the assets of the University of Texas, Texas A&M and the Permanent University Fund. Zimmerman had joined UTIMCO in 2007. The main endowment fund produced annualized performance of 5.42 percent for the 10-year period through August. It is up 5.37 percent for the calendar year to date.
