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UTIMCO’s chief executive steps down

Bruce Zimmerman announced his resignation on Monday with no immediate successor.

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University of Texas Austin campus at sunset-dusk - aerial view

The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) has lost its chief executive, the endowment said Monday.

Bruce Zimmerman stepped down after leading the Austin-based system for nearly a decade as chief executive and chief investment officer. Prior to his time at UTIMCO, he had been Citigroup’s CIO and global head of pension investments.

Zimmerman did not disclose his future plans.

UTIMCO’s board will appoint an interim CEO and CIO and will launch a national search for Zimmerman’s permanent replacement.

Founded in 1996, UTIMCO is the third-largest endowment in the US, behind Yale  and Harvard . It management the endowments for The University of Texas System and The Texas A&M System.

UTIMCO committed to Mandala’s Indian Agribusiness Fund in 2013, and made a venture capital investment in biological fungicide company AgBiome.

Zimmerman’s resignation comes amid recent leadership changes at other major university endowments, notably Harvard University, whose chief executive, Stephen Blyth, stepped down in July after just 18 months in the role.

Harvard said last month that Nirmal Narvekar, formerly the head of Columbia University’s endowment, will take Blyth’s place starting in December. Columbia in turn promoted Peter Holland, its chief investment officer since 2003, to chief executive officer, sister publication PERE previously reported.

Reporting by Meghan Morris.