Amy C. Falls appointed VP for investments

by JOSEPH BONNER

The Rockefeller University has appointed Amy C. Falls as chief investment officer and vice president for investments. She succeeds Lisa Danzig, who is leaving Rockefeller after 10 years to pursue new challenges. Ms. Falls begins on April 4, and Ms. Danzig will remain until then to assist with the transition.

“On behalf of the board, I would like to express our appreciation to Lisa for all of her many contributions to the university and wish her well in her future endeavors,” says Russell L. Carson, chairman of Rockefeller’s Board of Trustees. “When Lisa informed us that she was leaving, we were delighted to be able to recruit someone of Amy’s experience and capability. We believe that Amy will make a very positive contribution to both the performance of the endowment and to the university as a whole.”

Ms. Danzig joined the university’s Office of Investments in 2001 with responsibility for the portfolio’s private investments including buyout, venture, growth capital and real assets. In 2003 she was promoted to director, and in 2005 she was appointed vice president and chief investment officer. Over her tenure as CIO, Ms. Danzig has played a significant role in expanding the portfolio into real estate, other real assets such as oil and gas and power, and emerging markets. She helped steer the endowment through the market turmoil of 2008 and 2009 when the portfolio posted a first quartile return despite declining in value. Her extensive prior experience in the debt capital markets has helped the university maintain the highest bond ratings while maximizing its debt capacity.

“I have greatly enjoyed my time at Rockefeller and working with all its wonderful, dedicated scientists, employees and administrators,” says Ms. Danzig. “It has been a privilege to help support the institution and I am pleased that the endowment weathered the difficulties of the past several years and is once again on the upswing.”

Ms. Falls is currently the chief investment officer for Phillips Academy (better known as Andover) in Andover, Massachusetts, which has endowment assets of nearly $800 million. As Phillips Academy’s inaugural CIO, Ms. Falls helped lead the effort to establish the Andover Investment Office — the first of its kind for a traditional independent secondary school. Since establishing that office in 2005, the endowment has generated top quartile results in each of the past four years. In 2010, Ms. Falls was chosen as a Rising Star of Foundations and Endowments by the publishers of Institutional Investor and praised for her ability “to find smaller managers that others miss.” Last year Ms. Falls and her team were nominated for Middle Market Endowment manager of the year.

“I am deeply honored to be joining the Rockefeller University team,” says Ms. Falls. “The vitally important advances in human health made possible by the ground-breaking research conducted here are truly thrilling. I am very excited to have the chance to contribute, even in a small way, to this powerful mission.”

Prior to Ms. Falls’s tenure as chief investment officer at Phillips, she was a managing director and the global fixed income strategist for Morgan Stanley, where she was a member of the Fixed Income Management Committee and the firm’s Global Asset Allocation Committee. At Morgan Stanley, Ms. Falls was responsible for assessing investment trends across interest rate, foreign exchange and commodities markets globally. Prior to that position, Ms. Falls ran Morgan Stanley’s Emerging Markets Research group where she was an Institutional Investor-ranked analyst and was the global high yield strategist. During this time Ms. Falls helped the firm and its clients navigate through two substantial emerging market crises in 1994 and 1998.

Ms. Falls holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Ms. Falls is vice president of the board and chair of the investment committee of the Brearley School and chairs the investment committee for the Diller Quaile School of Music, both in New York.

Ms. Falls has taught and continues to teach on topics in international investing and risk assessment, most recently at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College.