NEWS

CHAPEL HILL – Mark Yusko will resign his duties as president and chief executive officer of UNC Management Company Inc., an organization affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to pursue building a private investment business.

Yusko’s resignation takes effect June 30, officials said.

"Mark has provided superb management to our investment fund, which has placed the university in a leadership position among our peers nationally," said Timothy B. Burnett, chair of the management company’s Board of Directors. "In his six years here, Mark has built an outstanding professional staff of investment managers, and we are confident that the management company is well positioned for the future."

Yusko started at Carolina as chief investment officer charged with creating an investment office to manage the university’s financial assets. That was a response to the growing size of the endowment and the increased complexity of the investment program. The university’s endowment passed the $1 billion mark for the first time in school history in 2000. Today, UNC-Chapel Hill’s endowment is valued at approximately $1.035 billion. The management company provides advice to the directors on how those funds are invested to provide a permanent stream of support for scholarships, professorships, departments and programs at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Yusko will continue to work with the management company to ensure a smooth transition, Burnett said. A committee already has been appointed and started working to conduct a national search for a successor.

Yusko’s departure reflects a national trend among top universities, officials said. Several chief investment officers at major universities have left those campuses in recent months to pursue their own fund management businesses.

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Contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu