Jay Namyet

Jay Namyet spent roughly two decades as the first in-house investment professional at the University of Oregon Foundation, joining in 2000 and building the office that oversaw the endowment, trust, and cash pools. Under his leadership the endowment's assets quadrupled to about $800 million by early 2017, and the foundation's total assets grew to roughly $2 billion (with an endowment of about $1.1 billion) by the time of his retirement. In fiscal year 2016 the portfolio returned 2.4 percent — a result that placed it in the top 5 percent of major university endowments in an otherwise weak year — and it returned about 6.4 percent annually over the decade ending 2016.

Before entering institutional/endowment management, Namyet accumulated roughly 35 years of investment experience on the sell side and in trading. He began his career as a proprietary trader at Paine Webber Mitchell Hutchins in 1982 and also worked at Refco and Smith Barney. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from New York University.

Beyond managing the portfolio, Namyet was notable for building experiential-learning vehicles for UO students. He helped launch three student-run programs — in equity-portfolio management, bank lending, and seed-fund investing — designed to give undergraduate and graduate students hands-on responsibility for real capital while supporting future students.

Namyet retired as CIO around 2021. Following his retirement and the endowment's growth, the UO Foundation board voted in April 2021 to move to an outside manager, hiring Jasper Ridge Partners to manage the endowment effective July 1, 2021. Per his LinkedIn profile, Namyet now describes himself as retired CIO of the UO Foundation and an independent advisor to a variety of funds.

• As an endowment CIO, ran a diversified, multi-asset-class institutional portfolio focused on long-horizon, risk-adjusted returns to support the university's mission.
• Held explicit ESG/energy views: stated the UO Foundation had no investments in coal and expressed belief that green-energy initiatives would steadily replace carbon-based fuel sources.
• Through the UO Foundation Seed Fund, backs early-stage, high-growth-potential local companies with initial checks of $20,000–$75,000 (fund capitalized at $500,000 from the Willamette Investment Pool), with follow-on investment possible.
• Seed Fund targets companies "formed at UO and outside the university," combining a financial return goal with an experiential-learning mission for students.
• In his own words on the Seed Fund: "The UO Foundation is thrilled to provide a unique experiential-learning opportunity for outstanding undergraduate and graduate students while providing capital to local, high-growth potential companies," adding that student portfolio managers "take an active role in ensuring stable financial support for future students."