Alice Handy Death, Obituary – Alice Handy, a pioneer in the field of outsourced chief investment officer work and an important contribution to the study of nonprofit institutional investing, passed away recently. Handy was the founder of the $12 billion OCIO provider Investure. From its inception until 2018, Handy worked as the company’s CEO and president, during which time he managed the financial resources of clients such as Dickinson College, the University of Denver, and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Under her leadership, these very modest organisations were consistently able to beat their contemporaries, posting high returns that contributed to the nation’s overall education and charitable giving initiatives. “Alice will be remembered for the far-reaching impact that she had on a variety of organisations with a mission at the centre of their work. “She had a genuine calling to serve others and a competitive spirit that defined winning by investment results and service rather than assets under management,”
Bruce Miller, the CEO of Investure, wrote in an email on Friday. “She had a competitive spirit that defined winning by investment results and service rather than assets under management.” “Alice was a compassionate leader who always had the long-term picture in mind, and she was a trustworthy steward. She will be sorely missed by many people. According to Miller, Handy established Investure in 2003 with the intention of providing more endowments and foundations with the opportunity to profit from the “high calibre” professional management that was previously reserved exclusively for large-scale organisations.
Middlebury College became Investure’s second client the same year they began working with them, 2005. The 1.5 billion dollar endowment allowed for the progression of the company, which reaped the benefits of Handy’s investment expertise and eventual succession planning. “We have been most pleased with Investure’s performance in down years,” said David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration at Middlebury by phone. “We have seen a significant return on our investment.” She had a high level of sophistication on the amount of risk they were willing to accept for the results they desired.
According to Provost, Handy and Investure were true partners to Middlebury, which enabled the institution to divest from fossil fuels via a new investment structure. This was possible despite the fact that some of Middlebury’s assets were comingled with those of other clients of Investure.
Alimard remarked over the phone, “She brings me into the staff meeting while I’m waiting for my interview.” “While I’m waiting for my interview.” Who would do such a thing? And then, get this: she is offering pie that she had cooked herself from some berries that she had collected herself while roaming about barefoot… I had the notion, “Oh my gosh, if I could just get a job here, I would give my right arm for it.”
Alimard had a lot of fond memories of the warm and friendly environment that Handy had created at UVIMCO. However, she believes that the reputation and portfolio construction that Handy built up over the course of his time there have had a much greater influence. “She created this incredible bedrock of excellence in endowment management,” she said, citing not just to UVIMCO’s high returns but also its partnerships with impressive investment managers as evidence. “She is an incredible endowment manager,” she added.
Not only was Handy a trailblazer in the field of OCIO and endowment investing, but she was also a trailblazer for women working in the business. Amy Chen, the Chief Information Officer at the Smithsonian Institute, wrote in an email that Handy “was a role model for many of us women CIOs.”