Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (March 18, 2009) - After an extensive international search among top investment management firms and financial institutions, His Excellency Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Chairman of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Board of Trustees, KAUST Investment Management Company (KAUST IMC) Board of Directors, and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, announced today that Dr. Gumersindo Oliveros has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of KAUST IMC.
KAUST IMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of KAUST, is responsible for the investment strategy of the University's endowment fund. It is governed by an independent Board of Directors, made up of some of the most accomplished and respected leaders in the global investment community. The move is an important milestone in KAUST's development, bringing the University another step closer to full-fledged operations when it opens its main campus in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, in September 2009. The endowment is essential to support KAUST's core mission: to enable advances in science and technology that positively transform the lives of people in Saudi Arabia, the region and the world.
Since 2002, Dr. Oliveros, 53, has served as the Director of the Pension Plan and Endowments at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. He has 18 years of experience in capital markets and investing and is a member of the World Bank Treasury management team that manages more than $70 billion worth of assets for the World Bank and external clients. His direct responsibilities have included managing more than $14 billion across a spectrum of asset classes and providing advice to central banks, pension plans, and other official institutions on multi-asset class management. Before heading the pension plan, Dr. Oliveros, a native of Spain, was in charge of the World Bank's Capital Markets and Financial Engineering Department. He had previously taught macroeconomics and international trade at the University of Minnesota, where he obtained his master's and Ph.D. in Economics. He also worked for eight years at the International Monetary Fund, where he specialized in macroeconomic adjustment programs in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and on Fund conditionality.
"I really believe that he is an outstanding candidate to lead the KAUST Endowment," His Excellency Minister Al-Naimi, Chairman of KAUST's Board of Trustees, said. "Dr. Oliveros would bring to this position extraordinary talent and expertise that will ensure the successful management of the endowment," he added.
Jack Brennan, Chairman of the Vanguard Group in the United States and a member of the KAUST IMC Board of Directors, praised the appointment. "I believe that Dr. Oliveros will bring a wealth of talent and experience to the KAUST endowment that will enable him to guide the investment strategy successfully," Brennan said.
The current members of the KAUST IMC Board of Directors are:
His Excellency Minister Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, (Chairman)
Chairman, KAUST Board of Trustees and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
His Royal Highness Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mr. John J. Brennan
Chairman, Vanguard Group
United States
Mr. Mohammed Abdullatif Jameel
President, Abdullatif Jameel Group
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ms. Lubna S. Olayan
Chief Executive Officer and Chair, Olayan Financing Group
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Professor Choon Fong Shih
President, KAUST
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mr. Charles D. Ellis
Chairman, Investment Committee, Yale University
United States
Mr. Abdullatif A. Al-Othman
Senior Vice President, Finance, Saudi Aramco
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
About KAUST
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is being built in Saudi Arabia as an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom, across the region and around the globe. As an independent, merit-based institution, KAUST will enable top researchers from around the globe and across all cultures to work together to solve challenging scientific and technological problems. The KAUST global research and education network will support diverse talents both on its campus and at other premier universities and research institutions through collaborative research agreements, grants, and student scholarship programs. The core campus, located on more than 36 million square meters on the Red Sea at Thuwal, is set to open in September 2009. For more information about KAUST, visit http://www.kaust.edu.sa
