The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the United States, has named Jonathan D. Hook as its first Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Hook will direct the Foundation’s $2B investment portfolio and will work closely with the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and with Rachel Garbow Monroe, the Weinberg Foundation’s President/CEO, to refine the Foundation’s investment strategy. Mr. Hook, 56, comes to the Weinberg Foundation from The Ohio State University where he served as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer.
Mr. Hook’s appointment follows a national search that began this past December. His first day in the office will be Tuesday, May 27, 2014. He will also build an internal investment team to assist him. Mr. Hook is accustomed to charting a new course. After a twenty-year career in commercial banking, he transitioned to a career in institutional investment management when he was hired to build Baylor University’s investment office in 2001. He subsequently helped to found the Ohio State University Investment Office in 2008.
Mr. Hook is a graduate of Willamette University with a degree in Economics and Sociology, and received an MBA in Finance from the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. During his more than 13 years as a university CIO, he was honored by Foundation and Endowment Intelligence as the CIO of the Year in 2005 and Best Large Endowment in 2010. Mr. Hook is a frequent speaker in the industry and has been featured in two separate books on endowment management.