After 15 years of service at the Texas A&M Foundation, Janet Handley will retire Dec. 31, 2016.
Janet Handley, vice president of investments at the Texas A&M Foundation, will retire Dec. 31, 2016, after 15 years at the organization.
In her role, Handley was responsible for recommending Foundation investment policies, executing long-term investment strategies and performing research on potential investment opportunities.
Her management of the Foundation’s long-term investment pool resulted in it consistently meeting or exceeding portfolio management guidelines, ensuring both the growth of funds available to Texas A&M University and the asset size of the portfolio. Since she began in 2001, the value of the Foundation’s long-term investment pool has grown from $414 million to $1.4 billion in 2016.
“The Foundation’s endowment is a treasure for the university, creating perpetual opportunities for students and the institution,” said Tyson Voelkel ’96, president of the Texas A&M Foundation. “Through Janet’s smart investing policies, we’ve built returns on the endowment that help attract the types of students, faculty and programs that foster Texas A&M’s unique culture.”
Handley’s college and career experiences prior to working at the Foundation prepared her well for a career in investing. After graduating with a degree in applied mathematical science from Texas A&M in 1976, she worked for Shell Oil Co. for more than a decade in Houston, New Orleans and the Netherlands, among other locations.
In 1993, she joined the Shell Pension Trust Investment Group in Houston. Within an eight-year period, she became head of its equities group and managed roughly $4 billion in assets.
Just two years after joining the Foundation, Handley began a philanthropic legacy of her own. In 2003, she and her late husband James Bade established a $40,000 endowed Foundation Excellence Award to help recruit and retain outstanding undergraduates who face significant economic or educational hurdles.
She and her mother Lillian also established the Vicki L. and Robert Handley ’67 Corps of Cadets 21st Century Scholarship in 2010 in honor of her brother’s military service. Their $50,000 gift was matched to make the total endowment $100,000.
Finally, Handley gave $50,000 in 2016 to support construction of Texas A&M’s new John D. White ’70 – Robert L. Walker ’58 Music Activities Center.
“It has been an honor to serve this organization and to join personally in its mission of philanthropy,” Handley said. “The Foundation is populated with high-quality staff who do purposeful work for the university, and I’m confident it will continue to excel.”
Her position will be filled by Ben Wall, alternative investments director, who joined the Foundation in 2008.
Texas A&M Foundation
The Texas A&M Foundation is a nonprofit organization that solicits and manages investments in academics and leadership programs to enhance Texas A&M’s capability to be among the best universities.
