Washington University Boosts Returns After Dumping Most Managers

  • New CIO refocused the portfolio to about 50 money managers
  • St. Louis school’s 9.9% gain last year among best in the U.S.

    

Photographer: Christopher A. Jones/Moment Open via Getty Images

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One of last year’s best-performing college endowments attributes its success to a simple move: parting ways with most of its outside money managers.

Washington University in St. Louis gained 9.9% on its $9.6 billion endowment in fiscal 2020, ranking third among more than two dozen colleges tracked by Bloomberg. That’s a turnaround for the Midwestern research school whose fund three years ago was seen as a laggard.