Allianz’s El-Erian to Head College at Cambridge University

(Bloomberg) -- Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, has been named president of Cambridge University’s Queens’ College.

The son of an Egyptian diplomat, El-Erian was an undergraduate at Cambridge in the late 1970s, where he studied economics. He also holds a doctorate from Oxford University.

El-Erian worked at the International Monetary Fund for 15 years, and served as a deputy director at the IMF from 1995 to 1997, before a stint at Pimco and Harvard Management Co. He rejoined Pimco, then the world’s largest bond fund, and became chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer before stepping down in 2014. He’s also a columnist with Bloomberg News.

The university is made up of 31 autonomous colleges where students live, eat and socialize. Queens’, founded in 1448, is home to the Mathematical Bridge across the river Cam.

El-Erian will take up the position at Cambridge in October 2020, succeeding John Eatwell. The new role will involve running the college, as well as representing it at a university-wide level.

(An earlier version of this story corrected the spelling of a name in the second paragraph.)

--With assistance from Catherine Bosley and Ben Sills.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Fergal O'Brien

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.