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Ex-Quantopian CIO Larkin Joins Columbia's $11 Billion Endowment

Ex-Quantopian CIO Larkin Joins Columbia's $11 Billion Endowment

(Bloomberg) -- Former Quantopian Inc. Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Larkin has joined Columbia University’s $11 billion endowment as a managing director.

Quantopian, a quantitative platform backed by billionaire Steve Cohen, ousted Larkin last year after about 15 months on the job. At the time, the firm said it was disappointed with its hedge fund’s initial performance, which lost 2 percent in its first few months.

Columbia’s endowment also promoted Lauren Jacobson to managing director. Julius Mercado was named chief operating officer, Bloomberg previously reported. Elizabeth Wagner retired after more than 25 years with the endowment. A university spokesman confirmed the personnel changes and declined to comment. Larkin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mercado was previously managing director of operations at Columbia’s endowment, according to his LinkedIn profile. Jacobson joined Columbia in 2017 and previously worked at the Rockefeller Foundation and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to her LinkedIn profile.

Sanjeev Daga, who was COO at Columbia’s endowment for 15 years, has joined Harvard University’s fund. Narv Narvekar, Harvard’s endowment chief, spent 14 years at Columbia. Since joining Harvard at the end of 2016, he’s hired at least four former colleagues.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael McDonald in Boston at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.net;Krista Gmelich in New York at kgmelich1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Mary Romano, Melissa Karsh

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