Ray Dalio's Family Office Hires Ex-Utimco Chief Zimmerman

(Bloomberg) -- Bruce Zimmerman, the former chief executive officer at the University of Texas Investment Management Co., has joined Ray Dalio’s family office as chief investment officer.

Zimmerman, who confirmed the appointment in an email, resigned in October 2016 after about a decade overseeing the Utimco fund. The fund is an investor in Bridgewater Associates, the Westport, Connecticut hedge fund that Dalio founded in 1975. Dalio has amassed a fortune worth about $17 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zimmerman is taking over at Dalio’s family office as the billionaire is increasingly active in charitable efforts. Last year, Dalio Philanthropies donated $100 million to Connecticut to improve public education and economic opportunity in the state. In 2011, Dalio signed Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, promising to donate more than half his fortune.

A spokeswoman for Dalio’s family office and philanthropies also confirmed the appointment, declining to comment further.

Zimmerman, a Houston native who has an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a MBA from Harvard University, was CIO and global head of pension investments at Citigroup Inc. before he joined Utimco in 2007. He is a member of the executive committee of the board of Commonfund, a Connecticut-based nonprofit that invests for small endowments and foundations.

Utimco oversees endowments for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University. The University of Texas has the second-largest endowment in higher education, with about $31 billion of assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Institutional Investor earlier reported the hire.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael McDonald in Boston at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net, Melissa Karsh

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