DATELINE
ANDOVER
Alumna named PA’s first chief investment officer
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hillips Academy has hired Amy Falls ’82, formerly a managing director and global fixed income strategist for Morgan Stanley, as its first chief investment officer. Headquartered in New York, Falls will work with the Board of Trustees’ investment committee and with Stephen Carter, PA’s chief financial officer, to oversee management of the academy’s $620 million endowment. With one of the largest endowments of any secondary school in the country, Andover is the first in its peer group to establish a full-time position dedicated to overseeing endowment assets. The endowment invests in a broad range of financial assets globally, including debt, equity, private equity and venture capital. “As the markets continue to become more complex, competitive and global in nature, it is clear that having a chief investment officer on board to help us navigate these waters is increasingly critical,” says Carter. “Amy Falls’ deep financial markets expertise, combined with her knowledge of how macroeconomic trends and geopolitical events affect those markets, makes her the perfect person for the job.” Falls holds a B.A. degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She has more than 15 years’ experience in financial markets, most recently as a managing director and global fixed income strategist for Morgan Stanley, where she was also a member of the firm’s institutional and individual investment policy committees. She was responsible for setting Morgan Stanley’s strategic and tactical investment themes for fixed income, foreign exchange and commodities markets globally. Previously, she ran the Emerging Markets Research group and was the global high yield strategist.
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Hotchkiss math co-chair to lead (MS)2 program
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ernando R. Alonso, co-chair of the mathematics department at The Hotchkiss School, has been named the new director of (MS)2, the school’s 27-year-old Math and Science for Minority Students summer program. “Ferd Alonso is thoughtful, genuine and committed to education,” says Rebecca Sykes, associate head of school. “He has a demonstrated interest in providing opportunities to kids who have not had encouragement and challenging academic programs.” Alonso will begin his full-time, year-round faculty position at PA this summer, working with the assistance of Elwin Sykes, who is currently interim director of (MS)2. Alonso also will teach math to students during the regular academic year. A graduate of Baldwin School of Puerto Rico, where he was a Presidential Scholar and class valedictorian, he received a B.S. degree in material science engineering from Cornell University. He returned to Baldwin School to teach mathematics, computer science, chemistry and physics and to serve as computer coordinator. He later served the Westtown School in Pennsylvania as math department chair, director of student activities, computer coordinator, lacrosse coach and dorm head. At Hotchkiss, he co-chairs the mathematics department and heads an 11th- and 12th-grade boys’ dorm. Expressing excitement at being named the next director of (MS)2, Alonso says, “The privilege of working with a diverse group of talented and highly motivated students makes this program every teacher’s dream. I look forward to meeting and getting to know the students and families from all over the country who contribute so much to the success of the program each year. I also look forward to meeting the hundreds of alums who have gone through the program. Their stories are the most eloquent testimonies to the success of (MS)2.”