Jane Mendillo

She led the investment team from 2008 to 2014, when the endowment was valued at $36.4 billion, having recovered fully from the impact of the global financial crisis.

Prior to leading the company, from 1987 to 2002, she was in charge of managing the endowment's domestic equities, venture capital, natural resources investments and charitable trusts.

In 2009, Forbes Magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women List placed Mendillo as number 37, before Margaret Chan and after Hillary Clinton.

[citation needed] After fifteen years at Harvard she was tapped by Wellesley College in 2002 to create and lead their investment team.

She assumed leadership of the endowment management team just before the 2008 financial crisis and is credited with keeping the university's liquidity above water, although the investments suffered a sharp 27.3% decrease in market value in her first year at the helm.

Jane lives in Concord, Massachusetts with her husband, Ralph Earle III, and their two children, Elizabeth and Thomas.