September 22, 2020
Dear Trojan Community,
It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Amy Diamond as USC’s Chief Investment Officer, effective October 15. A seasoned investment professional, Amy brings decades of experience in helping oversee major university endowments and in driving growth across a range of financial assets. She joins us from Northwestern University, where she served as Managing Director of Private Investments and Real Assets for two decades.
Amy’s appointment follows an extensive national search, throughout which she stood out for her energy, integrity, and fresh ideas. Her talent for cultivating strong, enduring partnerships with a variety of constituent groups will certainly be a great benefit to our community.
At USC, she will guide the team responsible for managing investment of the university’s endowment – a vital source of support for our academic mission. Working closely with me, the university’s Chief Financial Officer, Jim Staten, and his team, and the investment committee of our Board of Trustees, she will advise university leadership on the best investment strategies for USC. She will report to me and become part of my senior leadership team.
At Northwestern, Amy was a key part of a global co-investment team and managed the highest returning portfolio in an endowment of $11 billion. She also found new and imaginative ways to diversify Northwestern’s income streams, including the development of public-private partnerships.
The assets she managed at Northwestern represented a significant portion of the school’s overall financial resources and helped ensure the long-term viability of its educational mission. Her efforts earned her distinction as one of the country’s most sought-after institutional investors.
Just as impressively, Amy has been a compassionate leader in her community. She helps mentor students pursuing careers in investment and in real estate, and she was a key adviser and benefactor for a student-run non-profit organization that provides thousands in microloans to small businesses around the Northwestern campus. Her work with students – and in encouraging these students to give back to their communities in meaningful ways – is particularly noteworthy.
Prior to her career in higher education, Amy’s investment experience focused on the energy and healthcare sectors as an analyst for major securities firms such as Prudential. She has been a chartered financial analyst for more than two decades, and she graduated cum laude from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, concentrating in international finance and economics.
The USC News story gives more details about Amy’s accomplishments, and tells you more about her path to USC. I hope you are just as excited to work with her as I am. I know she will be a tremendous asset to our university.
Please join me in welcoming Amy, her husband, David, and their two daughters, Abby and Sophia, to the Trojan Family.
Sincerely,
Carol L. Folt
President