Wilton's Commonfund Awards 2015 Prize To Researchers At UConn, Oxford

WILTON, Conn. – The Commonfund Prize, awarded the Wilton firm for original research relevant to endowment and foundation asset management, has been awarded to researchers from Saïd Business School at Oxford University and the University of Connecticut School of Business.

Researchers from the University of Connecticut School of Business were awarded the Commonfund Prize. Photo Credit: *File*

Cassandra Huerta

03/10/2015 4:00 a.m.

The findings in their paper offered no evidence that recommendations by investment consultants to institutional investors subsequently outperformed the market. The winning paper used survey data from investment consultants with a combined share of 90 percent of the consulting market and focused on the recommendations consultants made for actively managed U.S. equity funds.

The Commonfund Prize is awarded annually by the Commonfund Institute in collaboration with the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School. The winning paper carries a $10,000 prize. Endowment and foundation funds are most commonly seen in the charity, education and healthcare sectors. Although regular withdrawals from the invested capital are needed to meet ongoing operational costs, such funds are typically characterized by a perpetual time horizon.

First awarded in 1996, the Commonfund Prize aims to recognize original research and to set the standard for research excellence and innovation in this area of asset management. “We were extremely pleased with the large number and the high standard of submissions for the prize. From a shortlist of papers, the panel unanimously selected the winning paper on the grounds of its relevance to endowments, high standard of scholarship, and significant impact,” said David Chambers, one of three judges in the competition.

The judging panel comprised Chambers, academic director of the Newton Centre for Endowment Asset Management and Reader at Cambridge Judge Business School; Elroy Dimson, the Centre’s chairman and professor of finance at Cambridge Judge Business School; and William Goetzmann, professor of finance and director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management.

Two further papers were chosen by the judging panel as runners-up in the category of Highly Commended: Laura Starks (University of Texas at Austin) and Richard Sias and Luke DeVault (University of Arizona) for "Who are the Sentiment Traders? Evidence from the Cross-Section of Stock Returns and Demand," and Neal Stoughton, Georg Cejnek, and Richard Franz (Vienna University of Economics and Business) for "An Integrated Model of University Endowments."

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