University of Richmond office hires CIO for endowment, assets

Karen Horn Welch will become chief investment officer of Spider Management, the investment office that manages the University of Richmond‘s endowment and assets, on July 1, the university announced this week.

Will McLean, the office’s current president and CIO, will remain president through the end of 2026, when he will retire.

Joining Spider Management in 2016, Welch worked first as a portfolio director and was promoted to managing director of investments. In 2024, she was named deputy CIO.

Spider Management promotes itself as the first university-owned investment office to provide its services to nonaffiliated endowments and foundations. It manages about $6 billion, a university spokesperson said, including about $3 billion in UR’s endowment. The spokesperson declined to identify the more than two dozen nonprofit organizations that work with Spider Management.

“Karen’s promotion to the CIO role is part of a strategic succession plan that the University of Richmond leadership and Spider board have developed over several years,” said Hiter Harris, managing director of  investment bank Harris Williams and chair of the university’s investment committee, said in a news release. “I am confident Karen will continue Spider Management’s history of excellence.”

McLean joined Spider Management in 2021 as president and chief investment officer. He previously served as vice president and chief investment officer of Northwestern University’s endowment for close to two decades.