Kamehameha Schools will conduct a nationwide search for a new chief investment officer after its top asset manager Wendell Brooks abruptly resigned yesterday. Kamehameha Schools to
search nationwide for
new asset managerBy Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.comThe $6 billion charitable trust said it has created a search committee for Brooks' replacement.
Yesterday, Brooks informed estate managers and its board of trustees that he will be stepping down on Nov. 7.
"I believe that the trustees need a leadership team that aligns their vision, strategies and implementation plans," Brooks said in a prepared statement.
"I am pleased to have been a part of this organization and proud of the accomplishments the endowment group has made."
Brooks' departure is the latest in a string of top-level management changes at the trust. Chief Administrative Officer Gerald Morihara recently stepped down and asset manager Sanford Murata has announced he is leaving.
Brooks, who joined the trust in February 2000, was the estate's first chief investment officer.
The creation of the position was part of a number of court-sanctioned reforms initiated by the trust in response to highly critical audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS had threatened to revoke the estate's tax-exempt status.
As chief investment officer, Brooks was in charge of running a multibillion dollar investment portfolio which once included large stakes in the Goldman Sachs investment banking firm, banking interests in California and China and extensive mainland real estate holdings.
Brooks previously served as president and chief executive officer of Chaney Brooks & Co., one of Hawaii's largest property management firms.
"Wendell joined Kamehameha at a time of great turbulence and extensive challenges to the trust's asset management structure and he responded by moving that operation to a new level of stability and effectiveness," said Hamilton McCubbin, the estate's chief executive officer.
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