Russ stepped down from the post in June, when he was hired by Credit Suisse to lead the finance company's Investment Strategies and Solutions group, The Dartmouth previously reported.
A committee composed of Trustees on the Board's investment sub-committee, as well as Keller and Vice President for Alumni Relations David Spalding '76, met for the first time on Thursday, Keller said. The committee is expected to choose a search firm by the end of next week.
Keller's office has received 13 responses from firms interested in handling the search and had also received a "remarkable number" of inquiries before any official request was made for search companies, he said.
The committee will be looking for a firm that can manage a nationwide search and take a broad view in seeking out potential candidates, Keller said. Most important is finding applicants that can provide leadership for the College's investment team and review the College's asset portfolio in an innovative way, he added.
The entire selection process will likely take three to four months to complete, Keller said, adding that the incoming CIO might not be able to begin work for an additional month or longer, depending on the candidate's availability.
The incoming CIO will have to face a number of challenges that have plagued the investment office in recent months, Keller said, including an 18-percent decline in endowment returns during the most recent period for which figures are available, as well as a rapidly changing economic climate.
"I think the asset allocation process has traditionally been based on historical data ... [and] those kind of data no longer have the same kind of validity," he said. "There is an opportunity to think about how we make asset allocations. There will be a real issue about how to best position the endowment for a recovery."
Because the members of Dartmouth's investment team are both young and individually skilled in managing specific assets, the new CIO should also be a capable manager and mentor, Keller said, as well as someone able to operate in a less aggressive investment climate than that of the past several years.
"I think our needs are a little bit different today than they were four years ago," he said. "We need somebody who's going to be aware of the risks that are out there and bring some risk management skills to the table."
The CIO position at Dartmouth is also distinctive in that the job's responsibilities go beyond merely managing the College's investments, he said.
To be effective, a CIO must become a part of Dartmouth's broader pantheon of financial minds, according to Keller. He cited as an example Russ, who was involved in many aspects of College finances beyond investment and also taught several classes at the Tuck School of Business.
The CIO also must be able to act as an intermediary for alumni, culling ideas from the alumni community while also effectively communicating the Investments Office's goals and strategies, he said.
Fahey, who has already been active as interim CIO for several weeks, will be particularly effective in this regard, Keller said. Fahey has the advantage of being well-known both to the investments office's managing directors and to the wider Dartmouth community, he said.
Keller said he believes Fahey's personal authority will make him a capable interim leader, lending the community a sense of reassurance that the investment office will be a careful steward of gifts to the College.
"I think he's one of the real sages on the [investment] committee," Keller said. "He provides great balance to the committee."
Before he joined the Dartmouth Board of Trustees in 1994, Fahey was a general partner at Goldman Sachs investment company and a member of the Thayer School of Engineering's Board of Overseers. He was also involved with the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience and was chair of the College's annual fund committee for the two years prior to his retirement from the Board in 2004, according to his biography on the Dartmouth web site.
Fahey's tenure on the Board of Trustees was marked by the development of the controversial Student Life Initiative. Fahey was co-chair of the Committee on the Student Life Initiative and was involved in the production of a committee report that suggested many of the Initiative's proposed reforms, according to previous reports in The Dartmouth.
Fahey and his family have donated over $13 million in a variety of gifts to the College, including much of the funding used in the construction of Scully-Fahey Artificial Turf Field. Fahey Residence Hall was named to honor the family's support of the College, according to a College press release.
Fahey could not be reached for comment by press time.
