Rice Chief Investment Officer Thacker one of ‘Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women’

Allison Thacker ’96 has been named one of “Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2014” by Houston Woman Magazine. Chief investment officer, vice president for investments and treasurer of Rice University and president of Rice Management Company, Thacker was honored at an afternoon tea held for the awardees Jan. 11 at the St. Regis Hotel.

Allison Thacker

“Those selected as ‘Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2014’ are individuals who have earned and possess an expertise in a particular field or arena and are considered knowledgeable, credible and trustworthy,” said Beverly Denver, publisher of Houston Woman Magazine. “The thoughts and actions of these women influence the thoughts and actions of others.”

Each honoree was first nominated by a subscriber to the magazine; the publication’s staff selected 50 women whose sphere of influence was deemed “vast and powerful” from nominations from more than 200 readers, Denver said.

Thacker, a Rice alumna with a B.A. in economics with honors and an MBA from Harvard Business School, became president of Rice Management Company in 2011 with the responsibility for managing a $5.5 billion endowment fund. The Rice endowment ranks in the top 20 largest endowments of private research universities in the U.S. and is critical to the university’s ability to achieve its goals. The annual distribution from the endowment funds approximately 40 percent of the university budget.  Over the past three, five and 10 years since June 30, 2014, annual endowment returns were 11.7, 13.4 and 9.5 percent, respectively. Rice Management Company partners with third-party investment managers and also internally manages a portfolio of direct real estate, oil and gas royalties, timberland and operating businesses.

Thacker has been recognized by Chief Investment Officer Magazine as a “Top 40 Under 40” investor and was nominated for an Endowment Innovation Award in 2014. She is a board member of Black Stone Minerals and Accelerate Learning.  She is actively involved in the Houston community and is a member of the Houston Ballet Foundation Board of Trustees and a member of the executive board of KIPP Houston.

Thacker is married to a fellow Rice alumnus Troy Thacker ’95; they have three young children. In her free time, Allison Thacker enjoys gardening and is a supporter of the Hermann Park Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy. She and her family are frequent visitors to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The complete list of “Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2014” is posted at www.houstonwomanmagazine.com/index.php/50-women.