SET IN THE HEART OF

Houston, Texas

Located in an urban environment on a 300-acre tree-lined campus, Rice University seizes its advantageous position to pursue pathbreaking research and create innovative collaboration opportunities that contribute to the betterment of our world.

Who We Are

Rice Management Company (RMC) is responsible for the stewardship Rice's endowment fund. We are a group of diverse professionals with strong investment and endowment operations expertise. RMC is closely integrated with University leadership, and actively participates in operations and financial planning, and in shaping long-term strategic direction.

Our History

In 1904, The Rice Institute (now known as Rice University), received a founding endowment of $4.6 million from the estate of William Marsh Rice. For many years, the endowment was primarily invested in real estate, notes, bonds, and a few blue-chip stocks. In the early years, the Rice endowment often acted as a bank by loaning money to Houston churches, clubs, and civic organizations. Valued at about $1 billion in 1989, the endowment is now valued at $7.5 billion as of June 30, 2024, which excludes directly held real estate, and is highly diversified across many asset classes, with both domestic and international exposure.

RMC Today

Rice Management Company was established on October 1, 2009, as a division of Rice University. The President of RMC is also the Chief Investment Officer of the University. The responsibilities of RMC include asset allocation and the selection/termination of investment managers and consultants. RMC acts as the master custodian, monitoring performance of investment managers and the entire portfolio on a regular basis, reporting to the Rice Management Company Board of Directors.

The endowment is managed as a consolidated investment pool composed of a large unrestricted endowment (approximately one-half of the total endowment), and more than 2100 individual funds with designated purposes.

Ranking in the top 20 endowments of private research universities (by market value) in the country, the endowment funds are the permanent capital of the University, established to provide a perpetual source of revenue for current operations and certain capital needs.

RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility is something fundamental to a mission-driven academic community. We  take responsibility for making Rice better, and also for our own happiness and success. We take responsibility for our actions and words, and understand how they may impact our friends and colleagues. We especially take responsibility for our mistakes. That way we can learn from them and even translate failure into success.

INTEGRITY

Integrity is one of the strongest threads in Rice’s cultural fabric. In the classroom, office, lab, field of play, in our residential colleges and in our community engagement, we are guided by our commitment to honesty and doing what’s right.  This value is embodied in the notion of Rice’s honor and our Honor Code. We accept nothing less than complete academic and research integrity.

COMMUNITY

Our success as a community depends first and foremost on our respect for each other, and how we reflect that respect in our everyday interactions. That is especially important as we learn from and build friendships with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The Rice community cares about each member. We hope that individual acts add up to the culture of caring that we espouse. Our shorthand way of expressing this to others in need of some assistance: HCIH — How can I help?  As part of our values, we extend hospitality and help to every member of our community.

EXCELLENCE

Excellence for Rice, means that we are never satisfied with a good result, because we can always find ways to do even better. “When I arrived at Rice for the first time ... I was struck by the beauty of the campus and the quality of the education, research and community service it produced. But I was surrounded by people — trustees, alumni, faculty members, students, staff — who believed that Rice could be better. I am proud to be part of a community that constantly strives to become better.” — David Leebron