Rodney Sullivan Named Executive Director of the Richard A. Mayo Center for Asset Management

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business has announced Rodney Sullivan as executive director of the Richard A. Mayo Center for Asset Management. Sullivan joins the Darden School from AQR Capital Management, the Greenwich, Connecticut, based investment management firm with $196 billion under management, where he served as vice president and head of investment content.

Rodney Sullivan

Sullivan begins his new role on 1 April.

An investment industry publishing leader with an extensive track record of developing and communicating innovative research and ideas at AQR, Sullivan helped establish and led the firm’s editorial board, overseeing content development and research at the intersection of the firm’s portfolio management, marketing and research teams.

Among other accomplishments, he also was a founding member of the AQR Asset Management Institute at London Business School, an innovative collaboration connecting asset owners with asset management research.

At Darden, he will assume primary leadership responsibility for the Mayo Center’s growing suite of activities. He will build on the center’s mission to advance the study and practice of asset management by producing and publishing top-flight research and planning the center’s various seminars, webinars, partnerships and conferences, including the University of Virginia Investment Conference.

Sullivan will also work closely with Darden Capital Management, the student-led asset management club managing investment of more than $15 million of the Darden School’s endowment.

“Rodney is a skilled leader with a proven track record in the asset management space,” said Professor Pedro Matos, academic director of the Mayo Center. “He understands well both research and practice and will energize the Mayo Center and its study of the future of the asset management industry.”

Prior to joining AQR, Sullivan worked as head of publications for the CFA Institute for more than 10 years, leading editorial functions for a suite of publication services aimed at the investment community, including serving as editor of Financial Analysts Journal, a top scholarly finance journal.

A Chartered Financial Analyst, Sullivan holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economics from Virginia Commonwealth University. He lives in Charlottesville with his family and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative Investments.

“I’m thrilled and honored with the opportunity to join the Mayo Center and the Darden School at an exciting time,” said Sullivan. “I know the Darden School and the Mayo Center well from our collaborations with the CFA Institute, and I look forward to helping the center continue to emerge as a pivotal thought leader on asset management.”