U.Va. investment manager remembered for contributions

This past Sunday, 39 year-old Sherri King, a managing director of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company, passed away at the University Medical Center after suffering from a blood clot in the brain. King was a valued and highly-regarded member of UVIMCO, said UVIMCO Chief Executive Officer Larry Kochard. In addition to playing a prominent figure in managing the company’s short term assets, King was well-liked and respected by her associates. “She had that rare combination of being very smart, resourceful, analytical, friendly, patient, collaborative, and incredibly nice,” Kochard said. “Everyone here admired and adored her, and everyone here is really struggling with her passing.” UVIMCO is the management company that handles the University’s long-term funds, investments and foundations.The company is responsible for investing the endowment the University holds, valued at $6 billion according to the annual report in June 2013. This endowment is one of the five largest for a public institution of higher education, and one of the 20 largest for all universities in the United States. Kochard was close with one of King’s mentors from Wall Street, Dave Carlson. “I connected very quickly with Sherri, she had a lot of qualities that I had admired in her mentor,” Kochard said. “I think the world of Dave, and I knew if he liked her as much as he did then she was special, which she was.” King was born December 3, 1974 in Germany, where her father was stationed with the U.S. military. She moved to the United States with her family when she was young and grew up in Charlottesville. She attended Duke University and received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in 1996. She then went on to study at New York University’s Stern School of Business, obtaining her MBA in finance in 2000. King spent 15 years of her professional life working on Wall Street, and held managing director positions at multiple large banks, including Credit Suisse, Bear Sterns and JP Morgan Chase. King’s husband, Patrick O’Connor, returned to Charlottesville to raise her three children, Stella, Boden and Lennox. She began working for UVIMCO in March 2012 and was responsible for fixed income credit investments and risk management. The UVIMCO fund includes both a Long-Term Pool and Short-Term Pool to form a balanced financial portfolio and provide access to funds when needed. The Board of Directors and Managing Staff, which included King, control the funds and choose investment options on behalf of the University. Despite her senior position at the University, King remained very involved outside of work. She was passionate about education, both of her own children and of inner-city youths. She served on the board of her children’s school, the Montessori School of Charlottesville, and was a board member of New Heights Youth Incorporated, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing academic support and college counseling to students in New York City. King’s unexpected death is a hard loss for her colleagues, friends and family. “We are doing a number of things to mourn and honor her history and legacy, while remaining respectful of the family and their mourning,” Kochard said. “Over the next days and weeks it will be ongoing.” In addition to her husband, King is survived by her parents and three children: Stella, 6; Boden, 4; and Lennox, 2.