Mendillo has hired several former hedge fund managers and has also poached John Barker, one of her two Wellesley deputies. And she's rearranging the fund's mix of assets. She tried to sell parts of its $5 billion in property holdings. The endowment canceled the sale after talks with China's sovereign wealth fund collapsed, a person briefed on the matter said in September.
Mendillo declines to make projections on whether or when Harvard's endowment will return to its 2008 levels. "The success of some investment decisions cannot be determined for probably a decade or more," she says.
At that time, if her bosses' instincts are right, Mendillo will still be at Harvard and can take the credit -- or the blame.