Ellen Safir is Chief Investment Officer of New Century Advisors and founded the firm in 2002. She is responsible for the overall investment and business strategies of New Century Advisors. Her prior experience includes serving for 16 years as Managing Director, Fixed Income and Currencies, at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a nonprofit medical research organization and one of the largest philanthropies in the US. There, she was a pioneer in developing “core plus,” now a commonly accepted strategy that employs a broad opportunity set within fixed income portfolios. An early adopter of TIPS, she has helped advance New Century Advisors’ reputation as an expert in inflation-linked securities. Ellen's personal expertise in the fixed income markets also extends to the emerging market and high-yield sectors, as well as to traditional fixed income sectors. Earlier in her career, Ellen was assistant treasurer of the American National Red Cross, where she managed operating reserves and oversaw the organization's retirement system and endowment portfolios. She began her career as a financial analyst at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.
Ellen is Vice-Chair of the Investment Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and also chairs the Investment Committee of Bennington College, where she serves of the Board of Trustees. She chairs the Advisory Council of Horizons Greater Washington, a not-for-profit organization that empowers economically disadvantaged students through public private partnerships between independent and public school communities. A past president of the Washington Society of Investment Analysts and of the Washington Association of Money Managers, she formerly served on the board of directors of Century National Bank of Washington, D.C. Ellen also served on the board of AARP Mutual Funds, where she was chair of the investment committee.
Ellen holds a B.A. from Bennington College and an M.B.A. from George Washington University. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
