Another goal, he said, is to bring to the investment committee asset managers who he thinks “are the right folks to be managing the money, and to see if there are any new asset classes that we might want to think about investing in, whether it be real estate or what are referred to as real assets, like timberland or oil and gas.”

Mr. Brown’s aggressive investment expertise is one of the many reasons he was hired, said David Surgala, vice president for finance and administration.

“Hiring a CIO is a commitment to the stewardship of the university’s most important long-term financial asset, particularly as we prepare to enter our fundraising campaign,” Mr. Surgala said.

“With Chris, we have someone with the highest level of skill dedicated to professional management of the endowment and the donor’s gifts.”

Mr. Brown and his wife, Kimberly, are both Bucknell graduates. Their daughter, Emily, is a student at James Madison University. A son, Tom, is a junior in high school in Ridgefield, Conn., where Mr. Brown continues to live.

“At the moment, I’m staying there and commuting back and forth,” he said.

“It’s not a bad thing to have a base in Connecticut, and be closer to New York City. The asset managers and potential colleagues are there. A lot of industry hedge funds are based in Connecticut. And one of our managers is based out of Greenwich. So it’s actually kind of convenient that I’m located where I am.

“A big part of what I have to do is meet with those people.”