Sonali Dalal is leaving her longtime employer, the Pennsylvania State University, to build — and lead — a new in-house investment office.  

Dalal, who spent 19 years at Penn State, most recently as deputy chief investment officer, is heading to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she will serve as v.p. and CIO. Dalal will build the university’s first-ever in-house investment office, according to an announcement from the school. 

At present, St. Thomas has $900 million in assets under management — the same AUM held by Penn State when Dalal joined in 2003.  

Dalal joined Penn State early after its investment office moved in-house and was “instrumental” in growing those assets to more than $6 billion today, according to St. Thomas’s announcement. At Penn State, Dalal started as senior investment analyst and then moved on to investment strategy and research director, chief investment strategist and, most recently, to deputy CIO.  

“Sonali’s track record of success at Penn State has been very impressive,” interim St. Thomas president Rob Vischer said in a statement.  

Andrew Duff, former CEO of Piper Jaffray and chair of St. Thomas’s investment committee, agreed. “Sonali is a strategic thinker and communicator whose track record as an investor, an analyst and an executive manager is impressive,” he said , also in a statement.  

Prior to joining Penn State, Dalal held roles at Export-Import Bank of India and Lloyds Finance. She will join St. Thomas’s investment office in August.