2023 Endowment Leadership Series

This series explores endowment fundamentals in 2023—tackling tough questions about asset management and sharing the latest information on key issues that affect endowment investing, spending, and management. Over the course of this six-session series, thought leaders from leading investment companies, the higher education sector, and other stakeholders share their expertise on current trends and challenging topics.

Session Info

This series includes six recordings.

Fundamentals of College and Nonprofit Endowments

If endowments are not reserves or rainy-day funds, what are they? Experts will explain the legal and governing structure of endowment funds and cover how endowments are managed to provide colleges, universities, and other nonprofit organizations with a steady and reliable source of funding over the long term. This session explores the basic structure of endowments and covers how they are managed to support current operations without shortchanging the future.

Results from the 2022 NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments

The 2022 NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments is expected to show that college and university endowments posted sharply lower returns in fiscal year 2022. These lower returns, and the prospect for tough market conditions in the future, bring even more pressure for universities to spend more endowment dollars to support students and faculty. The returns also come as campus leaders are facing rising inflation, lower enrollments, and increasing calls for adding new diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

This session provides an overview of the results of the 2022 NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments, the most comprehensive analysis of endowment investment returns, asset allocations, and governance policies and practices at U.S. higher education institutions and affiliated foundations. College and university chief investment officers and other panelists will look back at the investment returns, asset allocations, and other factors that influenced performance in fiscal 2022. Panelists will also address the challenges of the financial market conditions they are facing in 2023 and beyond. We will also review the potential changes in spending strategies institutions used during the year.  

Legislative and Regulatory Considerations for 2023

In recent years, congress enacted a new net investment income tax on certain private college and university endowments, the Federal Trade Commission proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act, and the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new security-based swap reporting rules and new private investor disclosures. On Capitol Hill, several lawmakers introduced proposals for new endowment taxes and spending requirements. During this session, government affairs experts will explore what the new congress may seek to enact in the 118th congress and discuss the federal regulatory outlook for 2023.

RI, ESG, and Diversity: Defining Goals and Designing Strategies

College and university investment offices have been responding to stakeholders’ social concerns for decades. Responsible investing (RI) involved responding to calls to divest from South Africa because of apartheid in the 1960s-1980s and now includes considering concerns about climate change and racial equity issues in terms of management and fund ownership. For example, data has shown that a lack of diversity in the asset management field, and a lack of diversity among college and university asset managers specifically, is an ongoing and persistent issue that some colleges and universities have begun to address. Others have made major new strategic investment decisions to stop investing in fossil fuels. Further, there is increasing interest from regulators and others to increase reporting on hard-to-define environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. During this session, explore strategies for investing with impact and with fiduciary duty.

Spending Considerations

With record rates of return reported by all types of institutions in FY21 followed by significant market declines in FY22, colleges and universities continued an upward endowment spending trajectory. When do spending increases compromise intergenerational equity? How might institutions approach spending policies, target spending amounts, purpose spending in support of goals and objectives, and meeting changing student, academic, and campus needs? What are the best strategies to ensure stability with increased spending pressures? This session’s experts will address such questions, especially given large swings in returns over the past two years. The latest strategic investment practices that consider national and global economic policy decisions will also be discussed.

Portfolio Construction

With endowment returns sharply lower, college and university chief investment officers, investment committees, and outsourced chief investment offices continue to face difficult questions related to how best to deploy their assets. Is now the time to consider a portfolio rebalance? If not, what asset allocation discussions should institutions be making? What role should current and future spending needs play in conversations related to allocation decisions? This session will provide a deep dive into asset allocation considerations to ensure intergenerational equity in an era of even greater market volatility. Specifically, the speakers will discuss key factors in developing a resilient portfolio that includes risk tolerance, spending considerations, and rebalancing approaches. 

Sponsors

NACUBO thanks the following supporters of this event:

Primary Contributor

Premier Sponsor

Classic Sponsors

Jim Bethea

Chief Investment Officer, University of Iowa Center for Advancement

Jim Bethea serves as vice president and chief investment officer for The University of Iowa Center for Advancement. Before joining the Center for Advancement, he worked in investment manager research at RVK and Touchstone Investments. He has also worked on mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts at Mystic Capital and as a project engineer for Bridgestone. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University and his M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder.

Renee Hanna

Managing Director of Investments, Baylor University

Renee Hanna joined the Baylor University Office of Investments in May of 2008. She currently serves as managing director of investments and is responsible for the endowment's private investments across all categories and geographies. Prior to returning to her alma mater, she was an associate investment analyst at Lee Financial Corporation, a multi-family investment office. Renee earned her M.B.A. from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Richard M. Hisey

Chief Investment Officer, Berklee College of Music

Richard M. Hisey, CFA, is chief investment officer for Berklee College of Music and the retired senior vice president of administration and finance and chief financial officer. He was a key architect of Berklee's 2016 transformative merger with The Boston Conservatory. As chief investment officer, he is responsible for investment management of the college's endowment and pension plan. Hisey has over 40 years of experience in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations spanning banking, insurance, investment management, and higher education in a number of senior business, operational, financial, investment, and administrative roles. Hisey holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation and  received an M.B.A. and a B.A. with distinction in Soviet and East European Studies from the University of Connecticut. 

Stacy Lewis Daher

Associate Vice President, Finance and Treasury, University of San Francisco

Stacy Lewis Daher, CPA, currently serves as the associate vice president for finance and treasury at the University of San Francisco, where she manages or serves as a fiduciary for over $1 billion, which includes the university's endowment portfolio, capital project funds, short-term operating funds, and the university's retirement plans. In addition to her investment responsibilities, Daher also oversees investment accounting and operations, debt issuance and management, procurement and other business services, and serves as the main point of contact for the university's external rating agencies, bankers, and financial advisors. Daher has over 20 years of experience in the higher education and financial industries. Daher is a certified public accountant (CPA) who began her career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she managed audit teams and programs for her clients in the higher education, health care, and technology industries. She holds a master's of accounting degree from Saint Louis University and a bachelor's of music degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

C. Ndu Ozor

Associate General Counsel, University of Michigan

Ndu Ozor advises his University of Michigan (U-M) clients on various business and transactional matters, primarily focusing on investments in domestic and international private investment funds, including hedge funds, private equity and venture capital funds, managed accounts, other private investment funds and direct investments, secondaries transactions, venture financings, automated vehicles, and general corporate governance.

Robert Pompey, Jr.

Vice Chancellor, Business and Finance, North Carolina A&T State University

Robert Pompey, Jr. has served as the vice chancellor for business and finance at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina since October 2007.  As vice chancellor, he is responsible for the development, administration, and supervision of the fiscal affairs of the university. He also provides leadership concerning the university's procurement services, facilities, university police, human resources, campus enterprises, and process improvement operations. Pompey received his bachelor's of science degree in accounting from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1987. He also holds an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University. Pompey is also a certified public accountant (CPA) and is a member of the National Association of Certified Public Accounts.

Tom Lenehan

Chief Investment Officer, Wallace Foundation

Tom Lenehan has served as the chief investment officer of The Wallace Foundation since 2021.  He manages all aspects of the $1.8 billion investment portfolio.  Previously, he served as the deputy chief investment officer of the Rockefeller University starting in 2011. Prior to Rockefeller, Lenehan was a director at Commonfund Capital starting in 2005, where he primarily focused on manager commitments on behalf of endowment and foundation clients in the private equity, venture capital, and natural resources sectors globally. He also led that firm's secondary investment effort. Lenehan received a bachelor's of science in business administration from Georgetown University  and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Ivy Wong Flores

Managing Director, Institutional Advisory Services, Nuveen

Ivy Wong Flores is responsible for business development for Nuveen's Institutional Advisory Services team, based in the Los Angeles office with a focus on corporations, endowments, foundations and healthcare entities in the western U.S. region. Flores has over 19 years of institutional sales and client management experience, most recently as a senior investment director responsible for west coast sales and consultant relations at Legal & General (LGIMA). Prior to that, she spent 12 years at Western Asset Management Company in various client service and sales roles. Flores graduated with a B.S. in business administration from the University of California at Riverside and an M.B.A. from Claremont Graduate University, Peter F. Drucker School of Management. She holds FINRA series 7 registration and the CAIA designation.

Rick Grafmeyer

Partner, Capitol Tax Partners

Rick Grafmeyer is a partner at Capitol Tax Partners, Washington's largest independent consulting firm specializing in tax legislative and regulatory matters.  He formerly served as the deputy chief of staff for the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) from 1998 through 2000. During his tenure, JCT published comprehensive studies of corporate tax shelters, the penalty and interest system, and tax-exempt organizations, plus a major three-volume tax simplification project. Earlier,  Grafmeyer was the deputy staff director for the Senate Finance Committee responsible for tax and health care legislation before the Committee and is also widely known as an expert on Senate and House parliamentary procedural rules as well as budget process rules. Grafmeyer has a B.A. degree in accounting from Walsh College in Ohio, a J.D. degree from the University of Akron School of Law, and a LL.M. degree from Georgetown University Law Center. 

Kelly Hagg

Senior Managing Director, Head of Responsible Investing Strategy and Solutions, Nuveen

William Jarvis

Managing Director, Philanthropic Executive, Bank of America Private Bank

William Jarvis is managing director and philanthropic executive at Bank of America Private Bank, where he heads strategic thought leadership for institutional and private nonprofit organizations. An authority on investment policy and governance for endowed nonprofit organizations, Jarvis brings 40 years of experience to this role. Jarvis is the managing editor of the Bank of America Study of Philanthropy and the author of numerous white papers on investment policy and endowment governance. Prior to joining Bank of America in 2017, Jarvis served as the Executive Director of the Commonfund Institute, where he edited many of the leading studies on endowment investment and governance, including those for NACUBO, the Council on Foundations, and the National Business Officers Association. Bill holds a B.A. in English literature from Yale University, a J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law, and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Drew Krepelka

Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist, TIAA

Drew Krepelka is a managing director and senior ESG investment strategist on the TIAA Institutional Investment Strategy team that supports TIAA's largest plan sponsor clients providing investment consulting, analysis and menu design services.  In addition, he is responsible for co-leading ESG engagement efforts with TIAA client facing teams and their plan sponsor, consultant and individual clients nationwide. Over his 8 years at TIAA, Krepelka has been a relationship manager serving institutional clients in Southern California and vice president at Nuveen. Prior to joining TIAA in 2015, Drew was a vice president at Aristotle Capital Management and before that served in a variety of sales and relationship management roles over a 13-year tenure at Capital Group. Krepelka graduated with a B.A. in economics from Wheaton College (Massachusetts), including a year at the London School of Economics.  He is a Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist SM and holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 registrations while maintaining his life insurance license from the State of Massachusetts.

Deborah S. Prutzman

Chief Executive Officer, The Regulatory Fundamentals Group LLC

Deborah Spalding

Chief Investment Officer, Commonfund

George Suttles

Executive Director, Commonfund Institute

George Suttles leads Commonfund's educational, market research, and professional development activities as executive director of Commonfund Institute. Prior to joining Commonfund, George was a program officer at the John A. Hartford Foundation, an independent, national private foundation focused on improving care for older adults. Before joining the foundation, he was a vice president, senior philanthropic relationship manager at U.S. Trust/Bank of America. In this role he worked with private and institutional clients on issues related to best practices in strategic grantmaking and governance. He is a member of numerous nonprofit boards including Laundromat Project (Chair) and the New York Foundation, where he serves as treasurer and chair of the investment committee. Currently, he is adjunct faculty at the New York University (NYU) School of Professional Studies, teaching classes on private and corporate philanthropy. Suttles received a B.A. from Wesleyan University, an M.A. in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (IUPUI), and an M.P.A. from Baruch CUNY School of Public Affairs.

Liz Clark

Vice President, Policy and Research, NACUBO

Liz LaPolt Clark is vice president for policy and research at NACUBO and a member of the NACUBO executive leadership group. She has been widely quoted in the press and is a sought-after speaker on how Washington politics and federal policies impact higher education. Clark got her start on Capitol Hill opening Cornell University's first Washington, DC-based federal relations office. Also in her career, she has led federal affairs for the State University of New York (SUNY) System and for Oregon State University. At NACUBO, she heads the team responsible for analysis of federal regulatory and legislative actions, research, and communications.

Sue Menditto

Senior Director, Accounting Policy, NACUBO

Sue Menditto is NACUBO’s expert on financial accounting and reporting, managerial analysis, and financial viability. She is charged with fulfilling higher education advocacy needs with the GASB, FASB, AICPA, and Department of Education. She was appointed to the IPEDS Finance Survey Workgroup in August 2023 as one of its financial reporting experts. She has also represented higher education on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (2006–2012), AICPA’s Revenue Recognition Task Force (2016–2017), and the Department of Education’s financial responsibility subcommittee (2017–2018). 

Menditto informs the association’s research efforts on accounting issues, endowment management, and tuition discounting; writes member communications: news, advisories, accounting tutorials, and articles; and supports members’ professional development needs by providing subject matter guidance. She has also co-authored chapters of publications addressing accounting, public health, and analytics and regularly speaks on accounting and financial management topics at conferences. 

Menditto began her career in public accounting, was a CFO and Controller for a not-for-profit organization, and a vice president for Bank of America where she specialized in change management and accounting policy. She holds degrees in psychology and accounting and is a certified public accountant.  

Ken Redd

Senior Director, Research and Policy Analysis, NACUBO

Kenneth E. Redd is senior director, research and policy analysis for NACUBO. At NACUBO, Redd directs the annual NACUBO-TIAA Study of Endowments, the NACUBO Tuition Discounting Study, and other studies on higher education finance issues. 
In addition to his work at NACUBO, Ken also serves on the board of trustees for the Meadville Lombard School of Theology in Chicago, IL, and is a member of the board of directors for the Unitarian Universalist Common Endowment Fund (UUCEF) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). 
Ken has a master’s degree in public affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.