2024 Endowment Leadership Series (Recordings)
Recorded On: 04/18/2024
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Building on the online series originally launched in 2021, NACUBO again offers a biweekly series exploring endowment fundamentals in 2024—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.
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Session Info
Fundamentals of College and Nonprofit Endowments
Even among those with years of higher education experience, endowments and how they work can be challenging to describe. Experts will explain the legal and governing structure of endowment funds and how they 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.
Speakers: William Jarvis, Liz Clark
Results From the 2023 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments
This session provides an overview of the results of the 2023 NACUBO-Commonfund 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.
The 2023 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments, the 50th anniversary of NACUBO’s endowment study series, is expected to show that college and university endowments posted below average returns in fiscal year 2023. These lower returns, and the prospect for tough market conditions in the future, bring even more pressure for universities to spend more from their endowments to support students and faculty. The returns also come as campus leaders are facing rising inflation, lower enrollments, and increasing calls for controlling college costs.
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 FY23. Panelists will address the challenges of the financial market conditions they are facing in 2024 and beyond. They will also share the major highlights endowments have seen over the past 50 years.
Speakers: Charmel Maynard, Tim Yates, Stephanie Hughes, Ken Redd
Nuts and Bolts of Endowment Management
Institutions with endowments must have strong relationships between business, academic, investment, development, and governance functions. This session touches on how many moving institutional parts work together and why. Topics include donor reporting, endowed faculty positions, accounting, and record keeping for individual funds, fiduciary responsibility, funds functioning as endowments, public policy and perception, understanding the giving pipeline, and the importance of communicating endowment spending benefits internally and externally.
Speakers: Terri Albertson, Nicole Tirella, Rick Cole, Sue Menditto
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.
Speakers: Sam Hodas, Roberto Lobo, Sue Menditto
Endowment Spending Considerations
Most institutional endowments have seen lower investment rates of return over the past two years. At the same time, there is pressure on campuses to spend more endowment dollars on student financial aid and other important functions. To deal with these pressures, some institutions made special spending appropriations, while others stayed the course in their spending dollars, resulting in modest spending increases over time due to the spending “smoothing” effect of multi-year trailing average returns. Can a single year of significant spending compromise intergenerational equity? Since returns can be unrealized, what will continued market volatility mean for institutions that significantly increase spending? What are the best strategies to ensure stability while increasing spending? This session’s experts will address such questions, especially given large swings in returns over the past two years. Panelists will also discuss the latest strategic investment practices that consider national and global economic policy decisions.
Speakers: Diane Hoehnke, James Bell, Charles Georgalas, Ken Redd
Benchmarking Investment Performance
How can higher education endowments best compare their investment rates of return and other results against peer institutions? What are the best tools available for conducting effective, data-driven analysis of endowment performance? This session will discuss the critical topic of college and university peer-analysis benchmarking of endowment returns, asset allocations, and other key data. Panelists will provide advice on the tools and tips that can be used by investment managers and committees for evaluating performance against a variety of peer institutional sets.
Speakers: Ron Hromisin, Ken Souza, George Suttles, Ken Redd
Terri Albertson
Vice President for Finance and Administration
Ursinus College
Terri Albertson is the vice president for finance and administration at Ursinus College. She was previously with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Haverford College. She has spent over 25 years in public accounting at national firms with an industry focus on colleges and universities, healthcare entities, and not-for-profit organizations. She is the current chair of NACUBO's accounting principles council and is a graduate of NACUBO's Fellows program. She is a member of the board of trustees of Salus University and is on the audit and compliance committee and the finance committee.
Diane Hoehnke
Vice President, Finance
Wisconsin Lutheran College
A graduate of Carroll University in Wisconsin and a certified public accountant (CPA), Diane Hoehnke has been working in the non-profit sector for over 30 years. Although in the role of vice president for 2 years, Hoehnke has been at Wisconsin Lutheran College for 25 years.
Ron Hromisin
Associate Vice President of Finance
Misericordia University
Ron Hromisin has been with Misericordia University since July 1994, joining Misericordia after six years in public accounting and two years in the private sector. As Misericordia’s associate vice president of finance, he oversees the day-to-day fiscal operations and investment funds of the university. Hromisin is also a representative on the university’s audit, finance, and investment committees and is a trustee of the university’s pension plans.
Hromisin graduated from King’s College with BS degrees in accounting and computers and information systems. He obtained his certified public accountant license from Pennsylvania and later an MS degree in finance from King’s College.
Charmel Maynard
Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer
University of Miami
Charmel Maynard serves as the University of Miami's chief investment officer and treasurer. In this capacity, he leads the university’s efforts to invest assets, including endowment and pension funds. Maynard is also responsible for the university’s capital structure, including liquidity and debt issuances. Additionally, he manages treasury and cash management.
Maynard was previously a vice president with J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank in New York City. During his 10-year career with J.P. Morgan, he focused on investment banking debt capital markets and leveraged finance, where he advised clients on capital structure solutions, deal structuring, and execution of syndicated revolving credit facilities, institutional term loans, and bond issuances.
Maynard holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Amherst College.
Nicole Tirella
SVP, CFO, and Treasurer
Boston University
Nicole Tirella, senior vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer for Boston University oversees the financial operations including accounting and financial reporting, debt and treasury functions, research financial operations, risk management, sourcing and procurement, and internal audit. She is a certified public accountant and an active member of NACUBO's accounting principles council. She spent over seven years as an auditor for KPMG, specializing in higher education and not-for-profit entities. Before coming to Boston University, she was the associate controller at the University of Massachusetts within the president’s office where she led the compilation of the university system’s consolidated financial statements.
Ken Souza
Senior Director of Investments
University of South Florida Foundation
Ken Souza joined the USF Foundation in December of 2008. He had previously worked for the asset management arm of Fidelity Investments and in insurance portfolio investing for New York Life. As the Foundation’s senior director of investments, he oversees over $800 million in endowment and operating pool assets. This role includes leading investment initiatives, coordinating research with the Foundation’s investment consultant, conducting due diligence on current and prospective managers, and reporting to the Foundation’s investment committee.
Souza graduated from Merrimack College in 2000 and obtained an MBA from Suffolk University in 2005. Souza is also a certified treasury professional. Souza also serves on the advisory board for the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Center and the Student Managed Investment Fund in the USF Muma College of Business and is a board member on the Tampa Bay History Center Foundation.
Stephanie Hughes
Senior Reporter
Marketplace
Stephanie Hughes is a senior reporter for the national radio show Marketplace, where she reports on business and economics, with a focus on education. She’s covered stories ranging from the effectiveness of technology used by schools to prevent violence to why theater majors are getting jobs writing for chatbots. Previously, Hughes worked as a producer for Bloomberg and before that at WYPR, the NPR affiliate in Baltimore, where she helped produce a year-long, multi-platform series on race, wealth, and poverty, which won a duPont-Columbia Award. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, on NPR, and in Salon. She lives in Baltimore.
James Bell
Senior Consultant
Crewcial Partners
James Bell, CFA, is a senior consultant and the director of hedge funds. Bell has been with Crewcial since 2008 and has over 20 years of investment experience. Bell helps provide the firm's clients with advice on asset allocation, manager selection, and performance evaluation/attribution. Bell also helps lead the firm's hedge-fund research efforts and has conducted manager research across all major asset classes, including US and international equity, credit, and private equity. Prior to joining Crewcial, Bell worked for Muirfield Capital, where he focused on hedge-fund sourcing and diligence for its fund-of-hedge-funds products.
Bell holds a BA in economics from The University of Chicago.
Rick Cole
Partner
FORVIS
Rick Cole has more than 25 years of experience serving nonprofit organizations. He is the New York Market Industry Leader for nonprofit and education and is a member of the FORVIS higher education center of excellence. Before joining the firm in 2019, he worked at FASB, where he served as a supervising project manager for almost six years. Prior to joining FASB, Cole was vice president and controller at a large national museum in New York for seven years and a senior manager with a large international accounting firm where he worked for 14 years and specialized in audits of higher education institutions and other nonprofit organizations. He is a lecturer at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies, in their nonprofit management program.
Cole is a CPA in New York and New Jersey and is a member of the AICPA and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is a graduate of Montclair State University, with a BS degree and an MBA degree.
Charles Georgalas
Managing Director, Investment Team
Crewcial Partners
Charlie Georgalas, managing director at Crewcial Partners, LLC. Georgalas provides the firm’s clients with advice on asset allocation, manager selection, and performance evaluation/attribution, and he is an integral part of Crewcial’s research process. Georgalas has been with Crewcial (formerly known as Colonial Consulting) for 27 years and has 36 years of investment experience. He is currently the lead consultant for 24 of Crewcial’s clients and is one of the largest equity owners of Crewcial.
After completing his bachelor’s of science in management from SUNY Binghamton, Georgalas worked for The Bank of New York for over eight years. Georgalas rose through the ranks and focused on portfolio management for high-net-worth individuals for over six years, while also contributing to the bank’s research efforts by following the paper/forest products industry. Immediately prior to joining Crewcial, Georgalas worked for Kidder Peabody – Paine Webber, where he performed investment manager due diligence from 1993 to 1996.
Georgalas received his MBA from Fordham University and holds the CFA designation.
Sam Hodas
Managing Director, Responsible Investing
Nuveen
Sam Hodas serves as managing director, head of enterprise ESG strategy, at Nuveen, TIAA’s asset management arm. There he is responsible for ESG client and product go-to market strategy across US markets. In addition, Hodas helps lead governance, coordination, and strategy for operational ESG activities across both TIAA and Nuveen.
Prior to joining Nuveen, Hodas was a senior director on TIAA’s federal government relations team where he was responsible for outreach, policy, and advocacy on matters relating to Nuveen and TIAA Bank with policymakers in Washington, DC. Hodas’s early years in DC were spent toiling in the halls of Congress, working as a staffer to three different lawmakers. Working at TIAA and Nuveen holds special meaning for Hodas as the son and grandson of retired educators and TIAA participants.
Hodas earned his bachelor’s of arts degree in history and economics from Franklin and Marshall College. He currently lives in Washington, DC with his wife, two sons, and a very jazzy cat. When not at work, you can often find Hodas on the golf course.
William Jarvis
Managing Director and Philanthropic Executive
Bank of America
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 41 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. In 2021, Jarvis was honored with NACUBO’s Rodney H. Adams Endowment Management Award for outstanding individual contributions to professional development activities in the area of college and university endowment and investment management.
Jarvis 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. Jarvis does not provide legal advice in his role at Bank of America.
Roberta Lobo
Director, Responsible Investing
Nuveen
Roberta Lobo is a director in the responsible investing team at Nuveen. As part of her ESG integration work, Lobo is supporting teams across public and private asset classes to incorporate material ESG factors into investment decision making processes via proprietary frameworks, ratings, and data. Her prior ESG strategy work includes leading TIAA ESG engagement programs, supporting client engagement efforts, and executing sustainable business goals.
Previously, Lobo spent six years at Bank of America Securities in public finance investment banking focused on structuring green and social bond transactions for municipal issuers in the affordable housing, student loan, public power, and state revolving fund sectors.
Lobo has a BA in economics and political science from the University of Chicago and holds Series 7, 52, and 63 licenses.
George Suttles
Executive Director, Commonfund Institute
Commonfund
George Suttles leads Commonfund’s educational-thought partnership and professional development activities as executive director of Commonfund Institute. He serves on multiple advisory boards and steering committees, including Intentional Endowments Network’s (IEN) steering committee which provides strategic guidance to the network and chairs the steering committee for the Impact Finance Center’s Diverse Manager Initiative.
Prior to joining Commonfund, Suttles was a program officer at the John A. Hartford Foundation. 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 governance and strategic grantmaking. 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 BA from Wesleyan University, an MA in philanthropic studies from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (IUPUI) and an MPA from Baruch CUNY Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. Suttles is currently pursuing a doctorate in education (EdD) at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
Tim Yates
President and CEO, Commonfund OCIO
Commonfund
Timothy T. Yates, Jr. heads Commonfund OCIO and is responsible for managing all aspects of Commonfund OCIO's business, which focuses exclusively on non-profit institutions. In this role, he leads a team of professionals that advise, implement, and monitor custom investment solutions for institutions with total assets under management of more than $15 billion. Yates is a member of the Commonfund OCIO Executive Group and serves on both the Commonfund Asset Allocation and Operating Committees.
Yates joined Commonfund as an associate in the CF Private Equity Associate Program. In 2003, he was a founding member of Commonfund's OCIO platform, where he was responsible for the design, tailoring, and implementation of total portfolio solutions. Additionally, he held several roles with CF Private Equity including having responsibility for custom accounts and serving as a senior member of the firm’s emerging markets private equity portfolio leadership team with a focus on Latin America.
Before joining Commonfund, Yates was an instructor of Spanish and Italian at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, NY. He holds an MBA in finance with a designation in international business from Fordham University and a BA in modern languages from Trinity College. Yates is a member of the investment committee for St. Paul’s Church in Fairfield, CT, the Advisory Board of Girls Who Invest, a member of the Trinity College Board of Fellows, and the Board of Directors of Caroline House—a non-profit in Bridgeport, CT, focused on enabling women and children to reach the fullness of their potential through education in English language and life skills.
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, Redd 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).
Redd has a master’s degree in public affairs from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.
Key:
Crewcial Partners is a 100% employee-owned, boutique-style investment firm that has been focused on providing customized investment advice to non-profit institutions since 1980. As a result, we've developed a deep level of experience to support such clients as they navigate the requirements and challenges inherent to their particular investment journey.
Our firm’s evolution over the past 40 years includes expanding our scope of research from US to international, building out a robust private-assets team, developing a comprehensive diverse-manager discovery process, and anticipating and developing solutions to the ever-expanding requirements and concerns of our clients, from investment policy statements to critical administrative responsibilities.
While our approach is, of course, rooted in strong performance, it also includes understanding each community and its needs. Crewcial is differentiated because we invest aspirationally, aiming for top-quartile performance inclusive of your mission. Our work in ESG and inclusion supports this by allowing our clients to invest in a manner that drives impact beyond nominal portfolio returns.
Contacts
- Michael Miller (CIO)
- Angela Matheny (Director Diverse Manager Equity)
- Stephane Ligonde (Director of Business Development)
- Charlie Georgalas (Senior Consultant & Managing Partner)
- James Bell (Consultant)
- Tuokpe Ajuyah (Head of ESG & Impact Investments)
- Jonathan Goldberg (Investment Committee Chair & Consultant)
Resources
TIAA was founded in 1918 to help teachers retire with confidence. That mission grew to include those in healthcare and more, creating reliable income for their futures while they work to make a difference today. Our commitment to be the change—for our clients, associates and communities—has never wavered and it’s what motivates us to deliver lifetime income for all with investments that build a better world.
Key Contacts
- Nicolette Dixon, Senior Director | Strategic Client Engagement, TIAA, ndixon@tiaa.org
TIAA Insights
Prime Buchholz was established in 1988 and has a long history of serving higher education. Founded by two university CFOs, educational institutions represent approximately one-third of our 250 clients. We have a deep-rooted understanding of the unique financial needs of colleges and universities—our lasting client relationships highlight our ability to cater to their specific needs. Our independence, customized approach, mission-aligned investment capabilities, and proprietary analytics platform, PrimePlus®, help us create lasting partnerships designed to achieve the goals of our clients.
Contact Info
Liz Mullen, liz.mullen@primebuchholz.com, 603.828.9241