ELS25: Using Mission-Aligned Endowment Benchmarks

Nikki Kwan is a responsible investing and impact investing professional dedicated to creating a more just and sustainable world through business and finance. At the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, she is focused on advancing the firm’s leadership and best practices in responsible investing. This includes the continued integration of ESG considerations throughout decision-making, manager selection, stewardship activities, reporting and disclosure, knowledge sharing, and industry building. Prior to UTAM, Kwan has worked with impact investment management firms, social finance intermediaries, social ventures, and institutional investors in North America and Asia to design and implement impact investing strategies and models that generate positive financial, social, and environmental outcomes. She has contributed to research reports examining Canada’s conservation finance landscape and various impact investing markets. She holds an honours business administration undergraduate degree with a sustainability certificate from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Jeff Mindlin serves as the inaugural Chief Investment Officer at ASU Enterprise Partners. In this capacity, Jeff is responsible for managing about $2b of Arizona State University Foundation’s investment assets to maximize risk adjusted returns. This includes the endowment, sustainability, and short-term investment pools. He provides critical support of the Investment Committee and Board of Directors as well as oversight of consultants. He also leads the investment activities of other affiliates engaged in direct real estate and corporate venture capital. During his tenure, Jeff has been tasked with aligning the investment strategy with ASU’s sustainability leadership including Net Zero and corporate engagement efforts. Jeff serves on the boards of the university’s education technology accelerator (ASU ScaleU) and angel investor network (InvestU). He acts as a trustee to the retirement plan and advises on the investment management of ASU’s operating funds. To support ASU’s emphasis on experiential learning and sustainability, Jeff is active with multiple student managed funds and finance-related clubs. In addition, Jeff chairs the TIAA-Nuveen Investment Council and serves on the Intentional Endowment Network’s Executive Committee and Net Zero Working Group. He also serves on the investment committee for the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix.

Aaron Moore serves the California State University as executive director of advancement at the Office of the Chancellor and chief financial officer for the CSU Foundation, providing oversight in managing investments, financial reporting, and compliance. The CSU Foundation manages the Chancellor’s Office, multi-campus gifts and grants, and the systemwide charitable gift annuity program and disburses $2 million in student scholarships annually. Moore's team also oversees the CSU Alumni Council and systemwide alumni relations for the CSU's 4.3 million global alumni.

Georges Dyer is co-founder and executive director of the Crane Institute of Sustainability and leads its flagship initiative, the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN), which supports endowments in aligning investment policies with institutional mission, values, and sustainability goals. For over 20 years, he has been engaged in solutions-based, whole-system approaches to sustainability. From 2006-2014, Dyer served in various roles, including vice president, at Second Nature. Previously, Dyer was the head of market intelligence for the Institutional Equities Group at LaBranche Financial Services in New York, worked with design-build firms on residential green building projects in Vermont and Colorado, and is certified in Permaculture design. 

Dyer is a graduate of The Mountain School of Milton Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Dartmouth College. He holds a MSc in strategic leadership towards sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden, where his thesis research focused on carbon reduction projects under the Kyoto Protocol and EU Emissions Trading Scheme.