In The News

In The News
Met Opera Taps Its Endowment Again to Weather Downturn

The company has withdrawn nearly $40 million in additional funds from its endowment to cover expenses, but sees signs it may be emerging from its post-pandemic woes.

01.26.24
Daily Feed
Tennessee Sues BlackRock

 On Monday, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed the first-of-its-kind consumer protection lawsuit against the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock Inc. Tennessee’s complaint alleges that Blackrock made false or misleading representations to current and potential Tennessee consumers about the extent to which Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations affect BlackRock’s investment strategies,

12.19.23
In The News
State bill calls for taxing wealthy private colleges with endowments over $1B

A group of local college students, along with a handful of Massachusetts lawmakers, are advocating to tax nearly a dozen elite Massachusetts colleges and universities, whose multibillion-dollar endowments they say should fund early and higher education opportunities for students beyond these campuses.

11.28.23
In The News
Retired State Worker Sues Oklahoma State Treasurer

A retired state employee is suing Oklahoma’s treasurer, arguing that his enforcement of a new law is harming his pension.

Former Oklahoma Public Employee Association President Don Keenan filed the lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court on Monday. It seeks to stop a law prohibiting the state from doing business with companies believed to be hostile to the oil and gas industry. Keenan’s lawsuit asks the court to find Oklahoma’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act unconstitutional.

11.22.23
In The News
Texas’ $55 Billion University Endowment Fund Is Wary Private Debt Market

The head of the second-largest US university endowment is pouring cold water on one of Wall Street’s hottest markets: private credit. Rich Hall, who took over as chief executive officer of the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company in July, said leverage in private credit makes it too risky to boost allocations, even as other endowments and pension funds have been funneling money into what’s now a $1.6 trillion global market.

11.02.23
In The News
For Princeton Endowment Manager Andy Golden, the Greatest Returns Are Not Always Financial

Andy Golden, president of the Princeton University Investment Company (Princo), found his fountain of youth in a bottle of beer – when serving it rather than consuming its contents. The 64-year-old looked particularly relaxed, joyful, and youthful when he recently fulfilled drink orders as the guest bartender for a Housing Initiatives of Princeton (HIP) fundraiser at the Ivy Inn on Nassau Street.

08.21.23
In The News
Pulling Simon Fraser University’s pension, endowment funds back from the brink

Jacky Shen suspects he was the oldest intern Simon Fraser University’s treasury department ever had.

It was 2007, he was in his early 40s, had just arrived in Canada with his family and was studying for a master’s degree in the university’s wealth management program. As an intern, Shen — now the university’s treasurer and director of investment — joined a department responsible for investing several endowment funds, trusts and pension plans that now have net assets of $1.1 billion.

08.11.23
In The News
College Endowment Investment Gains Are Being Eroded by Inflation

US college endowments are rebounding from their worst returns since the Great Recession, but increased costs to pay for buildings, salaries and financial aid are cutting into those gains.

08.10.23
In The News
Public Pension Funds Continue to Boost Alts Allocations in Search of Higher Returns

The Equable Institute’s State of Pensions 2023 report claims that ‘pension funds are addicted to risk.’

07.25.23
In The News
Academia’s Wealth Stratification Drives the Decline in Reporting Endowments

It is startling that participation in the NACUBO survey has steadily declined since FY 2017. Why is the number of participants decreasing every year? Why is the decrease closely correlated with endowment size? What does that correlation reveal about wealth stratification in higher education?

06.14.23