Academy of Natural Sciences Endowment

Drexel University Chief Investment Officer Catherine Ulozas manages the Academy's endowment. Drexel has overseen the portfolio in a segregated fashion since the two institutions affiliated in 2011. The Academy's own board of trustees — chaired by Suzanne Biemiller — retains fiduciary oversight of the institution.

It is managed as a segregated pool within Drexel University's investment office. Although Drexel's CIO directs asset allocation and manager selection, the endowment remains wholly dedicated to the Academy and is not commingled with Drexel's general university endowment.

The Academy became a nonprofit affiliate of Drexel in October 2011. Under the affiliation, the Academy retained its own board and separate 501(c)(3) status, while Drexel assumed management of the endowment and jointly established the Department of Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Sciences.

The endowment is a broad private-market participant, deploying across early-stage — including seed and startup — expansion and late-stage, buyout, distressed debt, mezzanine, and secondaries. It uses both direct investment and fund-of-funds approaches.

It holds direct real estate. Confirmed holdings include the Academy's museum building and library on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a biological specimen collection, and an exposure to the Schuylkill Yards development in University City. It also invests in global real estate and real assets funds.

The Academy has not published a negative screening list. Given its mission as a natural history museum and its freshwater research legacy, institutional allocators might probe for restrictions on fossil-fuel extraction or environmentally contested industries, but no public policy statement has been identified.

The Academy does not publicly disclose its AUM. No figure has been reported in public filings or by Drexel University in relation to this specific segregated pool.