Albuquerque Academy

Albuquerque Academy

Albuquerque Academy was founded in 1955 as The Academy for Boys, an independent day school that would grow to serve grades 6 through 12 on a single 312-acre campus. Today it operates as a nonprofit coeducational institution with an endowment funding scholarships and operations largely through two legacy vehicles: the Albert G. Simms Testamentary Trust and the Albuquerque Academy For Boys Trust 1. The endowment deploys capital across private equity, venture capital, and real estate — spanning buyout, early-stage seed and startup investments, expansion-stage deals, and mezzanine financing. Real estate assets include the main campus at 6400 Wyoming Boulevard NE, a separate parcel of Bear Canyon stewardship land, and a commercial racquet club on campus grounds. The school also holds institutional infrastructure — a named performing arts center and the Simms Library — that functions as durable operating assets. Head of School Julianne Puente leads the institution alongside CFO Shawn Ricketts, who stewards the endowment's investment posture, and Board Chair Diane Harrison Ogawa. The Academy co-invests with the Albuquerque Community Foundation on community grants and donor-advised fund distributions. Its library system holds membership in Amigos Library Services, and the school itself belongs to the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest, and the New Mexico Association of Non Public Schools. What distinguishes Albuquerque Academy from other preparatory endowments is the scale of its directly held real assets — a 312-acre campus with supplementary stewardship land and a commercial racquet club operate as balance-sheet holdings, not just operational facilities. The dual-trust structure inherited from its founding era creates a semi-permanent capital base that lets the school act as a patient, direct investor rather than relying solely on a outsourced CIO model.