Charles Wright Academy

Charles Wright Academy

Charles Wright Academy was founded in 1957, when Sam and Nathalie Brown purchased 127 acres to establish an independent college-preparatory school. The endowment emerged as a permanent vehicle to help fund operations. Today, the investment function sits with the school's Endowment Committee, where Investment Manager Adam Blakney oversees the portfolio under a board that includes Chair Toby Murray III of Murray Pacific Corp. and Director Sarah Weyerhaeuser of the Weyerhaeuser family. The endowment deploys capital across a deliberately broad private-markets mix. The strategy spans buyout, growth equity, and venture, layered with fund-of-funds commitments that diversify the $31-million pool across multiple general partners. The committee has confirmed positions in private equity and venture vehicles, though specific fund names and direct co-investments remain undisclosed. The geographic focus centers on North American managers, consistent with the school's West Tacoma base and its trustee network. The board manages the endowment alongside the school's physical assets — including its Chambers Creek Road campus and adjacent forested trail acreage — without spinning out a separate foundation vehicle. Philanthropic giving flows through The Fund for CWA, an in-school annual fund. The Academy is accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS) and holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). The endowment's structural differentiator is its trustee-led investment model. Unlike independent schools that outsource investment management entirely to an OCIO, Charles Wright Academy retains internal control via an investment-manager staff role and an endowment committee staffed by alumni and regional business figures. That architecture concentrates sourcing and decision rights in a small group with deep ties to Pacific Northwest industry, creating a governance blend closer to a family-office investment committee than to a conventional school board.