Drake University Endowment

The Board of Trustees holds ultimate authority over investment decisions, operating through an Investment Committee structure common to university endowments. Paul Schickler chairs the board. The board includes two former financial-services CEOs — Larry Zimpleman of Principal Financial Group and Greg Johansen of GRX Holdings — who bring direct institutional asset-management and private-equity experience to portfolio oversight.

Deal flow relies heavily on trustee networks rather than a dedicated internal sourcing team. Trustee Craig Ibsen is Managing Partner at Next Level Ventures, an Iowa-based venture capital firm, providing direct access to regional early-stage opportunities. The board's deep ties to Des Moines' financial sector — including Principal and the insurance industry — create additional advisory and co-investment channels.

The endowment operates through both fund commitments and direct deals. Its direct holdings are concentrated in campus-linked real estate: student housing, Mediacom Stadium, and the Johansen Student Center. For private equity and venture capital, the endowment likely invests through commingled funds rather than direct company stakes, though the Next Level Ventures relationship may offer co-investment opportunities.

The endowment holds student housing properties in Des Moines under Drake Real Estate Student Housing and co-owns Mediacom Stadium, a mixed-use facility developed with Des Moines Public Schools. The Johansen Student Center, formerly Morehouse Hall, is a donor-funded commercial asset on campus. All three properties are directly linked to the university's physical plant and donor capital.

The Board of Trustees governs the endowment through an Investment Committee. Trustees serve in a volunteer capacity, without dedicated internal investment staff. The board draws on the finance and operating backgrounds of its members — including former CEOs of Principal Financial Group and DuPont Pioneer — rather than employing a full-time CIO, which is typical for endowments in this size range.

No specific AUM figure is publicly available. The endowment's holdings in student housing, Mediacom Stadium, and donor-funded facilities point to a portfolio in the low hundreds of millions, consistent with a medium-sized private university endowment. The university participates in NACUBO's annual endowment study, but individual asset totals have not been separately reported in recent years.

The Krause Challenge Fund is a matching-grant vehicle tied to Drake University's fundraising efforts. It pools donor contributions that are matched against a challenge grant, with proceeds flowing into the endowment's capital base. This structure directly links ongoing fundraising campaigns to the investment corpus, a mechanism that amplifies donor impact while growing the long-term portfolio.