Hersh Foundation

Hersh Foundation

The Hersh Foundation was established in 1997 by Julie and Ken Hersh as a private family foundation rooted in North Texas, with a mission structured around healthy communities, accessible healthcare, quality education, and cultural institutions. Ken Hersh made his fortune in energy and private equity, most notably as co-founder of NGP Energy Capital Management alongside the late Richard Rainwater, the former Bass family dealmaker. That wealth-generation engine — disciplined, resource-focused, operationally intensive — shapes the foundation's investment posture, which extends well beyond traditional grantmaking into direct principal investments. The foundation's deployment model blends commercial real estate with early-stage and expansion-stage venture co-investments, executed in close coordination with HFI Capital Management, the Hersh family office. Direct real estate holdings include the Capital Design District and The Seam on Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas, as well as HFI Celina Realty, a mixed-use development in Celina, Texas. On the venture side, the foundation participates in seed and Series A rounds, often co-investing alongside operators from Ken Hersh's network — which includes membership in Tiger 21 Dallas, YPO, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Confirmed strategies span early-stage technology, expansion capital, and special situations. Regen Horchow serves as President of the foundation alongside her role managing Horchow family investments, while Julie Hersh remains actively involved as founder and President. Ken Hersh chairs the board and also chairs HFI Capital Management, where Randy Chappel operates as Managing Director. Ken Hersh spent nearly a decade as President and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center from 2016 to 2025, a role that deepened the family's presence at the intersection of public policy, education reform, and Dallas civic leadership. In May 2025, Ken Hersh stepped away from the Bush Center after a nine-year tenure, returning full-time to family investment activities. The foundation's architecture is unusual: it operates as a 501(c)(3) private foundation but maintains an investment portfolio that mirrors a family office's opportunistic mandate, blending commercial real estate development with venture-stage company investments. This hybrid structure — charitable vehicle with direct-investment capability — gives the Hersh Foundation flexibility to recycle returns from real assets and equity positions back into grantmaking for North Texas nonprofits, creating a self-reinforcing capital loop rare among private foundations of its size.