# J. Paul Getty Trust J. Paul Getty Trust is an Endowment / Foundation based in Los Angeles, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** Los Angeles, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** 1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049, United States - **Founded:** 1982 - **Assets under management:** $7B – $8.6B (Altss estimate) - **Website:** getty.edu - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/j.-paul-getty-museum ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The J. Paul Getty Trust is a non-profit organisation founded in 1953 in the United States. It operates museums, conducts research, and manages libraries, conservation efforts, scholarships, and educational programs. The trust focuses on the agricultural business sector. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Hedge Funds - Private Credit ## Offices - 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 ## People - Katherine E. Fleming — President and CEO - David L. Lee — Chair of the Board of Trustees - Katharine Krieger — Chief Investment Officer - James M. Williams — Former Vice President, Treasurer, and CIO (retired 2024) ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at the J. Paul Getty Trust? Katharine Krieger became Chief Investment Officer in January 2024, succeeding James M. Williams who had managed the endowment for more than two decades. Krieger previously oversaw endowment assets at the University of Chicago and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She reports to the Trust's Board of Trustees, chaired by David L. Lee, with President and CEO Katherine E. Fleming responsible for setting the overall strategic allocation budget the investment office executes against. ### Where does the J. Paul Getty Trust's wealth come from? The fortune originates with J. Paul Getty, who founded Getty Oil Company and secured extraordinarily lucrative oil concessions in the Saudi Arabia–Kuwait Partitioned Neutral Zone starting in 1949. Upon his death in 1976, a portion of his estate flowed to the Trust, and the 1984 sale of Getty Oil to Texaco for $10.1 billion cemented the endowment's capital base. No descendants control the Trust; the assets are irrevocably dedicated to the charitable mission. ### How does the Trust's endowment differ from a university endowment? The Trust has no students, faculty, or research hospitals to fund. Its annual mandated payout of roughly 5% of assets — approximately $385 million — supports museum operations, conservation science, art-history research, and grant-making in the visual arts. This single-purpose mission eliminates the multi-school, multi-priority allocation battles common at universities, allowing a streamlined investment focus on long-term total return rather than short-term liquidity. ### Does the Getty endowment invest in art or art funds? The investment portfolio does not treat art as an investable asset class. Masterpieces held by the Museum — such as Van Gogh's Irises and Manet's Spring — are programmatic assets, not investment holdings. The endowment portfolio is composed of traditional institutional assets: public equities, fixed income, absolute-return strategies, private equity, and real assets. Art acquisitions are funded through the operating budget, not the investment portfolio. ### Is the board composed of Getty family members? No. The Trust is governed by an independent Board of Trustees drawn from the arts, academia, and finance. Current members include Thelma Golden, Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Mary Schmidt Campbell, former President of Spelman College. The chair is David L. Lee, a finance and technology executive. No Getty family descendants sit on the board. ## Related profiles - [J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors](https://altss.com/profile/j-p-morgan-private-wealth-advisors-jpmpwa) - [J-Power](https://altss.com/profile/j-power) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/j-paul-getty-trust Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology