Michigan Tech Fund

Michigan Tech Fund

The Michigan Tech Fund was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation in the State of Michigan, existing solely to receive, invest, and disburse gifts that support Michigan Technological University and its students. Michael Pulick leads the board as Chair and Director, alongside President Richard Koubek and CFO Carlos Rodriguez, anchoring a governance structure that ties directly to the university's administration. The fund's deployment spans an atypical mix of hard assets and venture-stage commitments. Its balance sheet includes campus-linked properties such as the Mont Ripley Ski Hill, Portage Lake Golf Course, and the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Building, alongside a national real estate portfolio through vehicles like the American Core Realty Fund. On the venture side, the fund targets early-stage opportunities, with a focus on SpaceTech, ClimateTech, Digital Health, Industrial Tech, Mobility & Transportation, and Energy Transition & Renewables, concentrating its geographic exposure across North America. The fund participates in the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) study, providing a benchmark-contextualized view of its $169.1M pool (Altss estimate), and holds memberships in CASE. Philanthropic structures run parallel, including supporting organizations and vehicles like the Wolf-Moose Foundation Endowment Fund. No single recent operational event publicly breaks its steady-state campus-investment pattern. The Michigan Tech Fund's structural differentiator lies in its dual nature: it operates as both a real-asset operator for the university's recreational and commercial properties and a thematic venture allocator. This hybrid model — managing ski hills and seed-stage tech commitments under the same fiduciary roof — sets it apart from most endowment peers that silo campus assets from investable portfolios.