Saint Xavier University

Saint Xavier University

Saint Xavier University was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1846, making it Chicago's oldest chartered university. The endowment is not a single unified pool but a collection of donor-restricted and trustee-designated funds supporting the liberal arts and professional programs across the 109-acre campus at 3700 West 103rd Street. President Keith Elder oversees the institution's finances alongside a board that includes Tasha Henderson of Loop Capital Markets and Nick Urso of Bear Cartage & Intermodal. The portfolio's largest structural component, however, is its physical plant: the endowment includes direct real estate assets such as the Driehaus Center, the Visual Arts Center, and multiple residential halls like Rubloff Hall and O'Brien Hall, which generate operating revenue for the university. With an estimated $49 million in pooled assets, the endowment is small by national university standards, placing it among the smaller Catholic higher-education endowments in the Midwest. The university participates in the Associated Colleges of Illinois and the Council of Independent Colleges, providing professional peer networks that occasionally facilitate co-investment conversations. A sustainability taskforce operates through the South Metro Higher Education Consortium. The endowment's structural differentiator is direct real estate ownership intertwined with the academic mission — commercial and mixed-use campus buildings function as both learning environments and income-producing assets, a model that distinguishes it from peers that outsource real estate to external REIT allocations or property managers.