# Saint Xavier University

Saint Xavier University is an Endowment / Foundation based in Chicago, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Chicago, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 3700 West 103rd Street, Chicago, IL 60655, United States
- **Founded:** 1846
- **Assets under management:** ~$49M (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** sxu.edu

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

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.

## Sectors

- Education

## People

- Keith Elder — President
- Tasha Henderson — Board Chair
- Chuck Newman — Board Vice Chair
- Nick Urso — Board Treasurer

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Saint Xavier University's endowment?

The endowment falls under the university's overall financial administration, with President Keith Elder and the Board of Trustees bearing ultimate fiduciary responsibility. The board includes finance professionals such as Chair Tasha Henderson (CFO and COO of Loop Capital Markets) and Treasurer Nick Urso (President of Bear Cartage & Intermodal), which provides investment-committee depth atypical for an endowment of this size. Specific day-to-day manager selection or asset allocation staff are not publicly named.

### What real estate does the endowment own?

The endowment's most visible assets are campus properties that serve both academic and income-generating functions. These include the Driehaus Center, a mixed-use facility on 103rd Street, the Visual Arts Center on South Spaulding, and four residential halls: Rubloff Hall, O'Brien Hall, McCarthy Hall, and Morris Hall. The campus also includes recreational acreage around Lake Marion.

### How is Saint Xavier University's endowment different from a typical university pool?

Unlike endowments that outsource real estate exposure through REITs or commingled funds, Saint Xavier directly owns and operates income-producing campus buildings that are simultaneously mission-critical facilities. This blurring of the operating budget and the endowment's balance sheet is a structural feature of smaller Catholic institutions, where real estate often represents the single largest asset class.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/saint-xavier-university

Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology