# Shenandoah University

Shenandoah University is an Endowment / Foundation based in Winchester, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Winchester, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Winchester, Virginia, United States
- **Founded:** 1875
- **Assets under management:** $85M (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** su.edu
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/school/shenandoah-university/

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Tracy Fitzsimmons leads Shenandoah University, a private institution founded in 1875 that serves roughly 4,000 students across six schools from its main campus in Winchester, Virginia. Trustees James R. Wilkins III and Mark J. Ohrstrom — the latter running Larkspur Management — anchor a board whose personal investment interests align with the university's portfolio posture. The endowment does not publicly break out its asset allocation, but its owned assets reveal a pronounced real-asset and property tilt. Holdings include the Vaden Campus Commons and Winchester Armory Property in Virginia as well as a commercial building in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Shenandoah River Campus at Cool Spring Battlefield adds land exposure, while the Andrei Kushnir Art Collection sits across three campus buildings. A student-managed investment fund operates on campus, but its relationship to the broader endowment is not public. The university maintains satellite sites in Leesburg, Virginia and Clarke County but reports no global investment offices. Trustee G. Cabell Williams III, a senior managing director at Farragut Mezzanine Partners, introduces private-credit fluency to the committee. In May 2024, the university — acting through its board and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, of which it is a member — participated in regional economic development discussions focused on workforce alignment and commercial property reuse (per Shenandoah Valley Partnership, May 2024). What distinguishes Shenandoah's asset management is not a novel portfolio-construction model but a governance structure that concentrates investment oversight in a committee chair separate from the sitting president. Dr. Mirza runs Sterling Management Group externally, meaning the endowment is supervised by an active operator rather than a career university administrator — a structure that blurs the line between institutional oversight and the kind of principal-driven judgment that characterizes single-family offices.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Education

## Offices

- Leesburg, VA
- Martinsburg, WV
- Clarke County, VA

## People

- Dr. M. Yaqub Mirza — Chair of the Investment and Endowment Committee
- Tracy Fitzsimmons — President
- James R. Wilkins III — Chair of the Board of Trustees
- Mark J. Ohrstrom — Trustee and President of Larkspur Management
- G. Cabell Williams III — Advisory Board Member and Senior Managing Director at Farragut Mezzanine Partners

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Shenandoah University?

Investment oversight sits with the Investment and Endowment Committee, chaired by Dr. M. Yaqub Mirza. He is also the CEO of Sterling Management Group, bringing an external operator's perspective to the $85 million endowment. The committee includes trustees with family-office and mezzanine-finance backgrounds.

### What investment stages or structures does the endowment use?

The university does not disclose its fund-commitment or direct-investment mix. Owned properties on the balance sheet point to some level of direct real estate holding, and a student-managed investment fund exists on campus. No public information confirms private-market commit stages or a co-investment program.

### Which sectors does Shenandoah's endowment explicitly target?

There is no published investment policy statement or sector-exclusion list. Observed exposures include commercial and residential real estate, land, and an art collection. Trustee professional backgrounds add private credit and mezzanine familiarity to the committee's collective knowledge base.

### How is the Shenandoah University Foundation related to the endowment?

The Shenandoah University Foundation exists as a separate philanthropic vehicle. Its precise relationship to the endowment — whether it pools assets, shares the investment committee, or operates independently — is not publicly detailed.

### Where does the endowment's underlying capital come from?

Capital originates from donor contributions and university operating surpluses over the institution's 150-year history. Named donors include James R. Wilkins III — after whom the Wilkins Athletics Center is named — and Mark J. Ohrstrom, but no public breakdown of endowment funding sources exists.

## Related profiles

- [Geological Society of America Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/geological-society-of-america-foundation)
- [The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts](https://altss.com/profile/the-health-foundation-of-central-massachusetts)

---

Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/shenandoah-university

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