The Hoehl Family Foundation

The Hoehl Family Foundation

The Hoehl Family Foundation was established in 1993 by Robert and Cynthia Hoehl in Clearwater, Vermont. Robert Hoehl co-founded IDX Systems, a pioneering healthcare IT company later acquired by GE Healthcare for $1.2 billion in 2006, alongside Richard Tarrant. Cynthia Hoehl was a noted Vermont philanthropist whose giving focused on education, the arts, and human services. Both founders are now deceased — Robert in 2010, Cynthia in 2016 — and governance of the foundation passed to their three children, John, Peter, and Martha, who serve as trustees. The foundation pursues a bifurcated strategy: direct charitable grants to Vermont organizations and a venture capital investment program. Public grantmaking has concentrated on local institutions including the Hoehl Family Foundation Gallery at the University of Vermont Medical Center, the Stern Center for Language and Learning, and various human-service nonprofits. On the investment side, the foundation allocates to venture capital funds as a limited partner, with a disclosed focus on general venture capital strategies. Geographic emphasis remains overwhelmingly Vermont for grants, while venture commitments follow the national footprint of underlying fund managers. Day-to-day administration is managed by Laura Latka, the foundation's Philanthropic Advisor, who works with the three Hoehl sibling trustees. The foundation's investment posture appears lean, with no known internal investment staff, consistent with a family foundation that primarily commits to outside funds rather than building an internal direct-investing capability. The Hoehl family maintains a residential real estate portfolio in Vermont alongside the foundation's financial assets. The foundation's website describes its mission as helping those most in need while honoring the legacy of the Hoehl family's generosity over time. The foundation's structure is notable for combining a geographically concentrated giving program with a floating venture capital allocation — a pattern common among tech-founders' family foundations but unusual in rural Vermont. The sibling-trustee governance model places investment and grant decisions in the hands of three family members with no public record of institutional investment careers, suggesting reliance on fund-manager relationships or consultant guidance for venture allocations. This creates a configuration closer to a small family office's investment committee than a professionally staffed foundation grantmaking operation.