University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation exists as the sole repository and manager of all private gifts made to the university, from donor-advised funds to life-insurance charitable giving programs. Led by Vice President for University Advancement John I. Blohm alongside CFO Karl Meche, the foundation directs capital toward sustaining the university's educational mission while holding a distinctive local real estate portfolio that includes the foundation's headquarters on Girard Park Drive, the former Our Lady of Lourdes campus, and the Hilliard Art Museum. Its board of trustees, chaired by Donna Landry, governs the entity's strategic direction. The foundation's investment strategy is heavily weighted toward secondaries — purchasing existing limited-partner interests in private equity, venture, and real-asset funds. This posture provides earlier liquidity and a different risk profile than primary fund commitments, a structural choice that sets it apart from many university endowments that rely more on direct primary fund-of-funds models. The portfolio also includes significant direct-ownership real estate holdings in Lafayette. No public disclosures confirm venture-stage or early-stage direct co-investments; available data points to a concentrated program of secondary-market fund stakes paired with tangible local property assets. With an estimated $222.6 million in assets under management, the foundation operates without satellite offices and discloses its leadership structure through university advancement materials. Its professional affiliations extend into the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, where leadership participates in conferences, and the National Association of Women Business Owners, where trustee Wendy Lopez previously served as national board chair. No separate philanthropic foundation, club-investment vehicle, or RIA spinout is publicly associated with the entity. The foundation's concentrated secondary-market posture is its clearest structural differentiator. Most university-affiliated foundations of comparable size default to diversified public-equity and fixed-income portfolios with modest alternatives allocations; this one tilts heavily into a specialized, relationship-dependent corner of private markets. That dependence likely ties to the specific sourcing networks available to its investment committee, and makes the foundation's performance more sensitive to secondary-market pricing cycles than a typical endowment.