University of North Florida Foundation

University of North Florida Foundation

Established in 1972, the University of North Florida Foundation manages the endowment and real assets that supplement UNF's state funding. President Moez Limayem leads the university while the Foundation's board, chaired by Vestcor Companies President Steve Moore, provides fiduciary oversight. The Foundation's relationship with the city traces back to major land donations from the Skinner family, who provided acreage for the original campus and the First Coast Technology Park. The investment posture mixes traditional public and private market allocations with deeply local direct holdings. The endowment portfolio spans fixed-income instruments including U.S. government bonds and corporate debt, alongside private equity and venture capital commitments covering seed through late-stage. Real assets form a distinctive layer — the Foundation directly controls commercial properties like the ADT Building and UNF East Park Warehouse, residential student housing built with Chance Partners, and undeveloped land parcels including the Sawmill Slough Preserve and Intracoastal Waterway wetlands. It also owns and operates the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville downtown, managing the permanent collection alongside donated works like the Donald and Maria Cox Collection and Norman E. Fisher Collection. The Foundation maintains an unusually small public profile for an endowment of its scale. Investment committee chair Alan Hartley, founder of Jacksonville-based Black Cypress Capital Management, brings local investment management expertise to the allocation process. The Foundation's board intersects with Jacksonville's business community through relationships with donors like Ann and David Hicks — namesakes of the Hicks Honors College — and Tom Crowley of Crowley Maritime. A subordinate entity, the UNF Financing Corporation, handles capital project and property financing, creating a layered governance structure that separates mission-driven spending from commercial real estate operations. What distinguishes the UNF Foundation structurally is the degree to which its balance sheet mirrors Jacksonville's physical landscape. Rather than outsourcing real-asset exposure to commingled funds, the Foundation holds direct title to commercial buildings, wetlands, a technology park, and a downtown museum. This creates an endowment where campus master planning, art stewardship, and portfolio management blur into a single operating reality — unusual among public university foundations.