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University of Portland (UP)
Founded in 1901 by the Congregation of Holy Cross, the University of Portland operates as a private Catholic endowment with a concentrated governance...
University of Portland (UP)
Founded in 1901 by the Congregation of Holy Cross, the University of Portland operates as a private Catholic endowment with a concentrated governance structure. Chair of the Board of Regents Thomas D. Arndorfer and Regent Scott Malpass — the former Notre Dame CIO — anchor an investment strategy that borrows deliberately from the larger Holy Cross sister school, pooling considerable endowment assets through Catholic Investment Services. The endowment deploys capital across private equity, venture capital, buyout, distressed debt, mezzanine, and real assets, with a pronounced tilt toward tangible property. Asset-class exposure includes residential development, industrial land, and mixed-use projects, visible through holdings like the Stonebreaker master-planned community in Dacono, Colorado; the Westphalia Town Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland; and Henday Industrial Park in Edmonton, Alberta. The portfolio also carries single-family rental build-to-rent exposure via joint ventures with Rockpoint Group and a $100 million land-financing facility from Fortress Investment Group, while other positions — confirmed through DST structures in Georgia, Texas, and Delaware — indicate a separate-account vehicle approach to gain direct residential and commercial exposure across multiple US states and one Canadian province. With an estimated $315 million in assets, UP participates in the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments and balances fund-of-funds commitments, direct co-investments, and SPV-level real estate vehicles. In recent years the endowment added a student-run portfolio — UPIA — augmenting the investment office with an on-campus applied-finance lab. The endowment’s structural differentiator lies in its dual identity: it functions simultaneously as a standalone Catholic university allocator and as a co-investor alongside the University of Notre Dame through Catholic Investment Services. That affiliation with the Malpass-era Notre Dame model — combined with direct control over hard assets like the Franz River Campus and scattered residential lots near the Portland campus — gives the University of Portland a hybrid posture that sits between a traditional pooled endowment and an owner-operator real estate platform.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
1901
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Portland
Corporate office
5000 N. Willamette Blvd, Portland, OR, United States
Principals
Thomas D. Arndorfer
Chair of the Board of Regents
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at University of Portland?
Ultimate investment authority rests with the Board of Regents, chaired by Thomas D. Arndorfer. The university’s affiliation with the Congregation of Holy Cross and Catholic Investment Services means that Regent Scott Malpass — former chief investment officer of the University of Notre Dame — exerts significant influence over asset allocation and manager selection.
How is University of Portland’s endowment related to the University of Notre Dame?
Both are Holy Cross institutions, and the University of Portland channels a material portion of its endowment through Catholic Investment Services (CIS). Scott Malpass, who built Notre Dame’s endowment into one of the largest US university funds, helped create CIS and sits as a UP Regent, aligning UP’s investment practices with the Notre Dame model.
Does UP participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
The endowment uses both. It invests in fund-of-funds vehicles, co-investments, and separate-account structures, and it also holds direct real estate positions in master-planned communities and residential lots. The partnership with Rockpoint Group on build-to-rent communities and the Fortress land-financing facility illustrate the fund-commitment-plus-co-investment mix.
Which sectors does University of Portland explicitly avoid?
No explicit exclusion is publicly stated. As a Holy Cross Catholic university, its responsible-investing posture is shaped by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops guidelines, which typically screen for life ethics and human dignity concerns rather than publishing a public negative sector list.
Does the University of Portland maintain philanthropic structures, and how are they separated?
The university itself is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational institution. Affiliated charitable vehicles include the Walton-Westphalia Scholarship Fund. Real estate assets held by UP are typically titled under the university or held through DST interests, keeping investment property functionally separate from the educational operating budget while remaining wholly owned by the institution.
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