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University of South Dakota Foundation & Alumni Association
Noah Shepard leads the USD Foundation & Alumni Association, managing an estimated $289M endowment. It secured a record $55.5M in fiscal 2025 donor support.
University of South Dakota Foundation & Alumni Association
Founded in 1922 by Vermillion residents, the USD Foundation & Alumni Association was established as an independent, non-profit entity to secure and steward private gifts for the University of South Dakota. Noah Shepard serves as President and CEO, while Lance Bultena, a partner at Hogan Lovells, chairs the board. The unified organization pairs traditional endowment management with active alumni engagement—running mentorship programs, watch parties, and the athletic fundraising club The Howling Pack—to convert affinity into actionable donor support. Fiscal year 2025 was a record-setting period, bringing in over $55.5 million in philanthropic support from 5,367 donors. Over $15 million was directed to scholarships, stabilizing the university's student pipeline. On the investment side, the Foundation maintains exposure to multiple alternative asset classes. Its pooled endowment portfolio holds limited-partner stakes in several Blackstone real estate funds, supplemented by a direct real-asset footprint that includes a commercial office at 1110 N Dakota Street, a residential property, and a Beechcraft Super King Air 350 turboprop aircraft stored in an owned hangar. The equity allocation and fixed-income composition remain undisclosed. The Foundation's adjacent structures are modest but operationally significant. It controls USDF, LLC and USDF2, LLC—entities that hold the airplane hangar and other commercial properties in Vermillion. A capital guarantee backs the USD Discovery District in Sioux Falls, reinforcing the university's research ambitions. The board includes non-academic fiduciaries like Richard Held, a Managing Director at UBS, injecting external financial oversight into the investment process. A $3 million gift from Gary and Sue Ellis in FY 2025 launched the Ellis Impact initiative, which translates donor capital directly into student-facing programming. What distinguishes the USD Foundation from a generic university endowment is its hybrid operating structure. It is not simply an investment committee; it actively owns and manages hard assets—a turboprop aircraft, a hangar, and multiple commercial properties—alongside a conventional limited-partner portfolio. By integrating physical asset management, fundraising, and alumni engagement under one roof, the Foundation centralizes functions that at larger institutions are fractured across separate offices. This structure, combined with board-level access to Wall Street expertise through trustees like Held, creates a concentrated governance model suited to the scale of a regional public university.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
1922
AUM
~$289M (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Vermillion
Corporate office
1110 N Dakota St, Vermillion, SD 57069, United States
Principals
Noah Shepard
President & CEO
Altss tracks 1 additional named team member for this firm — including direct investment leads, IR, and operating principals not listed on the public website.
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Frequently asked questions
How is the Foundation governed?
The board is chaired by Lance Bultena, a partner at Hogan Lovells, bringing regulatory and international legal expertise to the governance committee. Noah Shepard runs day-to-day operations as President and CEO. Non-academic trustees like Richard Held, a Managing Director at UBS, provide external financial oversight, creating a governance mix that blends university insiders with capital-markets practitioners.
Does the Foundation invest directly or solely through external managers?
The pooled endowment portfolio includes limited-partner commitments to external managers, with confirmed positions in multiple Blackstone real estate funds. Simultaneously, the Foundation holds direct real assets: it owns the 1110 N Dakota St office building, a separate residential property, and an airplane hangar through USDF, LLC and USDF2, LLC. This hybrid approach—fund stakes plus direct property ownership—is unusual for an endowment of this scale.
What sparked the Ellis Impact initiative?
Gary and Sue Ellis made a $3 million gift in fiscal year 2025 that formally launched the Ellis Impact initiative. The program channels donor capital into student scholarships and experiential learning, reflecting a structured push by the Foundation to tie large-dollar giving to named, visible campus programs rather than nameless general funds.
How large is the pooled endowment portfolio?
The Foundation does not publicly disclose a precise AUM. Altss estimates the pooled endowment stands at approximately $289 million, based on aggregated capital-flow data. Fiscal year 2025 alone saw $55.5 million in total philanthropic donations, indicating an acceleration in fund inflows that could materially shift the portfolio's size in the near term.
What role do physical assets play in the portfolio?
Beyond traded securities and fund commitments, the Foundation controls a turboprop aircraft, a dedicated hangar, and a commercial office building that houses the Wagner Alumni Center. These assets serve operational functions while sitting on the Foundation's balance sheet, making the portfolio more illiquid and operationally integrated than a purely financial endowment.
How is the Foundation connected to USD's athletic department?
The Foundation runs The Howling Pack, the official athletic fundraising organization for the University of South Dakota. This channel aggregates donor support specifically for athletics, separate from the academic endowment. It creates a dual fundraising funnel—academic gifts through the endowment and athletic gifts through The Howling Pack—both housed under the same unified organization.
Has the Foundation disclosed its portfolio's full asset mix?
No. The Foundation has not published a detailed breakdown of its investment portfolio. Confirmed exposures include Blackstone real estate funds and direct commercial property, but the allocation to public equities, fixed income, private equity, or other alternatives remains undisclosed. Peer endowments of similar scale typically run a 60/40 or 70/30 equity-to-fixed-income ratio, but this is not confirmed for USD.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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