Virginia Commonwealth University

The university's endowment assets are managed by the VCU Investment Management Company, which previously operated under CEO and Chief Investment Officer Nancy Everett. Mike Peltier serves as Chief Operating Officer of VCIMCO. The university's real estate holdings fall under the separately governed VCU Real Estate Foundation. President Michael Rao provides executive oversight across all university-affiliated investment structures.

VCU maintains a separate VCU Real Estate Foundation that directly owns and develops property in downtown Richmond, rather than placing all real estate exposure within the core endowment portfolio. Holdings include mixed-use commercial buildings at 701 West Broad Street, Snead Hall, and the Adult Outpatient Pavilion. The foundation also controls undeveloped land at 1050 Oliver Hill Way, giving the university optionality for future campus expansion projects.

VCU operates multiple affiliated foundations — the Medical College of Virginia Foundation, the VCU School of Business Foundation, and the Virginia Commonwealth University Foundation — each with independent trustee boards and investment policies. These foundations manage philanthropic gifts and grants separately from the core endowment, though they share common governance through university leadership. MCV Foundation trustee Stephen Goddard, who founded value-equity manager The London Company, brings institutional asset management expertise to that board.

The university holds a confirmed position in the iShares Gold Trust, providing a direct commodity exposure that functions as an inflation hedge within the broader portfolio. VCU also stewards significant cultural assets, including the Institute for Contemporary Art collection and the Anderson Gallery Collection, which serve dual roles as educational resources and long-duration tangible holdings.

The endowment's governance reflects deep integration with Richmond-based business leadership. Bill Goodwin, Chairman of CAA Industries, serves as Chair Emeritus of the VCU College of Engineering Foundation. Stephen Goddard, founder of Richmond-based asset manager The London Company, sits on the MCV Foundation board. These relationships connect the university's investment function to local private-sector expertise in industrials and public equities.

As a public university, Virginia Commonwealth University provides disclosures required under Virginia state law, but does not publish a comprehensive quarterly endowment report with detailed holdings in the manner of private foundations. Specific allocations — such as the iShares Gold Trust position and real estate foundation properties — are identifiable through public real estate records and periodic regulatory filings.

VCU does not publicly disclose a consolidated AUM figure encompassing both its core endowment and real estate foundation. The university operates with a smaller financial-asset base than the University of Virginia's $13.6 billion endowment (per NACUBO, 2023) but maintains an unusually high proportion of directly controlled physical assets relative to its total institutional capital, driven by its urban campus footprint in downtown Richmond.