Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation was established in 1976 as a separated endowment to support the state-owned Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Director and CEO Alex Nyerges leads the museum itself, which houses significant holdings including the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Collection, the Paul and Rachel Mellon Collection, and one of the largest Fabergé collections outside Russia. The Foundation's sole purpose is to manage trust assets that generate financial distributions for the museum's exhibitions, acquisitions, and educational programs. The investment committee, chaired by Larry Kochard, allocates to a diversified institutional portfolio spanning global public equities, private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and absolute-return hedge fund strategies. Kochard brings direct endowment experience from his role as CIO of Makena Capital Management, while committee member Matt Cooper provides insight from his position as General Counsel at Capital One Financial Corporation. The portfolio also draws on fixed-income expertise through committee member Kevin Nicholson, who serves as Global Fixed Income CIO at RiverFront Investment Group. Geographic exposure spans both domestic and international markets, reflecting a standard endowment-model approach to total-return investing. The Foundation operates as a distinct legal entity from the museum itself, with Andrew Harris as CFO managing the trust's administrative and financial operations. Board President Matt Cooper, alongside committee members Vance Spilman and Kevin Nicholson, provides governance that blends art-world stewardship with commercial investment discipline. The VMFA's historic campus on Arthur Ashe Boulevard in Richmond serves as a physical anchor for what the Foundation aims to support, including the recent McGlothlin Wing II expansion. Several named collections — from the Frank Raysor Collection to the Paul Mellon works — represent long-term curatorial assets that the endowment is designed to preserve and promote. Structurally, this is an endowment attached to a public agency rather than a university or private foundation. That dual identity — state ownership combined with private trust management — separates it from typical museum endowments. The Foundation's board draws from banking, asset management, and entrepreneurial operating backgrounds, creating a governance model that blends public accountability with institutional investment processes. This architecture lets the VMFA access stable funding without the fundraising volatility that standalone donor-dependent museums face.