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In recent years, many individuals and institutions adopted the investment approach favored by Harvard, Yale, and many of the large endowments in the US.   This "endowment model" of investing is generally characterized by highly diversified portfolios, modest exposure to fixed income, heavy emphasis on all forms of equity, and significant exposure to alternative assets.  As a result of poor returns in fiscal 2009, many are now asking whether the "endowment model" is broken.  I will suggest that there is no single "endowment model" and that the portfolios and performance of endowed institutions vary significantly.  However, many of the leading endowment managers do share a number of core investment beliefs and I believe that they are very much intact. However, we can all learn several important lessons from recent experience which should allow us to do a better job of implementing what has been a very successful long term approach to managing capital.

As a Co-Founder of Diversified Trust, Bill has served on the board since its inception and has been instrumental in the ongoing development of the company's investment platform. From 1985 to 2007, Bill served as Treasurer and Vice Chancellor for Investments of Vanderbilt University where he presided over a ten-fold increase in endowment assets, during which time its investment performance placed in the top quartile of large endowments. Bill received NACUBO's Rodney H. Adams Award which recognizes significant contributions to the field of endowment management, and the Hirtle Callaghan Award of Investment Leadership with exemplary investment management performance and unwavering professional ethics. He is also the 2008 recipient of Foundation & Endowment Money Management's Lifetime Achievement award.

Bill also serves on the Board of Directors of Mass Mutual Financial Group, Acadia Realty Trust and London-based Cambium Global Timber Fund. In addition, he serves as a member of the Investment Committee for Oxford University in the United Kingdom and as a Trustee of Kenyon College in Ohio. He authored Get Rich Slowly: Building your Financial Future through Common Sense and is a frequent speaker at financial conferences. Bill earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago, where he was a Leon Carroll Marshall scholar.