Ahead of Jay Flaherty’s retirement, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has named its next chief investment officer.
Nancy Orr, CIO of Fiduciary Counselling, is set to join the $3.7 billion foundation on November 1. Fiduciary Counselling is an $11 billion registered investment advisor serving a single multigenerational family based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“I am truly honored to be selected to serve the Mott Foundation as its chief investment officer,” said Orr in a statement. “I believe in the foundation’s mission and the impact it achieves for the communities it serves globally. I look forward to contributing my expertise alongside the talented team here to maximize returns that will help further the foundation’s charitable goals.”
The Mott Foundation launched its search in June. Flaherty’s retirement announcement was the first in a wave of CIO retirements and resignations in recent months. He has been with the foundation since 2007 and will stay on until January 2024 to ensure that a smooth transition takes place.
Orr’s experience across the investment industry will also aid in a smooth transition. She served as CIO at Fiduciary since 2016. At Fiduciary, she grew a team of five investors, restructured private label mutual funds to improve the strategies, redesigned the firm’s private equity and alternative assets program, and launched four funds, including an in-house alternatives fund.
Before her time at Fiduciary Counselling, Orr worked at the Mayo Clinic, rising from a senior business development analyst to a senior investment officer in the hospital’s treasury department. In that role, she managed the hospital system’s $1.8 billion multi-strategy hedge fund portfolio and its $1.4 billion real assets portfolio.
In addition to her work as a CIO, Orr serves on the board of trustees at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the board of directors at India Capital, and the investment advisory council at the Minnesota State Board of Investment.
“We’re excited that Nancy Orr has agreed to lead our investment team,” said Ridgway White, Mott Foundation president and CEO, in a statement. “She combines experience as a CIO and a passion for investing with equal enthusiasm about advancing the foundation’s mission of promoting a just, equitable, and sustainable society.”
