2011 U.S. Investment Management Award Winner for Small Endowment

In the six years since he was hired as CIO of the College of William & Mary Foundation, Brian Hiestand has built an asset allocation plan that gives the $600 million endowment fund great flexibility to maneuver. For example, domestic equities, at 20 percent of the portfolio, can include hedge funds. After leaving Indiana University to join William & Mary as its first CIO in July 2005, Hiestand, 40, took his time investing in private equity because of the high prices and access constraints then, ensuring that the foundation had plenty of liquidity heading into the financial crisis.

By Christmas of 2008 the Williamsburg, Virginia–based college had 10 percent of its assets in cash and Hiestand had started investing in deeply discounted bonds. That helped the fund post a –16 percent return for the 2008–’09 academic year, besting the –18.7 percent average for similar-size endowments. Hiestand led the fund to a 14.1 percent return for the year ended June 2010, well above his peers’ 11.9 percent return. He’s helped by a savvy investment committee made up of alums like Lawrence Kochard, CEO at University of Virginia Investment Management Co.

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