This content is from: Corner Office
National Philanthropic Trust Hires Disciplina to Manage Some of Its Investments
Outsourced chief investment officer firm Disciplina will work on some of NPT’s donor advised funds.
Disciplina Capital Management, the first African American-founded outsourced chief investment officer firm, has landed a contract that will push its assets under management over the $1 billion mark.
The firm announced Tuesday that it has been hired by the National Philanthropic Trust, a nonprofit with $14.3 billion in charitable assets, to manage and advise on many of its short-term assets and long-term investment pools.
“This is a great mandate for us and we’re very grateful and thankful to work with NPT,” Disciplina founder and president Matthew Wright said by phone. “We’re a mission-oriented firm and we’re partnering with a mission-oriented firm.”
Disciplina was founded in 2013 by Wright, who had previously overseen the investment office at Vanderbilt University. Disciplina partners Alena Kuprevich and Brant Smith had worked with Wright at both Vanderbilt’s and Emory University’s investment offices before joining him to start the OCIO firm, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
According to Rene Paradis, chief operating officer at NPT, the mandate came as a result of a request for proposal the nonprofit issued a little less than a year ago.
“Disciplina rose to the top of what we were looking for, for a host of reasons, not the least of which is their experience,” Paradis said by phone, adding that Wright “is just a brilliant individual.”
She added that NPT found the firm’s commitment to diversity to be attractive. According to Disciplina’s website, its allocations to women, minority and veteran-owned investment firms account for 25 percent of its total assets under management and about half of its active management exposure.
Disciplina will work on a set of diversified portfolios at NPT that are invested in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, Paradis said. The firm will take over management of those portfolios on April 1, she added.
“I’m sure they’ll have some interesting changes to our lineup over the course of the next several months,” according to Paradis.
NPT is Disciplina’s first donor-advised fund client, according to Wright. The firm has faith-based, healthcare, and community and civic organizations as clients.
According to Wright, the firm benefitted from 2020’s uptick in institutional interest in the OCIO industry. “Last year was a good year in terms of business development,” he said. “We plan to continue with our business development efforts while being mindful that we have capacity.”