The consultant awards go to individuals. The consultant nominees have a substantial nonprofit practice, thoroughly understand the industry, and have helped their clients achieve strong returns.
Nolan Bean
, Fund Evaluation Group
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Nolan Bean
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Fund Evaluation Group's Nolan Bean has been on a roll. The consultant picked up three new clients--a big haul in the endowment and foundation space--since the start of 2010, including Franklin & Marshall College and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Bean was also appointed to the five-member investment policy committee after helping the firm move to a risk-based investment model.
Bean was one of a handful of people at FEG that led the effort to move to the new investment philosophy. He wrote a focus topic and created a presentation that the firm's consultants used to roll it out to their clients, and created an exposure report--now used by the firm to pitch new business--that tracks total portfolio risk.
Bean now advises 12 clients, 11 of which are endowments and foundations, with a combined total of $4 billion in assets. "In my 30-year career in institutional investing, I've never found a consultant that better combines investment knowledge with the ability to work with staff and manage committee dynamics," said Donna Dean, a trustee at Queens University of Charlotte. "Nolan keeps us informed on the market and is not afraid to let us know when he thinks we are taking too much risk and, more importantly, what opportunities are in the market that might have a better risk/return tradeoff," added Jim Bethea, director of investments at University of Iowa Foundation.
Ron Klotter, Hewitt EnnisKnupp
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Ron Klotter
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Ron Klotter spent last year advising clients amid multiple mergers involving his firm. He retained all but one client in the face of Hewitt Associates acquiring his employer, Ennis, Knupp & Associates, only to have Aon purchase the newly-formed company shortly thereafter. He arrived at Ennis, Knupp in April 2010, but still managed to bag about 10 new nonprofit clients since, including Colorado Trust and Valparaiso University.
One notable contribution of Klotter's over the last year was a whitepaper on endowment spending models that argued that smaller funds should tie their spending to inflation to decrease the volatility of spending, mirroring some of the more sophisticated larger nonprofits such as Yale University. Over the past year, Klotter has advised clients to concentrate on manager expenses and the selection of active managers--areas where they have a high level of control. He has also pushed clients to treat long/short directional hedge funds as equity because their risk profile is similar.
Klotter was the practice leader of endowments and foundations at Ellwood Associates before joining Ennis Knupp.
Kristin Reynolds, NEPC
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Kristin Reynolds
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Kristin Reynolds, a senior consultant in NEPC's endowment and foundation consulting team, has worked with clients over the past year to review their spending policies and to stress-test asset allocation under various economic scenarios. She also has developed and implemented for clients an asset allocation model that has integrated liabilities--spending for grant making, operating budget, capital projects--into the asset allocation process.
Reynolds is the lead consultant to seven endowments and foundations, including Bradley University, Fordham University, the Jewish Federations of North America, Rotary International and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Reynolds suggested changes to Bradley's asset allocation, as well as to its hedge fund and private placement holdings, in the past year that have boosted its performance. "She's dedicated herself to our team," said Gary Anna, v.p. for business affairs and treasurer at Bradley. "She has a personal affinity for our well being. She's not just passing around the advice of the day."
Last year, Reynolds performed a comprehensive review for Rotary International's $600 million foundation. As a result, the fund made changes to its manager roster and this year added $56 million in real assets, said Jeanette Hamilton, cfo. Rotary is also considering adding a global asset allocation investment of about $40 million based on Reynolds' recommendations.