Background
North Pier was engaged to lead an investment consultant search for a university foundation with assets totaling $900 million. Prior to enlisting North Pier’s expertise, the foundation had conducted an RFP internally, but encountered challenges in identifying differences between proposal responses. The foundation sought a seasoned search consultant to provide guidance throughout the process. In addition to leading the search, the client enlisted North Pier to provide insights into the appropriate staffing under either an outsourced or non-discretionary advisory model as the foundation had two members of the investment office who were retiring.
Education and Discovery
North Pier provided detailed fiduciary education to staff and stakeholders to help the foundation understand each candidate’s differentiators under discretionary and non-discretionary service models. Through an extensive discovery process, North Pier developed custom RFP criteria important to the foundation to be issued to candidates, including the foundation’s values-aligned investing screens.
Search Process
North Pier issued, administered, and evaluated proposals from three organizations that the foundation identified as their top contenders. North Pier performed deep dive analyses on historical returns and implementations as well as an in-depth analysis on all of the candidates’ track records. Additionally, North Pier organized and moderated finalist presentations.
Results
- Through an effective search process, fiduciary education, and detailed due diligence, the client selected a new non-discretionary investment consultant for their foundation.
- With the new consultant, the client gained stronger support for private equity and other alternative investments.
- The client also gained strong operations and administration support; important factors given the transitions with the retiring staff.