JMU Foundation 2016 Winter Meeting

Foundation Board of Trustees Meeting – February 12, 2016

Committee meetings were held in the morning followed by a meeting of the full board.  Tom Schaeffer, Chief Executive Officer, updated the board on the proposed Hotel Madison and Shenandoah Valley Conference Center Project.  He reported progress made on annual goals such as enhancements to the fund accounting system, improved communication and visibility among constituents, the feasibility study underway for a possible real estate project, and preplanning for an upcoming Board retreat. Tom also announced the hiring of Beth Phillips as the new executive secretary.

Chief Financial Officer, Cheryl Lindsay presented the results of the 2015 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.  There were 812 colleges and universities that participated in the study.  The study indicated that the average five-year annualized return on investments for all participants, as of June 30, 2015, was 9.8%.   The Foundation’s annualized performance was consistent, coming in at 9.7%.   

Actions taken by the board included increasing the number of elected trustees to twenty-one, adding an opportunistic asset class to the endowment investment policy, and updating the Board Governance manual.    The board also took action to accept the financial audit report for the year ended June 30, 2015.

A presentation on the JMU Admission Process was provided by Ms. Donna Harper, VP for Access and Enrollment, along with Mr. Michael Walsh, Dean of Admissions.  After a short video, Ms. Harper and Mr. Walsh discussed the student selection process from over 22,000 received applications, challenges facing the admission office, scholarships, and STEM.  JMU’s graduation rate is one of the highest in the nation and is in the top 10 in the country for students going on to get Doctorate degrees in the fields of Science and Medicine.