Wisconsin Investment Management Company

What Wisconsin Investment Management Company does

Wisconsin Investment Management Company (WISIMCO) is the operational investment division of the University of Wisconsin Foundation (UWF), a private nonprofit formed in 1945 and now part of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA). Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, WISIMCO oversees, stewards, and invests the UWF endowment investment portfolio (EIP) and other affiliated capital that supports the University of Wisconsin–Madison's teaching, research, and outreach missions. The organization operates under a fiduciary governance structure: an Investment Committee of the UWF Board of Directors — composed of UW–Madison alumni who are investment professionals and chaired by Todd Pulvino, co-founder of CNH Partners — sets investment policy, while WISIMCO staff execute the strategy with the objective of delivering superior long-term, inflation-adjusted returns within UWF's risk tolerance.

WISIMCO is not a product company and does not sell a software platform; its offering is institutional investment management services including investment strategy formulation, asset allocation, portfolio construction across multiple asset classes, and external investment manager evaluation and selection. The senior team is small (11–50 employees) and drawn from large institutional investors and consulting firms, including J.P. Morgan, Washington University Investment Management Company, Mercer, BlackRock, Oppenheimer Funds, Cambridge Associates, Brown Advisory, and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. Leadership includes CIO Michael Stohler (appointed 2021, prior J.P. Morgan and Washington University), Deputy CIO Chris Moore (prior Mercer), Senior Managing Director Richard Shepley, Managing Director Katherine Wyble, and COO of Investments Sean Arp.

Because WISIMCO is an internal division of a single nonprofit foundation, its revenue model is not a market-priced fee schedule. Operating costs are funded through the WFAA administrative structure tied to the UWF endowment, and WISIMCO does not solicit or serve external asset-management clients. The go-to-market is therefore not commercial: there is one principal beneficiary (UWF/UW–Madison), one governance committee (the Investment Committee), and a direct institutional service relationship. No pricing, public revenue figures, funding rounds, M&A activity, geographic expansion, or AI/technology platform disclosures appear in the source material.

Name

Wisconsin Investment Management Company

Legal name

Wisconsin Investment Management Company

Website

https://wisimco.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1945

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Wisconsin Investment Management Company (WISIMCO) is the internal investment division of the University of Wisconsin Foundation, managing its endowment investment portfolio and affiliated capital to support the University of Wisconsin–Madison's academic mission.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Wisconsin Investment Management Company (WISIMCO) is the operational investment division of the University of Wisconsin Foundation (UWF). It oversees, stewards, and invests UWF's endowment investment portfolio (EIP) and other affiliated capital in support of UW-Madison. The service includes investment strategy formulation, asset allocation, portfolio management across multiple asset classes, and investment manager evaluation and selection, all delivered under fiduciary oversight to deliver superior long-term, inflation-adjusted returns within UWF's risk tolerance.

Product overview

WISIMCO is an investment management organization that serves as the operational investment division of the University of Wisconsin Foundation (UWF), a private nonprofit founded in 1945. WISIMCO maximizes the impact of philanthropic gifts made to UW-Madison by overseeing, stewarding, and investing the University of Wisconsin Foundation's endowment investment portfolio (EIP) and other affiliated capital. The organization works to deliver superior long-term, inflation-adjusted returns given UWF's risk tolerance, operating under the oversight of the Investment Committee of the UWF Board of Directors. WISIMCO does not offer a distinct software product or technology platform; rather, it provides institutional investment management services including investment strategy formulation, asset allocation, portfolio management across multiple asset classes, and investment manager evaluation and selection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• University of Wisconsin Foundation Endowment Investment Portfolio (EIP) Management

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Broad incumbents

• Cambridge Associates: Large, established investment advisor and OCIO to endowments, foundations and pensions - and a previous employer of WISIMCO's Managing Director of Investments Katherine Wyble. Functions as both a competitor (if UWF externalized) and a feeder of talent into WISIMCO.
• Commonfund: Large OCIO and investment manager focused on endowments, foundations and pensions. Direct competitor for any UWF-style mandate that opts to externalize the investment function rather than retain an in-house team like WISIMCO.

Direct peers

• Yale Investments Office: In-house investment office for the Yale University endowment. Direct peer: pioneer of the endowment-style model that WISIMCO follows, with the same single-client, multi-asset-class, private-markets-heavy investment approach.
• Washington University Investment Management Company (WUIMC): In-house investment office for Washington University in St. Louis's endowment. Direct peer: WISIMCO's CIO (Michael Stohler) and COO (Sean Arp) both came from WUIMC, and the two organizations share an analogous structure, mandate and asset mix.
• MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo): In-house investment office for the MIT endowment. Direct peer: same captive structure, multi-asset-class mandate, and emphasis on private markets and alternatives that defines WISIMCO's approach.
• Duke Management Company: In-house investment office for the Duke University endowment. Direct peer: captive CIO for a single university endowment, with the same multi-asset-class, alternatives-heavy mandate as WISIMCO.
• Princeton University Investment Company (PRIN): In-house investment management company for Princeton University's endowment. Direct peer: structurally equivalent in-house CIO with single-client mandate, multi-asset-class portfolio and a published/track-record orientation.
• Stanford Management Company (SMC): In-house investment office for the Stanford University endowment, one of the largest US university endowments. Direct peer: WISIMCO is structurally identical (captive in-house CIO for a single university endowment with multi-asset-class mandates including private markets).
• University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO): Externalized investment management company for the UT and Texas A&M system endowments, one of the largest US higher-ed endowments. Direct peer: same single-mandate CIO model, with an even more explicit focus on private markets and operational discipline.
• Harvard Management Company (HMC): In-house investment office for the Harvard University endowment. Direct peer: same captive, single-mandate, multi-asset-class structure, with comparable governance via a university-affiliated board/committee and similar long-duration capital profile.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wisconsin Investment Management Company