URI Foundation

URI Foundation, Inc.
The URI Foundation is an independent entity operating for charitable purposes as a
support organization under 509(a)(3) of the IRS code. It was created by URI’s Global
Council as a competent, trustworthy vehicle for managing and investing URI’s
endowment and strategic reserves – keys to supporting URI’s core activities around the
world.

The Foundation Board has established an Investment Committee as well as Investment,
Socially Responsible Investing and Spending policies. Working with the Investment
Committee, the Foundation Board oversees investments; monitors its endowment
investment performance and the usage of the funds by URI to ensure compliance with
the Investment and Spending policies; reviews and updates the Investment and
Spending policies as necessary; and coordinates the relationship with investment
advisors and managers to ensure optimal performance of the endowment and strategic
reserves. 
 

FOUNDATION BOARD

David J. Steirman

Interim Treasurer of URI; URI At-Large Trustee; Chair of the URI Foundation; Foundation Board Member

Prior to co-founding Kestrel Investment Management in 1993, David spent 12 years at Concord Capital Management where his responsibilities included theme development, investment research, and management of finance, operations, systems and trading. Prior to Concord, David was Director of Investment Systems at American National Bank of Chicago. He was also associated with the Harris Bank’s Management Sciences area in Chicago.

David graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 and received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1979. David serves on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations.

Anne Cassells

Foundation Board Member

Prior to co-founding Aetos in 2001, Ms. Casscells was Chief Investment Officer of the Stanford Management Company, where she was responsible for the investment of over $10 billion in endowment funds and other assets on behalf of Stanford University. Prior to assuming her position as CIO in 1998, she served as a Managing Director responsible for asset allocation and for the endowment’s absolute return investments. Before joining the Stanford Management Company, she was a Vice President in Goldman Sachs’ Fixed Income Division and an analyst at Morgan Stanley & Company. 

Ms. Casscells earned a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a Bachelor of Arts in British Studies, cum laude, from Yale University.

Ms. Casscells has been an active volunteer, serving as a board member, finance and investment committee chair, and fundraiser. At Stanford, she has served as a trustee of the Stanford GSB Trust and as coordinator of the LGBTQ alumni chapter. At Yale, she serves on the Dean’s Leadership Council for the School of Nursing where her priority has been financial aid for nursing students. She is currently a trustee of the American Century Mutual Funds and of Grace Cathedral. She is a board member of Schwab Charitable and a past board member of KQED Inc. She has also taught a course on event-driven investing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and has collaborated on scholarly articles with Robert Arnott and Cliff Asness.

J. Robert Coleman

Senior Advisory Council Member; Foundation Board Member

After stints at Goldman, Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch over 41 years and being unable to retain a paid situation, he retired in 2015. Over this time he morphed from being a stockbroker into a discretionary investment manager of a team with about $3B in assets. For several years he was ranked (# 8) on Barron's list of the 100 Top Investment Brokers. Now he focuses his time on investment work with three foundations, including URI. He is also a trustee of the BSA National Foundation and president of the American Fondouk Animal Hospital Foundation in Fez, Morocco. He also lovingly and patiently devotes himself to the seemingly endless process of renovating a home in Woodside.

 

Julia L. Davidson

Foundation Board Member

Julia Davidson previously practiced corporate securities law as a partner at Cooley LLP. She is president of the board of trustees of Crystal Springs Uplands School and serves on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco. She previously served as board president of the Hillsborough Schools Foundation and of Episcopal Charities. She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, and Harvard Law School.

The Very Rev. Eric Metoyer

Foundation Board Member

The Very Rev. Eric Metoyer is a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of California. He brings with him years of administrative experience in corporate settings. He worked Bechtel Company, a San Francisco based global engineering and construction firm for fifteen years, in accounting and finance in a variety of functions, completing his career in Treasury Operations prior to his ordination.  The Very Rev. Metoyer’s time with the Episcopal Diocese of California includes nearly a decade of work in congregational operations; attending to the spiritual and fiscal health of parishes, as well times serving as a priest assisting at St Cyprian’s Church and Grace Cathedral. 

The Very Rev. Metoyer lives in San Francisco with his family. He is a board member of a primary and a secondary school. Originally a New Englander, he was raised and educated in Northern Vermont and Massachusetts prior to moving west.  He holds degrees from Williams College and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and enjoys time with family, reading histories, riding Amtrak, and following the fortunes of University of California football. The Very Rev. Metoyer’s time with the Episcopal Diocese of California includes nearly a decade of work in congregational operations; attending to the spiritual and fiscal health of parishes, as well times serving as a priest assisting at St Cyprian’s Church and Grace Cathedral.

The Very Rev. Metoyer lives in San Francisco with his family. He is a board member of a primary and a secondary school. Originally a New Englander, he was raised and educated in Northern Vermont and Massachusetts prior to moving west.  He holds degrees from Williams College and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and enjoys time with family, reading histories, riding Amtrak, and following the fortunes of University of California football.

Karen Pajarillo

Foundation Board Member

Karen has more than two decades of experience as an investor, team leader and board member. She joined The Riverside Company (www.riversidecompany.com) in 1995. The firm has since grown into a global private equity firm with more than $8 billion assets under management focused on making control and non-control investments in growing businesses. Karen has led leveraged buyouts of North American-headquartered middle market companies and was involved in all aspects of the investment process. As a board member, she worked closely with portfolio company management teams and Riverside’s operating partners to set strategic direction and drive value enhancement initiatives. During her tenure at Riverside, Karen established healthcare services and consumer product industry specialization teams and also led acquisitions in business services, education and training, software and IT, specialty manufacturing and distribution. In 1998, she co-founded Riverside’s San Francisco office where she was particularly focused on cultivating a collaborative and inclusive office culture with prominent representation of women and minorities. Karen currently serves as a member of the investment committee reviewing and approving new acquisition opportunities.

Prior to joining Riverside, Karen was a Senior Associate at AgriCapital Corporation, an investment bank serving agriculture-related industries. Previously, she was with Burns McClellan, a public and investor relations firm representing biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. She holds a BA in communication and a BS in biology from Stanford University. Karen is a member of the Financial Women of San Francisco, and is on the advisory board of coLABS, an early-stage investment portfolio of Gray Matters Capital, investing in companies that improve the lives of women and girls around the world, and  is an advisor for the global investment fund of Unreasonable Capital, which partners with world-class entrepreneurs to solve significant social and environmental challenges. She resides in San Francisco with her husband and daughter.

Jerry White

Executive Director URI and URI Foundation

Social Entrepreneur, Senior Ashoka Fellow, and humanitarian activist Jerry White furthers his peacebuilding journey by joining United Religions Initiative as Executive Director.

Jerry White is an author, diplomat, and humanitarian activist known for leading high-impact campaigns, three of which led to international treaties: the Landmine Ban Treaty, the Cluster Munitions Ban, and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 1984, White lost his lower right leg while hiking in an unmarked minefield in Israel. He worked closely with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and shares the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. White wrote of his experience helping thousands of war victims build resilience in “Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down.”

White studied religion at Brown University, theology at Cambridge University, and business at the University of Michigan. He has an honorary degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was a Professor of Practice for seven years at the University of Virginia, teaching courses on religion-related conflict, strategy, and social entrepreneurship. His latest book is "Religicide: Confronting the Roots of Anti-Religious Violence" (2022).

Jerry White and his wife Kelly live in Washington, DC, and have four adult children.

FOUNDATION INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

Keley Petersen

Chair Investment Committee

With over 29 years of global experience in the financial services industry, Keley founded Willow Grove Advisors in 2009.

Beginning her career with Kidder Peabody in New York and London on the Fixed Income Sales and Trading desk, Keley worked with central banks globally. She held the position at Kidder of Director of Progressive Portfolio Services at Progressive Asset Management, where she developed investment strategies and recommended money managers to individuals and institutions interested in socially responsible investing. She spent three years at Progress Investment Management, where she was Director of Manager Development, researching and recommending women-, minority-owned- and emerging money managers and hedge funds to institutional clients/public funds. She then went on to be a Senior Manager and Practice Leader at Deloitte & Touche, where she launched a new specialty service practice offering investment-consulting services to wealthy individual clients. Subsequently, Keley had positions as the C.O.O. at Hewins Financial Advisors and in the Ultra High Net Worth Group as a Wealth Manager at Contango Capital Advisors. At these companies, she assumed responsibility for large, multi-entity clients and expanded her capabilities for providing wealth management services to global, multi-constituency, multi-currency families.

Keley received a BSBA from University of Nebraska at Omaha and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Shilpa Andalkar

Investment Committee Member

Shilpa is a wealth manager at Ensemble Capital. She focuses on customized portfolio management, retirement and tax planning as well as complex trust and estate planning for high net worth families and institutions. Prior to joining Ensemble Capital, she was an Associate Financial Advisor at Brio Financial Group in San Francisco. Previously, she was a Senior Vice President and investment advisor with HIP Investor, specializing in impact investing portfolio solutions. In the past, she also worked to inform citizens on the environmental impacts of clean air, water, and local food with organizations in the Bay Area. Shilpa holds a B.S. in Management Science with honors from the University of California, San Diego and is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst CDFA (R). Shilpa loves to learn and practice new styles of dance. She also enjoys traveling to new countries.

Jennifer Ayer

Investment Committee Member

As Managing Director for Tiedemann Advisors, Jennifer has direct responsibility for managing client relationships. She works closely with clients to understand their goals and objectives; manage their investments, including impact investing; and integrate their investment strategy, philanthropy, and estate planning into a cohesive wealth management plan. Jennifer co-leads the firm’s impact investing strategy and directly oversees the firm’s equity & inclusion impact theme. She is also a member of Tiedemann’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

Prior to Tiedemann, Jennifer was a wealth manager at Wetherby Asset Management where she offered investment and planning solutions to high-net-worth individuals, families and their foundations. Jennifer was a Director and General Partner at Venture Investment Associates, a fund of private equity funds, and Marketing Director at Samson Capital (now Fiera). Jennifer developed her wealth management expertise at Wilmington Trust in New York as a Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor, leading a team as the deputy head of the New York office.

Jennifer is an Impact Alumni of Full Circle Fund and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Connecticut College. Originally from Philadelphia and New York, she currently resides in San Francisco with her husband, Ethan, and their three children.

Lauriann Delay, CFA

Investment Committee Member

Lauriann is a principal of an investment advisory practice at Alex. Brown & Co. She has been in the financial services industry serving private and institutional clients for over 30 years as such firms as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon and Citibank. Assisting affluent families, foundations and middle market companies, the core tenet of her practice centers around helping clients protect and grow their financial assets, In her role as Client Advisor, Lauriann employs a holistic approach to investment management, using external investment managers for implementation and execution after careful design of portfolio construction incorporating her clients’ long-term objectives.

Lauriann received her MBA from New York University and earned her undergraduate degree with honors from Hunter College. She is a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco. Believing that giving back is as important as achieving her professional goals, Lauriann has extensive non-profit board experience including the Rene and Veronica di Rosa Foundation where she is Bard of Directors Emeritus, Mills College where she served as Chair of the Investment Committee and Lewis & Clark College where she was on the Parent’s Advisory Council.

Lauriann is originally from New York and now lives in San Francisco. She has two adult daughters and enjoys her yoga/Pilates practice, art, music and art festivals (like Burning Man), Lauriann also enjoys long walks on the beach in East Hampton with her French Bulldog and Havanese.

Dylan Malot

Investment Committee Member

Joseph Dylan Malot is a Principal and Financial Advisor in the San Francisco office of Bernstein Private Wealth Management. He advises individuals and institutions regarding a wide range of financial planning and investment matters, tailoring comprehensive strategies uniquely suited to each client’s individual resources, tax situation, risk tolerance, and estate planning goals. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, he was a financial advisor with MassMutual in San Francisco.

Dylan earned a BA in philosophy and psychology from the University of California at Davis and a Master’s of Science in financial services from The American College. Dylan is currently the president of the San Francisco Association for Corporate Growth.  He lives in Pacifica with his wife and two young children.

Michelle Owens

Investment Committee Member

Michelle is a Financial Advisor at Behnam & Associates, a financial advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Michelle works with clients who are seeking a holistic approach to the advice they receive, involving detailed and on-going financial planning as well as investment management. Her objective is to ensure that clients live a life they love. She has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, including firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Michelle earned a B.A. in biological sciences from Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard University. She has been the Managing Director of the Non-Profit Community Development Corporation of DC (NPCDC) for over 20 years. NPCDC is a 501(c)(3) with the mission of initiating, sponsoring, and operating housing and economic development projects that create economic stability and upward mobility for low-income families in metropolitan Washington, DC. With more than 500 units of affordable and low-income housing, NPCDC touches the lives of over 1,000 individuals and families.

Faraz Sattar

Investment Committee Member

After several years as the Chief Financial Officer of a wealth management firm and investment management, Faraz decided that founding Accretive Wealth Management was the best way to put his experience and knowledge to work on behalf of clients. By taking a comprehensive and caring view of wealth management, Faraz believes that Accretive Wealth Management can offer clients a suite of services with the personal touch they deserve. 

For the past ten-plus years, he has been servicing clients: individuals, businesses, and others. His experience, over the last 2 decades in the financial services industry, includes manager of investment advisors, supervisor of IT and operations, head of finance and accounting functions, and a buy-side equity analyst, working for companies such as Contango Capital Advisors, Montgomery Asset Management and Wells Fargo Bank. He holds a BS in Finance from Bryant College. He has also served on several non-profit boards and charities.

Lauren Sercu

Investment Committee Member

Lauren joined Sorenson Impact Foundation in June 2022, where she oversees the Foundation's market-rate investment portfolio, which is 100% mission-aligned, as well as the Foundation's grant and program-related investment portfolio.

Lauren is a partner in the Sorenson Impact Group, a multi-disciplinary organization focused on catalyzing intentional, scalable, and equitable investing to help solve complex, global social, and environmental challenges.

Prior to joining Sorenson, Lauren served in numerous roles, including Managing Director at Sepio Capital, where she managed the URI Foundation account. Prior to Sepio, Lauren served in numerous roles at Cambridge Associates.

She is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College.