Manager Selection – Improving Alpha:

Improving Alpha: How Frank Mihail Runs One of America’s Top Sovereign Wealth Endowments

By Improving Alpha | August 17, 2026

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When looking at the latest oil and gas headlines across the United States, many immediately think of Texas. North Dakota ranks #3 among the largest oil-producing states in the nation and is home to the $9BN North Dakota Trust Lands sovereign wealth endowment. This streamlined team generates revenue from oil royalties and taxes and is one of the healthiest institutions in the nation. So what’s their secret against a world with higher inflation, volatility, and more?

In this episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, we welcome Frank Mihail, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, North Dakota Trust and Lands. In this discussion, Frank discusses his early beginnings as an oil and gas engineer, which quickly evolved into selling Beverly Hills real estate, and eventually into building out a hedge fund book and a portable alpha program, which presented him with the opportunity to join North Dakota Trust Lands.

Additional takeaways from this episode:

What is different in running a sovereign wealth endowment versus some of the other guests that we’ve had recently (Kevin SigRist, North Carolina Investment Authority, or Andrew Junkin, Virginia Retirement System)?
How are Frank and his team advocating for better benchmarks in private infrastructure, and what is their diversification approach with the portfolio to improve alpha?
Where does he see asset class opportunities for adding capital and generating liquidity for the portfolio?
How does Frank and his team navigate board discussions and manager red flags against current allocation decision-making?
What does Frank think about the debate surrounding the usage of a Total Portfolio Approach in institutional investing?
And more.

Resources:

Book: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara

Connect with Frank Mihail:

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:

About Our Guest:

Frank Mihail, CFA, is the Chief Investment Officer of North Dakota Trust Lands, where he oversees the investment strategy for one of the state’s sovereign wealth funds. He leads the management of a multi-billion-dollar endowment that supports public education through long-term investing across public and private markets. Before joining North Dakota Trust Lands, Frank held investment leadership roles at New Mexico PERA and previously worked in private wealth management after beginning his career as a mechanical engineer and real estate professional. He is a CFA charterholder and earned his MBA from UCLA, bringing a disciplined, long-term approach to institutional portfolio management, strategic asset allocation, and investment governance.

The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Vidrio Financial, and/or our host, Michael Oliver Weinberg. The Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice. Always seek the advice of your financial advisor or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.

Improving Alpha: Geeta Kapadia on Endowment Innovation, Secondaries, and Defining the Future of Alternatives

By Improving Alpha | December 15, 2025

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Evaluating all the investment pieces in a modern-day endowment portfolio requires a keen eye. You might have capital demands pouring in from the university to improve campus buildings, student education opportunities and equipment, professor salaries, and more. Today, these demands are then multiplied by concerns over inflation, regulation, and, in the case of our next guest, adhering to Jesuit principles, that have been mandated by the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In our latest episode of the Improving Alpha podcast, we welcome Geeta Kapadia, CFA, Vice President and CIO, Fordham University. Geeta brings +13 years of experience heading up the investment office at Yale New Haven Medical Center before landing at Fordham University. Across its multiple locations, Fordham is home to over 17,000 students and $1BN in AUM. In this discussion with host Michael Oliver Weinberg, Geeta highlights the following key ideas that she’s paying attention to in managing Fordham’s portfolio and ways that she is separating the noise and hype from actionable investment ideas:

How are inflation pressures managed today by the endowment, and what is the impact on future university spending?
Given the breakneck speed of innovation in endowments, how is Fordham providing opportunities for students, the community surrounding their campuses, and their overall legacy?
In contrast to our last episode entry with Aswath Damodaran, what does Geeta think of ESG in the endowment setting, and why is she proud of the Bronx Green Jobs Center?
In terms of technology and AI, how is Fordham’s endowment leveraging technology and interacting with others in the endowment space to develop best practices not only in their investing process but also in running their jobs more efficiently?
What are the ramifications of not having a sounding board to bounce investment ideas and other thoughts off in the endowment space?
What is the likelihood of major endowments moving into the position of being sellers in private market assets, and what does Geeta really think of the democratization of alternatives?
And more.

Connect with Michael Oliver Weinberg:

Connect with Geeta Kapadia:

About Our Guest:

Geeta M. Kapadia, CFA, is a global institutional investment leader and strategist with success advising on, developing, and implementing sophisticated investment portfolios. She is the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Fordham University, where she is responsible for all aspects of managing the endowment of $1 billion in assets. For over thirteen years prior to joining Fordham in August 2022, she was the Associate Treasurer of Investments at Yale New Haven Health System, where she led the team responsible for assets of approximately $5.5 billion.

Prior to joining Yale New Haven Health, Ms. Kapadia served as Senior Investment Consultant for Mercer Investment Consulting in the United Kingdom, where she provided strategic investment advice to institutional investors and was responsible for heading up specific research into asset classes. Before Mercer, she served as Investment Analyst and Director of Marketing at Capital Metrics & Risk Solutions in Pune, India. Early in her career, Ms. Kapadia worked in a clinical setting at an academic medical center as part of a research team conducting phase one chemotherapy studies. While she found the work tremendously rewarding, she decided to leverage her undergraduate degree in mathematics and started her investment profession as an investment analyst at Stratford Advisory Group in Chicago, where she rose to consultant, leading institutional investor relationships and heading up asset class research.

Ms. Kapadia holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in financial markets and trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a CFA charterholder and holds the UK’s Investment Management Certificate. She is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of New York, and 100 Women in Finance. In 2019, she was named one of the Top 30 Healthcare Chief Investment Officers Investing by Trusted Insight. She is the President of the Board of Chester County Family Academy, a Board of Trustees and Finance Committee member for the Memorial Library of Radnor Township, and a board member of the FINRA Investor Issues Committee.

The release date may not correspond to the recording date.