June 9, 20179 yr Report details major issues at University of Louisville Foundation So much to read but a couple of statements jumped right out to me. One 2012 letter from Kathleen Smith, who was chief of staff for the president and assistant secretary, says, “This note is between you, Tom [Jurich], Dr. Ramsey and me. I do not want it on the email where we have very little control. Please destroy your earlier note to me. I have done same here.” and Officials also showed interest in concealing from open records requests compensation the foundation paid, according to the report. It cites one email between Smith and David Saffer, a lawyer, in which Smith discusses taking the vowels out of the name of a foundation subsidiary that administered deferred compensation plans until 2014. “Thought taking the vowels out of Minerva could work too,” the email said. “I’m fine with either but needs to be difficult to figure out for media.”
June 9, 20179 yr Author UofL president: Audit of foundation should 'close the door on a sad chapter' in university's history - Insider Louisville UofL Foundation chief financial officer placed on paid leave in wake of scathing audit - Insider Louisville
June 9, 20179 yr Author Among the audit’s findings: -The foundation invested $9.9 million in high-risk startup companies that are now valued at $1.7 million. -The foundation loaned $52 million of endowment funds to its subsidiaries that will likely not be able to repay that amount, without proper disclosure to and oversight from its board. -The foundation overstated the market value of its endowment, which resulted in excessive endowment spending and misleading disclosures on its spending policy. -The foundation’s deferred compensation plan spent $21.8 million on employees, much of which was not transparent or approved by its board. -The foundation acquired eight properties at an aggregate $10.3 million above the appraised value, and paid $30.1 million for non-revenue generating properties, without providing directors sufficient information. -The foundation paid $4.9 million in compensation to UofL Athletic Association employees, and paid more than $800,000 annually toward football and men’s basketball tickets for the president’s office. -In the last three fiscal years, the foundation expended $5.2 million for marketing and advertising and $4.5 million for legal fees and landscaping, which were deemed to contribute to foundation spending exceeding its budget.
June 9, 20179 yr Author University also paid the AD's son close to $800,000 for what some say appears to be a no show job. $300,000 reportedly paid to local radio station to counter program against local UK Talk Radio.
June 9, 20179 yr $300,000 reportedly paid to local radio station to counter program against local UK Talk Radio. LOL. Matt Jones has to be eating that alive.
June 9, 20179 yr Author LOL. Matt Jones has to be eating that alive. I'm sure he'll be all over it Monday on KSR.
June 9, 20179 yr The university is part of the state and the governor appoints and removes trustees. The foundation I don't believe is part state correct? Therefore it names and removes it's own board members? I wonder how independent the boards were of each other ie were the school's trustee's completely in the dark of all of this or were aware and just didn't act so long as the foundation kept bringing donation money in? The school I worked for had a school board and a foundation and the foundation had a separate foundation board however, three of the foundation board's members had to be from the school board and the foundation board could not pass a motion without 1) a majority vote of the foundation board overall and 2) the 2 of the 3 school board members on the foundation board also voting the same way for the motion. That was a check to make sure the foundation board's activities stayed in the same overall direction the school's did. Also, those three school board members would go back to school board meetings and present what the foundation board was doing.
June 9, 20179 yr LOL. Matt Jones has to be eating that alive. I'm sure he'll be all over it Monday on KSR. I'm pretty sure that he has been making allegations that this had happened for some time now.
June 9, 20179 yr I'm pretty sure that he has been making allegations that this had happened for some time now. Now he has proof.
June 9, 20179 yr I'm pretty sure that he has been making allegations that this had happened for some time now. He has. He's said numerous times he suspects it was going on but there was no proof.
June 9, 20179 yr What a hot freaking mess. Disappointing is just an inadequate word in this case. I still support this university and the athletics. There has to be major, drastic changes soon though.
June 9, 20179 yr Author What a hot freaking mess. Disappointing is just an inadequate word in this case. I still support this university and the athletics. There has to be major, drastic changes soon though. RM I think that is how most UofL fans are...I think you summed it up nicely.
June 9, 20179 yr Among the audit’s findings: -The foundation invested $9.9 million in high-risk startup companies that are now valued at $1.7 million. I am assuming investing in these high risk start up companies is the UofL Foundation investing in Venture Capital i.e. investing in the stock fast growing not yet publicly traded companies needing outside capital to fund fast growth and put themselves in position to do an initial public offering (IPO) of their stock. If the company does have a successful IPO, the venture capital investors (UofL Found) sell their stock on the public open market for huge gains. If the company never makes it to IPO status, generally the Venture Capital investors lose a big chunk or all of their investment. To be fair to the UofL Foundation, they are by no means the only University Foundation doing this. Univ Foundations that do this are generally doing it to diversify their equity portfolios beyond just common stocks. The general rule when foundations invest in venture capital is it should be no more than approx 10-15% of Foundation Investments and the investments in Venture Capital should be diversified to point where the gains are more than enough to absorb the losses of another venture capital investments. Sounds like for UofL, several of their investments in venture capital tanked at the same time.
June 9, 20179 yr What a hot freaking mess. Disappointing is just an inadequate word in this case. I still support this university and the athletics. There has to be major, drastic changes soon though. Well, the entire board was fired a year or so ago but people said that was too major and drastic. Looking back, it looks to be the appropriate action to take, go with a fresh start to clean things up.
June 9, 20179 yr What a hot freaking mess. Disappointing is just an inadequate word in this case. I still support this university and the athletics. There has to be major, drastic changes soon though. That's how I would feel if the shoe was on the other foot. Since it's not, though, I'm just going to laugh at Getslow & Deuce.
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