GuideStone Financial CIO David Spika to Retire at End of Year

David Spika, CIO of GuideStone Financial Resources, a Southern Baptist faith-based financial services firm with $20.2 billion in assets under management, has announced plans to retire at the end of the year. The firm named Brandon Pizzurro, GuideStone’s director of public investments, to succeed Spika.

“David has done a tremendous job positioning us for this day,” GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck said in a release. “He worked diligently to integrate Investments as a true partner to the rest of the enterprise while helping to develop new investment distribution channels through GuideStone Investment Services, GuideStone Advisors and intermediary sales.”

Dilbeck also lauded Spika for expanding the firm’s faith-based investing strategies to include shareholder advocacy, proxy voting and impact investing.

“We have a deep bench from which to draw as we seek to grow our momentum in the marketplace,” Dilbeck added. Spika “has built a team that ensures we will not miss an opportunity to continue to serve our members and ministry partners.”

For more stories like this, sign up for the CIO Alert newsletter. 

Before joining Dallas-based GuideStone in 2017, Pizzurro worked at First Command Financial Services in Fort Worth, Texas, for seven years, first as an investment analyst and then as a senior investment analyst. Prior to that he was financial consulting director at 1st Global, also based in Dallas, for five years, and before that he was a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley.

“Brandon is a consummate professional who understands our members and ministry partners,” Dilbeck said. “He is ready to step into this this strategic role and will serve GuideStone well.”

Princeton Endowment President, CIO Andrew Golden to Retire in 2024

Kansas Pension CIO Elizabeth Miller to Retire in July

Tags: Brandon Pizzurro, CIO, GuideStone Financial Resources, Hance Dilbeck

The long-serving CIO of the University of Minnesota, Stuart Mason, will retire in early 2024, according to a post on LinkedIn. The university is looking for a successor before a more formal transition plan is established, Mason said in an email. Mason expects a selection to be made by the end of the year. A transition period into early 2024 is expected, after which Mason plans to retire.

“I just celebrated 21 years since forming the Office of Investments & Banking at the University of Minnesota,” Mason wrote in the post. “What an exciting period in history to be building wealth for such a great institution. It’s been a great run, but I’ve recently made the decision to retire and am actively working with senior officials to transition from my role as CIO and move on to other adventures in the early months of 2024.” The Office of Investments & Banking currently manages an endowment of $2.2 billion. It also has ancillary functions, such as management of the university’s retirement plans, which hold $6.7 billion in assets. The fund has an operating pool of $1.5 billion, as of June 30, which the office is also responsible for.

The consolidated endowment fund, which Mason oversees, lost 2.6% in the year’s second quarter, while its benchmark lost 4%. The fund returned 11.4% over one year; 14.4% over the last five years; and 12% in the last 10 years, as of respective fiscal years ending June 30. The OIB’s policy benchmark returned 8.2%, 8.9% and 7.7%, respectively.

Tags: Stuart Mason, University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota Consolidated Endowment Fund