‘Good Returns for Good Works’

At Catholic Investment Services, CEO Tim D’Arcy and team marry religious faith, finance

By Peter F. Stevens

Boston Irish Contributor

For Tim D’Arcy, the Catholic and corporate worlds are not mutually exclusive. His role as CEO at Catholic Investment Services (CIS) is both a mission and a vocation. The nonprofit works to “deliver strong, long-term investment results for clients by creating portfolios with three” major cornerstones: Catholic principles, diversification, and manager selection.

D’Arcy relates that he “grew up in a big Catholic family in Brockton,” his father a high-school teacher and hockey coach, his mother a nurse. “I had a great childhood and loved caddying at Thorny Lea Golf Club.” To D’Arcy and his siblings, his parents instilled the concepts of faith and community service.

He went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Working at BlackRock and Hamilton Lane for over two decades, he crafted highly profitable investment portfolios; at Hamilton Lane, he developed a relationship with Catholic Investment Services and its clients to develop investment strategies targeting private markets tailored to the organization’s faith-based principles. He later came on board as CIS’s CEO with its headquarters at 200 State St. in Boston.

Key to D’Arcy’s work at CIS was—and is—Jack Brennan, and Scott Malpass. Brennan, a renowned investment expert and community stalwart who sits on the Board of Trustees for Catholic Investment Services, which he cofounded with Malpass.

Brennan, who grew up in Winchester, Mass., is chairman emeritus, former president, and senior advisor with the investment giant Vanguard. A graduate of Dartmouth College with an MBA from Harvard Business School, he worked with the University of Notre Dame as chairman of its Board of Trustees, and with other Catholic institutions to found CIS with Malpass.

Malpass, the longtime and now retired chief investment officer at Notre Dame, managed the university’s endowment for more than 30 years delivering outstanding returns, and managing to Catholic values, before connecting with Brennan at Notre Dame to found CIS.

D’Arcy, who lives with his family in Bridgewater, MA, is proud that his wife, “Philly Catholic” Liz, and their children—Fairfield University grad Mary Kate, Fairfield sophomore Maggie, and BC High 9th-grader Jack—embrace the same credo of faith and family that drives him, and Jack and Scott.

Explaining these principles in business, D’Arcy says that every client portfolio is shaped through core Catholic beliefs and that they follow investment guidelines of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Human dignity, social and economic justice, climate, and the common good—all that and more infuse the nonprofit’s portfolios with entities that meet these precepts.

CIS’s clients listing comprises an array of schools, religious orders, foundations, healthcare organizations: portions of the endowments for the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College (South Bend. Indiana); Archbishop Williams High School (Braintree, MA); the Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend; Misericordia Heart of Mercy (Chicago, IL); Sisters of the Holy Cross (South Bend, IN); the Dominican Sisters Of Springfield, IL; and Saint John's Health Center Foundation (Los Angeles).

The CEO took up CIS’s goals with Boston Irish Magazine and discussed how his faith and financial acumen brought him to seeding Catholic nonprofits based on a model that first took shape through the University of Notre Dame.

Q. What compelled you to focus on investments for Catholic nonprofit entities?

A. “In a lot of ways, my career path was pointing me that way, even if I didn’t immediately realize it. I found my way here after learning the investment business and working with wonderful people at BlackRock and Hamilton Lane.

“One of the key people in my career has been Jack Brennan. His involvement with Catholic Investment Services and his commitment to charitable Catholic causes led me here.

“Jack showed me how to map faith and purpose and asked me to come over to CIS. I’ve now been here for a year and a half. For me, this move has been a home run.”

Q. What are the challenges in applying the tenets of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to the business and investment landscape?

A. “Every Catholic nonprofit deserves the best investment treatment. We rely on Wellington Management to manage our flagship portfolio targeting public market strategies, what we call the Catholic Endowment Fund, a diversified portfolio for Catholic institutions doing such great work for the disabled, the mentally challenged, the elderly, the poor, the homeless, addicted, and the community.

“We’re only in the US, and working only with Catholic nonprofit sand working with Wellington has been a real blessing. They have delivered meaningful returns for CIS and our clients for many years.”

Q. Do CIS’s guidelines limit access to otherwise solid investments with companies whose beliefs and corporate systems run counter to CIS’s values?

A. “The beauty of our model and the creative and innovative investment skills of people such as Jack Brennan has allowed us to work with companies like Wellington to handle portfolios for us over a billion dollars. That money allows Catholic organizations to continue their incredible work.”

Q. “Have you found difficulties in navigating the intersection of social, religious, and political obstacles?”

A. “At the start, there were no other investment firms with the name ‘Catholic.’ We needed permission to use the name, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley in Boston was wonderful to us. He insisted on three conditions: Keep fees as low as possible; work exclusively with Catholic nonprofits, and follow the guidelines of the US Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Henning, his successor in Boston, has also supported us.

“Sometimes the guidelines can be vague, and you have to do your homework to ensure that portfolios don’t violate our moral, ethical, and religious guidelines.”

Q. What has your work at CIS meant to you personally?

A. “I grew up in a household where faith, family, and service meant everything. For a long time I felt that my investment success was somehow not enough. I wanted to give back with what I had learned at BlackRock and Hamilton Lane.

“Thanks to Jack Brennan, Scott Malpass, and so many others, I’ve had the opportunity to show that. You can do good with your investments. You can deliver good returns for good works. Catholic Nonprofits should be able to secure investments that provide them a solid return while adhering to Catholic values.

“It doesn’t happen in a day, but we’ll get there.”