The Heinz Endowments' Portfolio

This week, we’ll “ketchup” on the portfolio of the Heinz Endowments, a $2 billion foundation based in Pittsburgh, PA. The Heinz Endowments traces its origins to the philanthropic vision of the Heinz family, beginning with the establishment of the Howard Heinz Endowment in 1941 by Howard Heinz, the son of H.J. Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Company. In 1986, the Vira I. Heinz Endowment was created by the wife of H.J. Heinz’s youngest son, Clifford. Senator John Heinz led the family endowments until his death in 1991, when his wife Teresa Heinz (now married to John Kerry) took over leadership and formalized what is now known as the Heinz Endowments. The organization focuses on advancing economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, education, and cultural enrichment, particularly in Western Pennsylvania.

The Heinz family also has other philanthropic endeavors, including the Heinz Family Foundation, which is managed by the Heinz Family Office and CIO McCall Cravens. While the Endowments and the Family Foundation appear to have different investment teams, they are based in the same building in Pittsburgh.

Edward Kolano is the CIO of the Endowments and has been with the organization since 2013. Prior to Heinz, he spent 23 years with The Hillman Company. Heinz has a small investment team and also uses Cambridge Associates (to whom it paid $2 million in consulting fees in 2023, according to disclosures).

Heinz discloses a detailed list of its private manager investments, as well as a few public-focused managers. Disclosed public managers include Cat Rock, Overlook, and Coreview, while disclosed private managers include Index Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Level Equity. OWL users can see the full portfolio on our platform - if you’re interested in seeing profiles of several thousand allocators including Heinz, reach out!

One of Heinz’s smaller investments is with Peppertree Capital Management, a PE firm based in Chagrin Falls, OH (a Cleveland suburb). In addition to Heinz, Peppertree’s disclosed LPs include MIT, The Knight Foundation, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, and Illinois SERS.

Peppertree was founded by Ryan Lepene and Howard Mandel in 2004 and invests in communications infrastructure companies across 14 countries. According to Peppertree, its thesis is that “the demand for data will overwhelm the wireless networks for the foreseeable future. Our mission is to discover ways to capitalize on that thesis, including by investing in companies that own the towers, the wireless spectrum and the fiber networks that make your mobile phone work.”

Lepene’s background is in investment banking, and Mandel co-founded one of the first publicly-held tower companies.

Peppertree’s AUM has grown substantially over time. OWL users can dig into Peppertree’s fund history on the platform to see fund-by-fund details on AUM and capital raised:

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