Investing for Catholics Welcomes Father Robert Spitzer
Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D. is a an esteemed consultant to Investing for catholics, and serves as an Advisor on Ethical and Catholic Investments.
Following in the Jesuit path toward excellence through discernment in action, Father Spitzer possesses a strong track record of leadership across a broad range of areas of expertise. In particular, Father Spitzer is the recent former President of Gonzaga University, a position he held for 11 years. Father Spitzer is also the Founder and President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith and the Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership.
Father Spitzer assists the firm in the areas of stewardship and Ethics, which he taught at the Catholic college level for 20 years. He provides valuable communications in an effort to guide the firm, its clients and its friendship community toward the ultimate stewardship experiences that can be borne out of mutual trust, truth and transparency.
Also, drawing from the development and leadership experience garnered from his role as President of Gonzaga, Father Spitzer will have the opportunity to impart his breadth of hands-on experience to Catholic institutional investment committees, particularly in the areas of fiduciary obligation and prudence.
“As the former president of Gonzaga University and an active participant on its investment committee, I learned about ways in which Catholic institutions could effectively manage their endowment and retirement funds within the scope of their fiduciary responsibility. Along the way, I developed the awareness that passively managed funds would have significantly lower total fees than actively managed funds and would also be less problematic to administer. Further investigation led me to determine that passive investing is as competitive, if not more competitive than active management when it comes to reduction of volatility and rate of return. For these reasons, I am pleased to assist Investing for Catholics in their efforts to help Catholic institutions."
Click here to view Father Spitzer’s recent video on the financial crisis, ethics and the importance of fiduciaries.
More About Father Robert Spitzer
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 16, 1952, Fr. Spitzer is currently the President of the Magis Center of Faith and Reason and the Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership. The former is dedicated to showing the close connection between faith and reason in contemporary astrophysics, philosophy, and historical study of the New Testament. The latter is dedicated to personal and cultural transformation that supports principle based ethics and leads to noble and enduring success.
In his role with Investing for Catholics, Father Spitzer will exercise his vast expertise in the areas of stewardship and Ethics, which he taught at the Catholic college level for 20 years, to provide valuable communications in an effort to guide the firm, its clients and its friendship community toward the ultimate stewardship experiences that can be borne out of mutual trust, truth and transparency.
As President of Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009, he led the efforts to build 20 new facilities, increased the student population by 75%, raised more than $200 million for scholarships and capital projects, and significantly increased the faith, service, ethics, and leadership programs. Drawing from the development and leadership experience garnered from his role as President of Gonzaga, Father Spitzer will have the opportunity to impart his breadth of hands-on experience to Catholic institutional investment committees, particularly in the areas of fiduciary obligation and prudence.
He is an accomplished author with several books in publication including Spirit of Leadership: Optimizing Creativity and Change in Organizations (Executive Excellence, 2000), Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom and the Life Issues (Ignatius Press, 2000), Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: A Practical Guide to Prayer for Active People (Ignatius Press, 2007), New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy (Eerdmans, 2010).
Father Spitzer’s addition to Investing for Catholics adds to the firm’s already impressive list of experts, which includes Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Professor Harry Markowitz and Director of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation for the OMIs, Father Seamus P. Finn. With the addition of Father Spitzer, the newly formed trio of expert consultants will enhance Investing for Catholics’ ability to communicate advice that can help Catholic institutions earn higher risk-adjusted returns and, at the same time, adhere to their values.
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