Exclusive interview with Michael Vassilopoulos, Director - Investments, WTW
Global Investment Insights
with Michael Vassilopoulos, Director - Investments, WTW
Michael Vassilopoulos is a Director - Investments at WTW, based in Melbourne. He is a Strategist and WTW’s Not-For-Profit sector lead, currently working with a range of Not-For-Profit clients.
Michael has gained extensive experience advising university and foundation clients on their investment purpose and beliefs, multi-asset class investment strategies and ensuring the alignment of their investment portfolios with their organisational and philanthropic mission.
In this exclusive interview with Global Investment Institute, Michael discusses the key investment challenges facing Not-For-Profits, how their asset allocation differs from other institutions, emerging trends in NFP investment strategies, how the Total Portfolio Approach differs from Strategic Asset Allocation and how NFPs and Family Offices can adopt the Total Portfolio Approach.
Q. Your role focuses on working with not-for-profits (endowments, foundations, charities, etc). What are the key investment challenges your NFP clients face and how are you working with them to address them?
A. Not-For-Profit organisations often face a distinct set of investment challenges. Limited governance budgets, internal resources, and scale can make it difficult to access diversified, high-quality portfolios. Many NFPs also seek to integrate impact investing into their strategies, but struggle to balance financial outcomes with mission alignment.
A useful starting point is clarifying the organisation’s investment purpose, i.e. why it invests, and its investment beliefs. This foundation guides strategy and ensures that the portfolio reflects both financial goals and the broader organisational mission. This is where we always like to start the conversation with our NFP clients, often running a series of workshops to help answer these questions. I’ve always found this to be the most rewarding part of working with NFPs, as it gives real meaning to our work and the impact it can have on their philanthropic efforts.
We then look to address the challenges around governance, resources and scale, by combining strategic advice with scalable implementation options. Importantly, we try to simplify decision making, while offering access to institutional-quality portfolios, leveraging WTW’s global investment capabilities and scale to reduce the operational burden.
Q. How does the asset allocation mix of NFP portfolios differ from other types of institutions (eg super funds or insurers), given their need to balance financial returns with their mission-driven goals?
A. Unlike super funds or insurers, NFPs are often unconstrained investors. They typically have long-term horizons, tax advantages, and fewer regulatory limitations, giving them the flexibility to invest across a wide range of asset classes. This is embodied in the endowment investment model made famous by Yale University, which many NFPs aspire to.
However, despite this flexibility, many NFPs default to simpler portfolios. This is often due to limited access to the full opportunity set, particularly private markets and alternatives, that larger institutional investors routinely utilise.
We have worked hard over recent years to find ways of bringing the same high-quality investment ideas to all NFPs. By helping remove the typical constraints around scale and resources, WTW can provide access to a true endowment style investment model, enabling alignment with both financial and mission-driven goals.
There is also a growing desire among NFPs to incorporate ESG and impact into their portfolios. Some organisations are taking this further by aligning their investment strategy directly with their philanthropic mission.
This trend reflects a broader shift toward purpose-driven investing, where asset allocation is not just a financial exercise, but a strategic tool for advancing the organisation’s goals.
Q. What trends are you seeing in the NFP space regarding diversification, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs in their investment strategies?
A. Every NFP is different, but typically we observe that many have a relatively high tolerance for investment risk and lower liquidity requirements, largely due to their long-term investment horizons. However, this is most evident in organisations that have taken the time to define their investment purpose and understand what investment risk means in the context of their broader financial position. Where this clarity is lacking, portfolios can end up misaligned, either too conservative or not sufficiently diversified to meet long-term goals.
Liquidity needs remain an important consideration, particularly for NFPs with regular grant-making or operational funding requirements. But with the right planning and governance, many are finding ways to balance liquidity with the benefits of long-term, illiquid investments.
We are also seeing a growing trend toward broader diversification. As access to institutional-quality investment opportunities improves, more NFPs are exploring asset classes like private markets, alternative credit, and thematic investments. That said, many organisations are still unaware that these options are available to them, or assume they’re out of reach due to size, fees or complexity.
Overall, the trend is toward more intentional, better-aligned investment strategies that reflect both financial and mission-driven objectives.
Q. Many of the largest institutional investors are adopting the Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) to investing. Can you discuss how TPA differs from Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) and the associated benefits and challenges for investors?
A. Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) has long been the standard for institutional investors, offering a structured framework based on fixed asset class targets. It worked well in a simpler investment environment, where governance was calendar-based and portfolios were built around long-term policy settings.
However, today’s markets demand more flexibility and alignment with mission-driven goals. This has led to the emergence of the Total Portfolio Approach (TPA), which treats the portfolio as a whole and evaluates each investment based on its contribution to the portfolio’s overall objectives, rather than assessing outcomes against asset class benchmarks. TPA supports dynamic decision-making, holistic risk management, and better responsiveness to market conditions.
That said, transitioning to TPA requires strong governance, clarity of purpose, and a shift in how investment decisions are made and implemented. It’s not a binary choice. Many organisations adopt TPA gradually, integrating elements like reference portfolios or more frequent strategy reviews to build toward a more holistic framework.
Q. What are the requirements to effectively implementing Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) and how can smaller institutional-like investors such as NFPs and Family Offices adopt such an approach?
A. It’s a myth that TPA is only for large institutions. In reality, smaller investors, like NFPs and Family Offices, can benefit even more, precisely because they are less constrained by bureaucracy. What’s needed isn’t scale, it’s clarity.
Effective TPA starts with defining why the organisation invests and how decisions should be made. From there, it’s about simplifying governance, focusing on strategic outcomes, and using flexible investment models that reflect the organisation’s values.
For Not-For-Profits and Family Offices, adopting TPA can be challenging due to limited resources, governance capacity, and access to alternative investment opportunities. However, through collaborative partnerships or outsourced models, even smaller organisations can benefit from the agility, alignment, and impact that TPA delivers.
The key is to ensure that every investment decision contributes meaningfully to the organisation’s broader mission, enabling more intentional, resilient, and impactful portfolios.
Michael Vassilopoulos, Director - Investments, WTW
Michael is a Director - Investments, based in Melbourne. He is a Strategist and WTW’s Not-For-Profit sector lead, currently working with a range of Not-For-Profit clients.
Michael has gained extensive experience advising university and foundation clients on their investment purpose and beliefs, multi-asset class investment strategies and ensuring the alignment of their investment portfolios with their organisational and philanthropic mission. Additionally, he is a member of the Investment Strategy team and responsible for advising clients on their investment objectives, investment strategy and portfolio construction, and developing WTW’s quantitative portfolio construction tools and capital market assumptions.
Michael previously worked at EY in actuarial consulting and in funds management before joining WTW in 2018. Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) from Monash University and is an Associate of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.
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