Derrin Raffey, chief financial officer at St. Thomas More College (STM) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, oversaw STM’s investment trust. With a value of more than CA$22 million, managing the trust required careful consideration of various factors, including management fees, performance, the appropriateness of the holdings, and relationships with investment managers.<br><br>At times, the trust had held investments that were not appropriate, given the college’s religious values. However, with the hiring of a new investment manager, switching from pooled fund investment to discretionary investment became an option. As STM did not have a formal process or template for reviewing investment managers, developing these was a priority. Finally, there was the question of what strategy STM should adopt—was it possible for STM to balance its need for growth and returns against other factors such as the college’s religious ethos and the wishes of its various stakeholders?
The Mountain Musical Theatre Company (MMTC), located in Great Falls, Montana, was an important part of the local cultural scene. For many years, MMTC had performed a wide variety of shows that had been much enjoyed by local and visiting patrons, and it would have been easy to assume that the organization was a great success. However, significant organizational and financial problems had been brewing inside MMTC. In September 2015, these problems came to a head. The organization did not have formal financial statements, and the absence of these had recently led to major disagreements between MMTC’s leadership team and its board of directors. The recently appointed board chair did not know if MMTC was making or losing money. Although she feared the consequences could be serious, the board chair needed to ensure that financial statements for MMTC were created and analyzed to determine the truth about the organization’s financial situation.
In 2015, the general manager of Maritimes Credit Union based in Atlantic Canada was faced with a merger proposal that involved amalgamation with another, much larger credit union. The major concern was how co-operatives and credit unions could compete while retaining the values and mission that were at the core of their foundation. The credit union was dealing with the issue of competing in a modern world where technology was changing at a rapid pace, where the value demanded by younger customers had evolved, and where the competitive landscape was more intense, even in rural areas. The values and culture of a credit union were called into question as it coped by developing strategies that resembled those of investor-owned firms.