Brian Hiestand
Chief Investment Officer / Chief Executive Officer
Brian joined The College of William & Mary Foundation in 2005 to serve as its first Chief Investment Officer overseeing all investment management functions for the endowed assets including asset allocation and investment manager selection.  Brian has been the Chief Investment Officer of the 1693 Management Company since its inception and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Management Company on July 1, 2022. Prior to joining William & Mary, Brian served as the first Director of Alternative Investments for the Indiana University Foundation in Bloomington, Indiana, where he helped launch their Alternative Investment Program, including allocations to hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, and timberland.  Prior to joining the I.U. Foundation, Brian was a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Harris Investment Management in Chicago.   In 2011, Brian received the Institutional Investor Small Endowment of the Year Award.  Brian received his B.S. and M.B.A. from Bowling Green State University. Brian and his wife have a daughter that attended William & Mary, class of 2023.

Catherine Mountjoy
Chief Operating Officer
Catherine joined 1693 Management Company’s investment team in 2016 as a generalist on the team working on all asset classes across the portfolio.  In 2023 Catherine became the COO and coordinates the operational functions for the organization. Before joining 1693 Management Company, Catherine was a Partner with Altius Associates (now part of Mercer Consulting), a private markets investment consulting firm. At Altius, Catherine focused primarily on North American private equity investing, with an emphasis on the buyout sector. Prior to Altius, Catherine was an Analyst at Raymond James & Associates. Catherine began her career at First Union Capital Markets (now part of Wells Fargo) in the asset securitization group. Catherine has a B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) in Economics from Emory University and an M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.  Catherine is currently pursuing an M.S. in Accounting at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary and expects to graduate in August 2024.

Patrick Knapp
Director of Investments
Patrick Knapp joined 1693 Management in 2023 as Director of Investments.  Patrick is a generalist on the team and focuses on asset allocation, portfolio construction, and sourcing, due diligence, and monitoring of investments across asset classes.  Prior to joining 1693 Management, Patrick was a Senior Portfolio Manager with the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System where he focused on private equity and private natural resources investments and had direct responsibility for a >$3b portfolio of funds and co-investments and managed a team of three.  Earlier in his career Patrick was Director of Research at a multi-family office and institutional consultant.  He graduated from the University at Buffalo in 2006 with dual degrees in business management and psychology and is a CFA Charterholder.  Patrick, his wife Kate, and three sons (Abe, Griffin, and Benny) live in Williamsburg, VA.

Zhi Zhang
Investment Associate
Zhi joined the 1693 Management Company in 2019 as an investment operations analyst. Zhi was promoted to Investment Analyst in 2021 and Investment Associate in 2022. Prior to joining the team, Zhi worked at National Grid as an analyst in the Capital Delivery division in Syracuse, NY. Previously, Zhi worked at Cornell University investment office on the Operations Team in Ithaca, NY. Zhi graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Master of Science in Business Analytics and Project Management. He also holds a master’s in finance from Ohio University.

Christine Gionis
Director of Investment Accounting
Christine has been employed with William & Mary Foundation since 2002 and the 1693 Management Company since its inception. She oversees the investment accounting and annual audit of the 1693 Partners Fund. Christine has close to 30 years of experience in accounting. She holds a B.S. in Business from Old Dominion University, is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Before joining the Foundation, Christine worked as an auditor for the State of Virginia. Christine has a son attending William & Mary, class of 2024.

Lisa Pitman
Investment Accountant
Lisa joined the 1693 Management Company in April 2023 and supports the accounting and reporting functions for the 1693 Partners Fund. She holds a B.S. from Northwestern University and M.S. in Accounting from Liberty University.

Scott Tidwell
Tax Director
Scott grew up in Louisiana and attended college at LSU, then moved to San Diego to eventually receive my undergraduate degree from San Diego State University.  After college, he stayed in San Diego and attended law school, receiving a JD and an LLM in Tax.  Scott then started his career with EY in the Tax-Exempt Organizations group, eventually transferring to Charlotte within the same group.  Scott worked at EY for nine years, and then worked at Crowe in their Tax-Exempt Organizations group for six months prior to accepting the Tax Director position at William & Mary Foundation and the 1693 Management Company in July 2022. Scott’s experience at EY and Crowe was working exclusively with non-profits in tax consulting and tax compliance.  Clients included colleges and universities, major healthcare organizations, public charities, private foundations, pension trusts and other large non-profits. Services he provided included tax consulting, unrelated business income consulting, joint venture review, post issuance tax-exempt bond compliance, as well as state and federal tax compliance.  Scott worked extensively with Forms 990 and 990-T and related law and regulations to help monitor compliance obligations and correct potential organizational noncompliance.  This included working with large institutional investors reviewing investment/fund activities and related Schedules K-1 to identify potential UBI and foreign compliance reporting.