Kelly Sandquist Wins Investment Operations of the Year Award

Kelly Sandquist, Grinnell College director of investment operations, and her team won the Investment Operations of the Year award at the 2022 Allocator Prize event presented by With Intelligence. The Allocator Prizes honor the people, teams and partners uplifting institutional investing. The inaugural awards dinner was hosted in New York City on the evening of October 11. 
 
Sandquist and her team received the award for their best-in-class operations thanks to an outstanding internal team and a strong new partnership with outsourced provider Bitsync.  

“This major award is terrific recognition of the effort Kelly and team put in and speaks to the quality of the Grinnell College Investment Office operations,” said Jainen Thayer, chief investment officer for Grinnell College. 

Sandquist joined the College in 2013. She is responsible for maintaining a robust investment infrastructure and integrating investment activities with the College’s broader finance function. She oversees investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement and risk analysis, unrelated business income tax and excise tax compliance, and provides analytical support for the investment due diligence process.  

She earned both a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance and a master's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Drake University and is also a Certified Public Accountant. 

President Anne F. Harris shared, “Congratulations to Kelly and the investment operations team for this meaningful recognition. I have great admiration for all of the important work that is done by the Investment Office enabling the College to better support its mission.”