Client success story

When Lindle learned in summer 2025 that Arizona State University was seeking a branding partner for its Department of Supply Chain Management, he recognized it as a new way to grow awareness of NASPO’s mission and elevate the role of procurement.

The opportunity: A gift of $35 million would establish the NASPO Department of Supply Chain Management at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business and fund initiatives like scholarships, endowed faculty positions, research, and new procurement tracks in undergraduate and graduate supply chain programs.

“We’d been working with ASU since 2015 to provide input on procurement coursework,” says Lindle. “So, this was another step forward to solidify that partnership.”

Determining how to make the gift happen, however, was challenging. NASPO had to meet a tight deadline that gave them about five months to complete the transaction. In that short window, they had to decide how to fund the gift while maximizing cash flow to support member resources.

“For anyone coming up with a gift of that size in that short period of time, you’re looking at a number of challenges, such as cash flow and funding vehicles,” says Dan.

He turned to Cam at Truist to talk through the options:

• Pull money from NASPO’s $160 million endowment, which is used to fund initiatives and resources for members
• Borrow the entire $35 million
• Borrow a portion and self-fund the rest

Cam suggested a $25 million term loan secured by the endowment to ensure a low interest rate, leaving NASPO’s investments in the endowment to continue earning compound interest. NASPO would fund the remaining $10 million out of operating cash.

“In banking, positive arbitrage refers to structuring capital so that expected investment returns exceed borrowing costs,” says Cam. “Based on long-term averages, that dynamic worked favorably for NASPO.”

With a competitive interest rate on the loan and the endowment earning a healthy average annual return, Dan estimated the solution could save NASPO more than a million dollars over five years compared to pulling the entire $35 million from the endowment.

“That puts us in a solid place financially, so we can continue to do all the projects for our members, without me having a lot of headache and heartache over how we’re going to fund them,” says Dan.

Cam says his understanding of NASPO’s need to manage costs underscored his solution. “Other banks were saying, ‘Let’s do a loan,’ but they didn’t explain what type of loan and why, and how NASPO could benefit,” he says. “At Truist, we look at the business from the client’s perspective to understand their needs and craft financing solutions that fit.”