David Routh, who led UNC Chapel Hill’s record $5 billion capital campaign over the last nine years, has joined Charlotte-based New Republic Partners as a managing director and board member.
Routh joins CEO Tom Hoops and others to work on acquisitions and expansions and advise clients on philanthropic planning. He retired last year as vice chancellor of development at UNC, where he led the “Campaign for Carolina,” which set a record for Southern universities. The previous largest fundraiser at the campus totaled $2.3 billion.
New Republic was created two years ago with backing from the Belk-Pilon and Springs-Close-Bowles families, whose ancestors started the Belk department store chain and Springs textiles group, respectively. The 21-employee investment management and banking company targets high net-worth individuals, families, endowments and foundations. It now has offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Pawleys Island, South Carolina and Raleigh.
“What’s happening at New Republic is one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in the wealth management industry in a long time,” Routh says. “They’ve built a platform that is similar to much larger organizations.”
Routh worked in the private-sector wealth management industry before joining UNC. Among his initial jobs after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill was at Greensboro-based N.C. Trust, a wealth management company that went through a series of acquisitions before it was bought by Bank of America. Routh is also a former CEO at Potpourri Design, a Greensboro design and distribution company.
Routh, who lives in Chapel Hill, notes that New Republic has many clients in eastern North Carolina and two board members from Raleigh: Art Pope, who owns a chain of discount retail stores, and former State Treasurer Janet Cowell, who now leads the Dix Park Conservancy.
New Republic raised $26.5 million of equity, according to a Jan. 13 federal filing. A year earlier, in January 2022, it announced an undisclosed investment from San Francisco-based private equity firm SkyKnight Capital.
