Q&A: Tobin Endowment gets new leadership after death of longtime chairman Bruce Bugg

The Tobin Endowment, one of the largest private charitable foundations in San Antonio, has new leadership after the unexpected passing of longtime chairman and trustee Bruce Bugg, who died earlier this month.

Tullos Wells, a San Antonio attorney and former managing director of the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, will co-chair the endowment alongside John Asel, 55, a longtime accountant to Bugg and Robert L.B. Tobin, the organization’s founder.

Tobin was an art collector whose family was instrumental in bringing the Santa Fe Opera to that city, and organizing a symphony orchestra in San Antonio. Tobin was an avid supporter of the McNay Art Museum, as well as children’s health and culture in San Antonio up until his death in 2000.

Bugg, a well-known Texas banker, Texas Department of Transportation chairman and head of the Tobin Endowment for 25 years, passed away on Aug. 6 following complications from a back surgery.

The Tobin Endowment is a private charitable foundation that awards grants to organizations primarily in San Antonio, often funding groups doing work in the arts, historic preservation and civic engagement. It has given out about $72 million in grants since its inception in 1999.

Wells, 76, was a senior partner at Bracewell and Giuliani law firm before taking the reins of the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. He has also served as general counsel for the San Antonio Spurs.

Asel has been involved with both the Tobin and Bugg families since 1995, when he started working for Tobin as a young accountant.

The San Antonio Report sat down with both Wells and Asel at the Tobin Estate for a Q&A. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

San Antonio Report: How will this transition work with you two stepping in at the Tobin Foundation, are these temporary roles or permanent ones?

Tullos Wells: With Bruce’s sad passing, he had set up a succession process where John and I would be co-chairs of the Tobin Endowment and continue the stewardship that Bruce had given to us. John and I will [transfer leadership] to the next generation of Tom Bugg, who’s a local tax lawyer here, and Jim Bugg [both sons of Bruce Bugg], who’s an entrepreneur in Nashville. And so the succession plan started with Robert. We’ll have another generation to go with Jim and [his brother] Tom Bugg then, presumably their heirs after that.

Having invested $72 million and having $180 million in the bank, the folks who came before us have done a pretty good job of continuing to build that asset. And John and I are the stewards for a while, and when they’re ready and willing, the plan has always been that Bruce’s sons would take over this work. So they’re great young men, but we’re going to help shepherd them until they’re ready to step out of what they’re doing.

SAR: How are the Tobin Endowment and the Tobin Performing Arts Center different from each other?

TW: The Tobin Performing Arts Center was a product of the Tobin Endowment. Bruce was the first chair of the Tobin Center. There have been successor chairs since then, so the center has been a beneficiary of the endowment. We have worked closely together on certain things, like the most recent program we did to help the Hill Country. But the Tobin Endowment is as a philanthropic organization that provides resources to the organizations within our charitable purposes. The Tobin Center is an entertainment slash meeting slash everything else event venue.

SAR: What are the legacy projects the endowment has funded?

John Asel: We want to continue to support all those things that were important to Robert. The Santa Fe Opera, being one. Robert Tobin was a founder of the Santa Fe Opera, the McNay Art Museum, which has his theater arts collection over there. We have a significant interest in continuing to support the McNay and then the Tobin Center. Those are three big organizations. And also there’s another organization called the Tobin Theater Arts Fund, which is our subsidiary.

SAR: How has the Tobin endowment’s mission changed over the years?

JA: Robert’s great interest was really arts, and particularly theater art design and costume design. I can’t think of anything that Robert would love more than the fact that we have a performing arts center, a world-class performing arts center here in San Antonio, and we’ve got his name on it.

TW: Almost $72 million has been paid or committed since the founding of the foundation, and a lot of that has gone to the arts, as it should. That was Robert’s vision. Bruce, you know, followed the admonition of Robert in where to invest. But we [invested in] Community Labs. We’ve done the Children’s Shelter. We’ve done several things with the community. We’re one of the larger private foundations in San Antonio, and we go to the sound of the gun sometimes when things happen in the city that really need resources.

JA: When Bruce was here, we would sit here at this table [at the Tobin Estate] and we would always start with, “Robert Tobin’s business.” That’s how we view it. We’re here to do Robert Tobin’s business. All these years later, that remains our guiding light, we always ask ourselves, what would Robert think about this? Would this be something that he would be interested in doing when we get a grant request? Is it aligned with his interests?

TW: We have a broad charitable purpose. Many large arts organizations [only do art]. But again, because of who Robert was, and because there were other things, like protecting children, that were important to him in his lifetime, that’s also where he put his resources and his passion.

SAR: So, past grantees and hopeful grantees shouldn’t expect anything too different during this transition?

JA: No. We intend on continuing to run this organization in the same great way that Bruce did.

TW: [The endowment’s] got a couple of new faces, one of which is very old, but we’re following the plan, that succession plan and stewardship that Bruce asked us to take in the event of his death, which was heartbreaking. But we’re going to do it the way he wanted it done, because he did it the way Robert wanted. So this is a pretty easy equation for us.