Influential Investors Forum

Christopher Ailman has been the chief investment officer of CalSTRS since October 2000. He leads an investment staff of more than 200 and oversees a portfolio valued at over $300 billion. He has more than 39 years of institutional investment experience.
Ailman has served on several corporate and advisory boards in the United States and the United Kingdom. He represents institutional investors on the MSCI Index Editorial Advisory Board, the CFA DEI Steering Committee, and the Toigo Foundation. He is the chair of the 300 Club and co-chair of the Milken Global Capital Markets Committee. In 2016, he was part of the first cohort to achieve a Fundamentals of Sustainable Accounting credential.
Recognized as one of the top CIOs globally, he has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Institute for Fiduciary Education’s CIO of the Year in 2000, the Richard Stoddard Award for service in the investment of public pensions in 2003, the Distinguished Service Award for Advancement of Latinos in Business from the New American Alliance in 2006, and Institutional Investor magazine’s Large Public Fund Manager of the Year Award in 2011. In 2017, he received Institutional Investor magazine’s first Lifetime Achievement Award and was named the top CIO in the world by Chief Investment Officer magazine in 2018.
Ailman has a Bachelor of Arts in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his certified financial planner designation from the University of Southern California. He is married with three daughters and is a committed Promise Keeper.

Tim Barrett is Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Investment Officer for Texas Tech University System (TTUS). He is responsible for day-to-day management of the endowment assets and responsible for investment strategy and implementation of the nearly $1.2 billion endowment and $800 million in Operating Capital. Barrett began his relationship with TTUS in April of 2013.

Prior to TTUS, Barrett served as Director of Pension Investments Worldwide at Eastman Kodak, overseeing more than $16 billion in aggregate through approximately 77 plans globally. Barrett began his career with San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association (SBCERA) where he worked his way up the organization to become the Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer. He began his career in 1996 with SBCERA and left in October of 2010.

Barrett has over 20 years of experience as a CIO and has restructured plans around the world within the three pillars of institutional investors—pension, corporate and endowment. He is a published co-author and winner of the Edward D. Baker III Award by the Investment Management Consultants Association for an article entitled “Dynamic Beta – Getting Paid to Manage Risk.” Barrett is also a member of the inaugural CIO Power 100 and has been awarded many awards for managing best of breed plans.

Rowena Carreon is the Head of Investment Advisory Solutions at Addepar . She heads both the advisory and research teams, who provide advice to clients leveraging Addepar’s unique data and insights. Prior to joining Addepar, Rowena held executive roles across global financial services experience in asset management, corporate finance and investment banking.
Rowena was a Managing Director at BlackRock for over a decade, where she led strategic initiatives focused on the development and launch of investment products, client solutions and servicing and business growth. Rowena led teams in Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions, was the Head of Strategy and Development for Global Credit, led pillars in the firm’s global product development group and started her BlackRock career as the Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific Fixed Income.
Prior to joining BlackRock in Hong Kong, Rowena was the Treasurer of Asia ex-Japan at Nomura. Rowena also was the Treasurer of Lehman Brothers Asia, and prior to that role, she was an investment banker based in New York focused on the origination of securitizations and structured finance transactions. Rowena began her career at Fitch Ratings and earned a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.

Brian Clark is an Investment Director at the $3.2 billion Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.  He serves as a generalist covering all asset classes with a particular emphasis on private markets and hedge funds.  He is involved in all aspects of managing the Foundation’s assets, including manager due diligence, asset allocation and risk management. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2015, Mr. Clark was an Investment Analyst the University of Cincinnati’s $1.2 billion endowment, where he worked as a generalist, monitoring existing investments, and evaluating prospective investment managers. Prior to that, Mr. Clark was at a $1+ billion multi-family office in Cleveland, Ohio focused on the firm’s alternative investments and research.

Mr. Clark earned a B.S. in Finance from Miami University’s Farmer School of Business in Oxford, Ohio. Mr. Clark received his CFA charter and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Mr. Clark is married with three children. 

Scott Davis joined the Indiana Public Retirement System in December 2010 as the Director of Public Equity. He was named Interim CIO in September 2015 and was named CIO in June 2016. Davis previously worked at the Indiana Finance Authority. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, with majors in finance and accounting.

Indrani De is the Head of Global Investment Research for FTSE Russell, an LSEG Business (London Stock Exchange Group), and an investment research and portfolio management executive, experienced across asset classes.
Indrani leads a global team to produce research that provides market insights and thought leadership for FTSE Russell’s suite of indices. Immediately prior, she was Global Head of Investor Strategy at DBRS Morningstar, leading a new initiative to increase connectivity with the largest credit investors. Before that she held two roles in the TIAA/Nuveen group – Managing Director and Head of Research, Solutions Group in Nuveen (TIAA’s investment arm) leading asset allocation research and earlier as Managing Director responsible for financial markets analysis and economic scenario design in the General Account of TIAA. Early career experience includes being Senior Director of Quantitative Research at institutional equity investment firm New Amsterdam Partners, and investment analyst for GE Capital evaluating private market investments.
Indrani De is a prior President and on the Board of the Society of Quantitative Analysts (SQA). A strong believer in thought leadership-based investment management, she has been published in the Journal of Investing, Journal of Investment Consulting, NYSSA Financial Professionals’ Post (CFA society publication) and Risk.Net books. Indrani has deep expertise in responsible and climate change investing, with many research papers in this area. She has been a speaker multiple times at leading industry conferences and quoted in major media outlets.
Indrani holds an MBA from the City University of New York with full merit scholarship, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore), the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and PRM (Professional Risk Manager) designations.

Marcus Frampton, CFA, CAIA, serves as the Chief Investment Officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. He has been with APFC since 2012 and served as the Director of Investments, Real Assets & Absolute Return.
Prior to joining APFC, Frampton held diverse roles ranging from investment banking with Lehman Brothers, private equity investing with PCG Capital Partners, and as an executive with LPL Financial, a private equity backed portfolio company.
He holds a BA in Business-Economics with a minor in Accounting from UCLA.

Walter Kress is an investment leader with 20+ years of experience at top financial services organizations, deep buy and sell side experience, and fiduciary and ERISA expertise.  He currently serves as a Director and Chief Investment Officer at EY (Ernst & Young).  In this role he manages over $21B of ERISA Pension, HR-10, and 401(K) plan assets covering 80,000 participants, serves as Center of Excellence (COE) Global Head of Investment, and sits on the EY Retirement Investment Committee and the Investment Committee for EY’s offshore captive insurance company.  In April of 2021, he earned recognition in Chief Investment Officer’s “2020-2021 Power 100.” 

Prior to joining E&Y in 2016, where he also spent three years serving as a Treasurer, Walter spent nearly 10 years JPMorgan Chase in roles including Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer and Director of Alternative Investments. During his tenure he provided key input for strategic, tactical and manager selection decisions for the $14B JP Morgan Chase Retirement Plan covering over 325,000 employees and retirees as the second most senior member of a team of 11.  Near the end of his JP Morgan tenure he was honored with Institutional Investor’s “Investor Intelligence Network’s Award for Excellence in Defined Benefit Plan Structuring” and was nominated for the magazine’s 2015 “Investor Intelligence Network’s Thought Leadership Award.”

From 1999 – 2006, Walter held the roles of National Sales Manager at Dreyfus Service Corp., President of Mellon Advisors, and Senior Vice President at Mellon Institutional Asset Management.  While at Mellon he executed the sales strategy addressing the top 20 defined contribution record keeping platform and directed the high net worth group of 70 advisors responsible for servicing Dreyfus’ HNW clients.  He also led a team of 30 in winning the 529 mandate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Walter holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance with a minor in Economics from Syracuse University.  In addition to his corporate leadership roles, he is a current and former member of several professional and community organizations.  These include the Committee for the Investment of Employee Benefit Plans (CIEBA), where he sits on the Executive Committee and as Vice Chair of the Defined Contribution Committee, the Institutional Investor Corporate Funds Roundtable Advisory Board, the Wilton, CT Board of Finance, and the Corinthians Endowment Fund.  He has been a guest speaker at several investment and finance classes at universities including Columbia, Tulane and Syracuse.

With a diverse background spanning project management, wealth management, and banking products and over 15 years in the investment field, Carmen Lugo is dedicated to preserving and growing clients’ wealth responsibly and passionately.
She is currently a Portfolio Manager & Financial Analyst for Fondo de Ahorro de Panamá. Her journey includes roles as an Investment Director/CFO and Treasury and Investment Manager. She is committed to staying modern and adaptable in this fast-changing world and maintains a strong network in institutional entities and international banks. Carmen was named a 2023 NextGen by Chief Investment Officer, a testament to her expertise and contributions to investment management. She holds an MBA from San Francisco University / School of Management specializing in Vertical Industries and an MBA from ADEN University – Argentina.

Amanda Lynam, CPA, is Head of Macro Credit Research within the Portfolio Management Group – Private Markets. In this capacity, Amanda leads original market research across a range of asset classes, including global corporate debt markets as well as private debt, real estate and infrastructure lending.

Bringing nearly 40 years of experience, Henry serves as Ariel’s chief investment officer of global and emerging markets equities. He is responsible for overseeing the global and emerging markets value research effort and portfolio management activities. For over 20 years, he was the chief investment officer and portfolio manager of AllianceBernstein (AB)’s Emerging Markets Value Equity and Next 50 Emerging Markets Fund. During that time, Henry also served as Co-CIO of international value equities at AB for nearly a decade.
Henry held various leadership positions across global and emerging markets investing at AB, including his roles as head of the global value research department, director of research of small cap value equities, and director of research of emerging markets value equities. Earlier in his career, he served as an analyst at the launch of AB’s emerging markets value portfolio, and previously served as a vice president and sell-side analyst at PaineWebber. Over the course of his career, Henry has visited more than 50 countries across the world.
Henry holds a BA in economics from Trinity College, where he sits on the Board of Trustees, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Eileen Neill, a managing director and senior consultant at Verus, provides a broad range of consulting services to institutional public funds with assets ranging between $2 billion and more than $200 billion with respect to the successful development and implementation of their investment programs; these services include risk management, strategic asset allocation, investment policy development, manager selection and ongoing board education.
She holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Arizona, an MBA from Chapman University and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Neill serves as a board member of WAVE [Women’s Association of Venture and Equity] and is a mentor for the CFALA [CFA Los Angeles] Career Mentorship Program.

Adrian Ohmer is an investment director at The Kresge Foundation. He joined the foundation in 2020.
Previously, Adrian served as senior manager of private equity at UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, where he was involved with managing investments for the largest purchaser of retiree health care in the United States and oversaw the trust’s investments in diverse and emerging managers.
He has also held positions with Invest Detroit Ventures and Goldman Sachs.
Adrian earned a juris doctorate from The University of Michigan Law School and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.
He serves on board of directors for the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA).

Rick is a director in NISA’s Investment Strategies Group and a member of NISA’s Management Committee. He is responsible for developing custom strategies designed to meet client objectives and developing and implementing proprietary financial modeling and engineering tools used throughout NISA. Rick is also responsible for the day-to-day oversight of NISA’s Strategic Portfolio Management team which is charged with maintaining hedge strategies, including completion portfolios. In addition, he assists in the areas of product development and growth initiatives at NISA.
Rick was recruited through NISA’s internship program and joined NISA’s Investment Strategies Group in 2005. He holds a BS in Computer Science and Economics and an MS in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Seema is Managing Director -Chief Global Strategist at Principal Asset Management. Based in London, she oversees global market strategy and advises investment staff across the firm in making economically sound asset allocation calls. She is responsible for the creation of global economic macro and secular event research, closely monitoring global central bank policy and political developments. Seema is a regular participant in conferences and forums speaking about global macro market issues. She is frequently quoted by the financial news media and appears regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg TV.
Fixed Income. Prior to joining Principal, Seema served as an economist at Capital Economics where she focused on macroeconomic analysis of the UK and the European economies. She also worked with the macro consulting group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and as an economist at HM Treasury & Inland Revenue Service.
Seema received a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from the London School of Economics.

Kaoutar Yaiche is an investment analyst in the U.S. Equity Division and a team analyst for the US Impact Equity Strategy. She is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Kaoutar has been with T. Rowe Price since 2019, beginning in the U.S. Equity Division. Prior to this, Kaoutar was employed by an independent power producer developing utility-scale wind and solar farms in emerging markets. Subsequently, she worked at a cleantech startup focusing on distributed energy solutions and later at a climate-focused venture capital firm.

Kaoutar earned a master of renewal energy engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Mines and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.