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 $340 billion as of April 30, 2024​​. He has more than 37 years of institutional investment experience.

He has served on several boards and advisory boards in the U.S. and U.K. He represents institutional investors on the MSCI Index Editorial Advisory Board, the PRI Asset Owners Advisory Committee, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Investor Advisory Group 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 (FSA) credential.

Ailman is recognized as one of the top CIOs both in the U.S. and globally. He has received numerous awards and recognitions: 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 2013, aiCIO magazine named Ailman the No. 3 CIO in the world and Investment Innovator of the Year. In 2017, Ailman received Institutional Investor magazine’s first Lifetime Achievement Award; and in 2018, he was named the top CIO in the world by Chief Investment Officer magazine. He is a regular guest on television and radio and is frequently quoted in major financial publications.

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.

Joe is an executive director at ISS ESG, where he is the head of Strategy and Scalability for ESG Research. In this role, Joe is responsible for applying ISS ESG’s rating methodology to assess the ESG performance of corporations around the world on behalf of investors. Before joining ISS, he held several investment roles related to strategy, process, and security analysis. Joe founded a registered investment advisory firm, was director of research for a wealth-management firm and held equity research roles at Bank of America and Susquehanna International Group.  He received his bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Joe is a CFA charterholder and earned a certificate of professional achievement in sustainability analytics at Columbia University.

Steve Boothe is the head of Investment Grade and a portfolio manager in the Fixed Income Division of T. Rowe Price. He has lead portfolio management responsibilities for the Global Investment Grade Corporate Bond, US Investment Grade Corporate Bond, and Dynamic Credit Strategies. He is a member of the Sector Strategy Advisory Group, with a focus on global and U.S. investment-grade corporate bond portfolios. Steve is a co-president of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Corporate Income Fund and a member of the Investment Advisory Committees for the Investment-Grade Corporate Multi-Sector Account Portfolio, Global Multi-Sector Bond Fund, New Income Fund, and Institutional International Disciplined Equity Fund. In addition, he also is an Investment Advisory Committee member of the Institutional Income, International, Global, and China Evolution Equity Funds and an Investment Advisory Committee member of the Institutional Long Duration Credit, Dynamic Credit, and International Disciplined Equity Funds. Steve also is a member of the Fixed Income Steering, Global Trading, and Core/Core Plus Strategy Committees.

Steve’s investment experience began in 1997, and he has been with T. Rowe Price since 1999. Prior to T. Rowe Price, Steve was employed by Raymond James Financial.

Steve earned a B.A. in economics/mathematics from Columbia University.

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.

Stephen is a chief economist in the Fixed Income and Derivatives Portfolio Management Group and a member of NISA’s Investment Committee. Stephen conducts analysis on the global economy, monetary and fiscal policy and interest rate markets. He is a member of the team responsible for communicating economic, market and portfolio-related information to clients and is a frequent contributor to NISA’s blog perspectives and other thought pieces.

Stephen joined NISA in 2016. Prior to NISA, he was a trader/analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he analyzed U.S. interest rate markets and helped manage the Fed’s multi-trillion dollar portfolio of Treasury securities. He has previous experience as a trader at a multi-strategy hedge fund. Stephen earned a BA in Mathematical Economics from Colgate University, an MBA from INSEAD and an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Deputy Chief Investment Officer

David Hamilton is a financial economist with a passion for broadening understanding of risk and credit markets. Dr. Hamilton currently serves as Managing Director, Head of Research & Analytics, in the Predictive Analytics team based in New York. From 2015-2020, Dr. Hamilton held the post of Managing Director, Head of Credit Risk Analytics for the Asia Pacific Region, based in Singapore. He has held various senior positions in both Moody’s Investors Service and Moody’s Analytics over his 26-year career with Moody’s. He has worked across different asset classes, including corporates, high-yield, financial institutions, sovereigns, public finance, structured finance, and digital assets, and across divisions, including quantitative research, credit policy, business development and customer success. Prior to joining Moody’s in 1997, David worked in the Regional Economics group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Vivian functions as Portfolio Manager and a Senior Research Analyst on Ariel’s global equities team, which encompasses our international and global strategies. She joined from AllianceBernstein (AB) where she spent over 15 years—most recently as portfolio manager for both the AB Diversity Champions–a thematic, global equities portfolio focused on diversity, equity and inclusion—and AB Responsible U.S. Equity (ReUSE)—a large-cap U.S. equities portfolio exclusive to Bernstein Private Wealth Management. Before becoming a portfolio manager, Vivian was a senior research analyst on AB’s emerging markets value and emerging markets strategic core offerings where over the years her research spanned financials, internet, construction and construction materials, consumer cyclicals, consumer staples, and industrials companies. She began her career as an investment banking analyst in the global leveraged and corporate finance division at Merrill Lynch & Company. A native of the Dominican Republic, and fluent in Spanish and French, she earned a BS in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

H.K. Park is managing director at Crumpton Global. As head of the firm’s national security practice, H.K. integrates the firm’s intelligence, geopolitical and technical expertise to help investors and corporates mitigate national security and reputational risks. He leads client engagements related to deep diligence, export controls, KYC/AML, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), and outbound investment screening.

He was formerly a Vice President of The Cohen Group, where he led the firm’s Korea and Southeast Asia practices and assisted corporate clients with foreign market entry and regulatory approvals.

H.K. previously served as a policy adviser in the U.S. Department of Defense on matters related to NATO, Southeast Asia, outer space, military procurement, and homeland security. He received his graduate degree from Columbia University and his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

May is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for Principal Asset Allocation. She is responsible for managing and overseeing the Alternatives suites of strategies for global clients. Prior to joining Principal in 2021, May was SVP and Senior Portfolio Manager with Franklin Templeton’s Investment Solutions group developing and managing multi-asset strategies and solutions including target-date, target risk, 529 plans, retirement income and model portfolios. Previously, she was also a Portfolio Manager and Head of Portfolio Implementation & Management with Voya’s Multi-Asset Solutions group. May started off her career with Merrill Lynch Investment Management and subsequently joined ING Investment Management (now Voya IM) whereby she managed quantitative equity and index equity portfolios. May has an MBA from Columbia University, a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from Boston College, and has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.