Welcome to CIO’s awards season, now in its 12th year!

This year, we are celebrating those who have thrived and been incredible leaders as markets have turned rough and inflation and rates have risen. We are planning to gather in person to applaud their hard work December 6 at Chelsea Piers in New York City. 

As we selected these finalists, our mission was to search the industry for individuals and organizations that have truly and reliably enhanced the portfolios and grown the investments of their beneficiaries. While canvassing and reviewing the award nominations, we learned just how hard so many of you are working in the face of a global shift in monetary policy and increasingly challenging markets. 

Many are reviewing long-held assumptions and achieving success against the backdrop of geopolitical forces unwinding decades of globalization and other macro trends. We are also recognizing as finalists these asset owners working to improve their investment results and those organizations that are working to increase diversity, equity and inclusion. 

And in a year when the label has become a lightning rod, we are also recognizing firms for their work in environmental, social, and governance-driven and sustainable investing. 

Since 2010, CIO has used this awards program to highlight truly innovative approaches to the challenges of institutional asset ownership and asset management. Our panel of industry judges will help us select the winners from this qualified group of contenders. 

Our second group of finalists, listed below, comes from the nominees for asset owners. We received dozens of nominations in a wide variety of categories. The Asset Management & Servicing Industry Innovation Award finalists were previously announced. 

On December 6 at Chelsea Piers, we will host both our Influential Investors Forum and Industry Innovation Awards celebration, where we will announce this year’s winners.

Save the date, because you’ll want to be in the room to meet finalists, talk with them about investing and join the excitement as our winners are announced. There is nothing like being among a room full of peers applauding colleagues’ hard-won success.

The finalists are as follows:

Corporate Defined Benefit

• Cummins Inc.—Gloria Griesinger
• Eastman Kodak—Thomas Mucha
• DuPont Capital Management—Valerie J. Sill
• International Monetary Fund—Derek Bills
• FedEx—Jeff Lewis
• General Electric Pension Trust—Harshal Chaudhari

Efforts in Diversification

• Pension Protection Fund—Barry Kenneth
• Hartford Health Care—David Holmgren
• Nest—Mark Fawcett
• New York Common Retirement Fund—Anastasia Titarchuk

Efforts in ESG

• Pension Protection Fund—Barry Kenneth
• Hartford Health Care—David Holmgren
• PGGM—Geraldine Leegwater
• Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA)—Jonathan Grabel
• Church Commissioners for England—Tom Joy

Endowments & Foundations

• Wesleyan University—Anne Martin
• The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation—Jonathan Hook
• Trinity Wall Street—Meredith Jenkins

Health Care Plans

• SSM Health—Mark Cagwin
• Indiana University Health—Josh Rabuck
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center—Jason Klein
• Hackensack Meridian Health—Donna Snider
• Thomas Jefferson University—Alfred Salvato
• Cleveland Clinic—Stefan Strein

Public Defined Benefit Assets Less Than $12B

• Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System—Jason Malinowski
• Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System; Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System—Katherine Molnar; Andrew J. Spellar
• University of Missouri System—Thomas Richards

Public Defined Benefit Assets $12B to $20B

• Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan—Jeb Burns
• New Mexico Educational Retirement Board—Bob Jacksha
• Los Angeles Water & Power Employees’ Retirement Plan—Jeremy Wolfson

Public Defined Benefit Assets Greater Than $20B to $100B

• Pension Protection Fund—Barry Kenneth
• Orange County Employees Retirement System—Molly Murphy
• Indiana Public Retirement System—Scott Davis
• Maryland State Retirement Agency—Andrew Palmer

Public Defined Benefit Assets Greater Than $100B

• State of Wisconsin Investment Board—Edwin Denson
• New York Common Retirement Fund—Anastasia Titarchuk
• California State Teachers’ Retirement System—Christopher Ailman

Risk Management

• International Paper—Robert Hunkeler
• Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA)—Jonathan Grabel
• General Electric Pension Trust—Harshal Chaudhari
• State of Wisconsin Investment Board—Edwin Denson

Sovereign Wealth Funds

• Texas Permanent School Fund—Holland Timmins
• Fondo de Ahorro de Panama (Panama Sovereign Wealth Fund)—Abdiel Santiago
• Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation—Marcus Frampton

Tags: Asset Managers, consultants, Technology