CIO Announces Innovation Award Finalists for Dec. 7 Celebration

Welcome to CIO’s awards season, now in its 11th year!

This year, we are celebrating those who have survived, flourished, and been incredible leaders throughout the challenges of this pandemic environment. We are planning to gather in person to applaud their hard-won success on Dec. 7 at Chelsea Piers in New York.

Throughout this week, we will release the list of finalists who have been nominated by their industry peers for their fine work from 2020 to 2021. As we created our list, our mission was to search the industry for management firms that have truly and reliably enhanced the portfolios of their clients, and to find CIOs who have exceeded expectations under their mantles of responsibility.

All the CIOs who appear on our finalist list have not won an award in their categories at their firms (from us) in the past. And as we canvassed and read through award nominations, we learned just what an incredible two years it has been for many of you. Many have re-engineered business processes during the pandemic and turned portfolios around while being great mentors and thoughtful colleagues; others have led spin-offs, transformed funds to become in-house management firms, or headed incredible direct investment programs.

We also learned which managers are doing well for our CIOs, and which have remained dominant players in their niches, created powerful teams, and given CIOs precision-level details or smooth sailing through excess returns.

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Our choices were highly influenced by our advisory board members—many were past CIO winners who lent their advice throughout the summer on top managers, top service providers, and the CIO peers they truly watch and learn from.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to our CIO advisers this year: Chris Ailman, California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS); Mark Baumgartner, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Elizabeth Burton, Employees’ Retirement System State of Hawaii; Marcus Frampton, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation; Jonathan Grabel, Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA); David Holmgren, Hartford Healthcare; Bob Hunkeler, International Paper; Leslie Lenzo, Advocate Aurora Health; Kim Lew, Columbia Investment Management Company; Mansco Perry, Minnesota State Board of Investment; Charmel Maynard, University of Miami; and Ash Williams, newly retired from Florida State Board Administration (FLSBA). (If you find a few of their names on the list, please note that not one of these CIOs nominated themselves.)

In all, we received more than 300 nominations.

And from that list, we chiseled out our finalists: all people and firms that are changing our industry for the better. Winners will be asked to prove their case and will be chosen by the CIO editorial team in conjunction with an advisory board of CIOs. The CIO of the Year Award and NextGen Award will also be announced during the award ceremony.

On Dec. 7, we will host both the Influential Investors Forum at Chelsea Piers and our glittery Innovation Awards celebration, where the finalists will gather to hear the winners announced for 2021.

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. As many of you know, there is nothing like having a room full of respected peers to applaud your hard-won success. This year, we will also celebrate those who have decided to retire and the lives of those we have lost.

Our finalist list is as follows:

Public Defined Benefit Funds $100 Billion and Above

C. William Cary
Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia (ERSGA) and Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (TRSGA)

Edwin Denson
State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)

Paul Greff
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS)

Mansco Perry III
Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI)

Anastasia Titarchuk
New York State Common Retirement Fund

Allyson Tucker
Washington State Investment Board (WSIB)

Eduard van Gelderen
Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments)

Public Defined Benefit Funds From $21 Billion to $99 Billion

Scott Davis
Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS)

Ray Joseph
Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (LAFPP)

Barry Kenneth
Pension Protection Fund (PPF)

Amy McGarrity
Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA)

Molly Murphy
Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS)

Andrew Palmer
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRA)

Public Defined Benefit Funds Below $21 Billion

Jeb Burns
Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (MERS) of Michigan

Farouki Majeed
School Employees Retirement System of Ohio (SERS)

Katherine Molnar
Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System Public Pension

and

Andrew Spellar
Fairfax County Retirement Systems

Kristin Varela (interim)
Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico (PERA)

Jeremy Wolfson
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)

Sovereign Wealth Funds

Jeffrey Jaensubhakij
GIC

Abdiel Santiago
Fondo de Ahorro Panama

Ruchit Shah
Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company

Robert “Vince” Smith
New Mexico State Investment Council (NMSIC)

B. Holland Timmins
Texas Permanent School Fund

Corporate Defined Benefit Plans Above $20 Billion

Douglas Brown
Exelon

Harshal Chaudhari
General Electric (GE)

Laurence Fulton
Verizon Investment Management Corporation (VIMCO)

Jeff Lewis
FedEx

Jeff Pickett
Stellantis N.V.

Valerie Sill
DuPont Capital Management

Corporate Defined Benefit Plans Below $20 Billion

Kathleen Lutito
CenturyLink Investment Management

Ian McKnight
Royal Mail

Thomas Mucha
Eastman Kodak

Elena Parrino
Altria

Dekia Scott
Southern Company

Corporate Defined Contribution Plans

Angie Buk
3M Investment Management Corporation

Jeanmarie Grisi
Nokia

Kathleen Lutito
CenturyLink Investment Management

Andy Ward
Formerly of Boeing (currently University of Chicago)

Health Care Plans

Jason Klein
Memorial Sloan Kettering

Alyssa Rieder
CommonSpirit Health

Philip Rotner
Boston Children’s Hospital

Stefan Strein
Cleveland Clinic

J.C. Stilley
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)

Most Collaborative

Tim Corbett
Massachusetts Mutual

Walter Kress
EY

Jinwen Chen, Ryan Dotson and Jeff Smith
Smithsonian Institution, working with Digital Asset Roundtable

“State of California CIOs”
including the state and city consortium of CIOs

“Health Care Posse”
Health care CIOs including Donna Snider at Hackensack Meridian Health, Syed Haque at Novant Health, and some 25 others

Risk Management

Harshal Chaudhari
General Electric (GE)

Edwin Denson
State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)

Jonathan Glidden
Delta Air Lines

Jonathan Grabel
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA)

Bob Hunkeler
International Paper

Doug Brown
Exelon

Endowments

Seth Alexander
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Collette Chilton
Williams College

Jane Dietze
Brown University

Kathleen Jacobs
New York University (NYU)

Meredith Jenkins
Trinity Church Wall Street

Anne Martin
Wesleyan University

Scott Richland
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Scott Wilson
Washington University in St. Louis

Foundations

Rukaiyah Adams
Meyer Memorial Trust

Sam Gallo
University System of Maryland (USM) Foundation

K.C. (McClelland) Krieger
Eli Broad’s Family Office and the Broad Foundations

Ana Marshall
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Nick Moakes
The Wellcome Trust

Carlos Rangel
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Kim Sargent
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Efforts in Diversity

Cheryl Alston
Employees’ Retirement Fund of the City of Dallas (ERF)

Robin Diamonte
Raytheon Technologies

Elizabeth Hewitt
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Eric Doppstadt
Ford Foundation

Carlos Rangel
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Anastasia Titarchuk
New York State Common Retirement Fund

Juan Martinez
Knight Foundation

Efforts in ESG

Chris Ailman
California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS)

Jonathan Grabel
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA)

Tom Joy
Church of England

Michael Larson
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

David Lee
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Geraldine Leegwater
PGGM

Elizabeth McGeveran
McKnight Foundation

Consultant of the Year

Celia Dallas
Cambridge Associates

Allan Emkin
Meketa Investment Group

Russ Ivinjack
Aon

Taylor Mammen
RCLCO Fund Advisors (RFA)

Heidi Poon
Aksia

Liability-Driven Investing (LDI)

Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Insight Investment

NISA Investment Advisors

PIMCO

Wellington Management

Western Asset Management Company

OCIO

Bank of America

Goldman Sachs

Investment Office Resources

PNC Institutional Asset Management

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA)

Vanguard

Defined Contribution Plans

Albourne

BlackRock

Empower

J.P. Morgan

T. Rowe Price

Diversity

Goldman Sachs

KKR

Foresite Capital

Northern Trust Asset Management

Nuveen

Xponance

ESG

Aetos Alternatives Management

BlackRock

DoubleLine

KKR

Scientific Beta

TOBAM

TPG

Corporate Strategies

BlackRock

Columbia Threadneedle

John Hancock

Legal & General

NISA Investment Advisors

PIMCO

Starboard Capital Partners

Data and Technology

Aladdin

Albourne

Backstop Solutions Group

DiligenceVault

Empower

Moody’s PFaroe

MSCI

Solovis

Emerging Markets

Acadian Emerging Markets

AllianceBernstein

Asia Alternatives

Channing Global Advisors

Lazard

Man Numeric

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA)

Public Fixed Income

Fidelity

Goldman Sachs

Income Research + Management (IR+M) in Boston

Legal & General

Neuberger Berman

Prudential

Pugh Capital Management

Hedge Funds

Banner Asset Management

Balyasny Asset Management (BAM)

Heard Capital

Lone Peak Partners Management

PAAMCO Prisma

Stable Asset Management

Standard General

Starboard Capital Partners

Multi Assets

BlackRock

J.P. Morgan

Kepos Capital

PGIM – Institutional Plans

PIMCO

RockCreek

Private Credit

Abax Global Capital

AlbaCore Capital Group

Canvas Capital

Kerberos Capital Management

MGG Investment Group

Napier Park Global Capital

Private Equity

Balderton Capital

Blackstone

Cullen Group

Dyal Capital Partners (a subsidiary of Neuberger Berman)

K1 Investment Management

RedBird Capital Partners

Silicon Valley Capital Partners

Public Equity

Acadian Asset Management

American Funds

Baillie Gifford

EARNEST Partners

Frontier Asset Management

T. Rowe Price

Vontobel Asset Management

Real Assets

AEW

Apollo Aviation Group

Blackstone

Cohen & Steers

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)

Grain Management

Primary Wave Investment Management

Transition Management

Abel Noser

BTIG

Citigroup

Macquarie Group

Northern Trust

Parametric Portfolio Associates

Pavilion Global Markets

NextGen of the Year Finalists

Alex Ambroz
Director, Cleveland Clinic Investment Office

Evril Clayton Jr.
Deputy Director of Global Equity, New York State Common Retirement Fund

Samantha Foster
Managing Director, University of Southern California Endowment

Lauren Jacobson
Managing Director, Columbia Investment Management Company

Jason Rector
Managing Analyst, State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB)

Tags: Awards, CIO, CIO awards, CIO Innovation Awards

Alain Carrier, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)’s senior managing director and head of international operations, is leaving the $409.8 billion pension fund after almost 14 years to become global CEO of Bregal Investments, an international private equity firm with €12 billion ($13.9 billion) in assets under management (AUM).

Geoffrey Rubin, CPPIB’s senior managing director and chief investment strategist, will assume oversight for international operations on an interim basis. Oct. 22 will be Carrier’s last day with CPPIB.

“For nearly 14 years, CPP Investments has benefitted from Alain’s perspective, capability and leadership,” John Graham, president and CEO of CPPIB, said in a statement. “He was a critical driver of our international strategy—which continues to be a priority for the fund—working across the enterprise to build a strong local presence and relationships everywhere we operate.”

CPPIB said it is currently conducting a thorough assessment of potential longer-term leadership candidates in accordance with its ongoing succession process.

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Prior to CPPIB, Carrier worked for more than 10 years on Goldman Sachs’ investment banking team in New York and London, and he began his career as an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. At Bregal, Carrier will succeed co-CEOs Steve Black and Quentin Van Doosselaere, who are stepping down at the end of the year. Although his start date is officially Jan. 1, Carrier will join the company in mid-November to help with the transition.

“Bregal has some of the industry’s best investment professionals and I am delighted to join them with a view to further growing the platform and developing complementary strategies,” Carrier said in a statement. “I have always been a firm believer in the fundamental role private equity can play in generating both financial value and positive impact for society and the planet, and I look forward to accelerating that within Bregal.”

In separate news, CPPIB also agreed to acquire 100% of Ports America, North America’s largest marine terminal operator, from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management. Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the deal values Ports America at more than $4 billion, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Ports America has 70 locations in 33 ports in the US and handles 13.4 million 20-foot equivalent units, including 10 million tons of general cargo, 2.5 million vehicles, and 1.7 million cruise ship passengers annually. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

“Ports America represents the opportunity to continue to invest in a high-quality operator that plays an important role in global trade,” Scott Lawrence, managing director, head of infrastructure, CPPIB, said in a statement. “Terminal operators play a crucial role as cargo demand and transportation requirements continue to grow in response to the rapid and dynamic changes in how individuals and businesses are buying and selling products.”