NextGens Breaking Today’s Glass Ceiling

Left: Susan Oh, Jenny Chan, Sharmila Kassam, Karianne Lancee, Charles Wu, Chaya Slain, and Mark Shulgan. (Art by Victor Juhasz)

Since its inception last year, plenty of CIO NextGens have seen themselves grow both personally and professionally.

Jenny Chan was a senior investment officer at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for almost 12 years. She had been an analyst for a bulk of her career, as well, and wound up returning to school in her 40s to complete her MBA in Yale’s executive program. She even launched an ESG investing podcast called “Impact on Record.”

Chan was recognized for her work, and received the nod from CIO. Within several months of her inclusion on our NextGen list, which replaced the “Forty Under 40” and honors future institutional leaders, she became a CIO. Chan started with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in August, succeeding veteran chief Nicholas Procyk.

Chaya Slain, another of last year’s honorees, also has become a CIO. After almost 12 years at the Parkwood family office, she made her big move last month to AdCap Management, a newer family fund founded by father and son entrepreneurs Shelly and Joel Adelman. Her move not only continued the upward mobility trend of the NextGen roster, it also highlights the stellar career advances made by CIO’s previous list of up-and-comers, the “Forty Under 40” honorees. By our count, one-fifth of the “Forty Under 40” group has advanced in the profession. (Slain was also a previous member of the 40 group).

“I definitely received a lot of attention from peers and investment firms,” she told CIO, adding that she received many “positive” emails.  “If you do well for the people you’re working for, I think it plays out well for everyone.”

Susan Oh was the senior portfolio manager, risk parity and currency hedging, at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Fast forward several months from her NextGen honor, and she’s now the Pennsylvania fund’s director of risk parity, currency hedging, and strategic implementation. Oh is also an ardent proponent of diversity, as she actively participates on panels and attends conferences on adding more women to the financial industry.

“It definitely adds to the profile in the industry and CIO’s got quite good coverage here,” Charles Wu, another future mover-and-shaker told CIO. At the Australian State Superannuation fund, Wu was named deputy CIO and general manager, defined contribution, in January. At the time of his NextGen award, he had been its general manager of asset allocation for about three years. “Internally that also adds to the [NextGen’s] credibility as well,” he said.

Other known NextGen promotions include Karianne-Bail Lancee, an environmental, social, governance (ESG) advocate who left Unilever pension funds to become director of sustainable and impact investing at UBS Asset Management; Mark Shulgan, who departed the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to started work as managing director of rival plan Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System; Sharmila Kassam, who exited the Texas Employees Retirement System for a senior consulting gig at Funston Advisory Services several weeks ago; and Pelle Pedersen, who left PKA to start his own impact investing firm. 

CIO’s latest round of 30 rising talents will launch on Monday, June 17. This year, CIO will showcase six NextGens at a time, with a new batch going live each week until late July.

Are you a former NextGen who’s made a recent high-profile move? If so, email CIO’s editors and let us know your story. We’re eager to hear.

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