Leadership Council
We thank the Consortium Leadership Council members for their valuable guidance and insight in shaping this year’s agenda and moving the program forward.
We thank the Consortium Leadership Council members for their valuable guidance and insight in shaping this year’s agenda and moving the program forward.
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 $311.5 billion as of January 31, 2023. 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 PRI Asset Owners Advisory Committee, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board 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 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 2013, aiCIO magazine named him the No. 3 CIO in the world and Investment Innovator of the Year. 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. 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.
Sam Austin, based in San Francisco, California, manages NEPC’s Western Region public fund consulting activities. For 34 years, Sam has offered consulting advice to public fund, corporate, multi-employer, endowment and eleemosynary clients. Sam currently serves as Chair of NEPC’s Governing Board. He previously chaired NEPC’s Partner Nominating Committee. Sam also is Chair of NEPC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board.
Prior to joining the Partnership at NEPC in 2017, Sam was a Senior Vice President at FIS Group (now Xponance) for five years, where he advised pension clients on the portion of their asset allocation dedicated to emerging managers. Sam contributed to manager selection decisions as a Voting Member of the Investment Committee at FIS. Previously, Sam worked for 10 years at Virtus Investment Partners where he held the position of Executive Managing Director. As a Member of the Virtus Executive Committee, reporting to the CEO, he was a key participant in the strategic planning and implementation for the spin-out of multiple boutique money management subsidiaries from Phoenix Insurance. Earlier in his career, Sam was a Principal and Team Leader for the Public Fund and Taft-Hartley businesses at Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock). He also served initially as a Portfolio Strategist for Quantitative Equities and later as Principal and Co-Head of Marketing at Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank).
Sam is the founder and Board Chair of the Investment Diversity Advisory Council (IDAC), an organization with representation from all stakeholders in the investment business, dedicated to working collaboratively to implement strategies that can transform the equitable representation of all parts of the population throughout our industry. Sam was also the founding President of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP-NY), where he created the NASP-NY Trustee Education Seminar in 1994. His initiative to launch the NASP Finance and Scholastic Training Track (“FAST Track”) Program in New York has been adopted by other local chapters of NASP around the country and has introduced hundreds of inner-city high school students to careers in banking, finance and asset management. Sam was inducted into the NASP-NY Wall Street Hall of Fame in 2013. Sam earned his M.B.A. degree in Finance from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University.
John A. Barker is vice president and chief investment officer. As a member of the executive team, he is a partner in the development and implementation of the foundation’s strategy. John is also responsible for the investment of the foundation’s endowment and for the management of the Investment Office and its staff.
Since joining the foundation in 2007, John has served as a senior leader within Kresge’s Investment team, developing asset class strategy, managing risk and liquidity, evaluating managers and researching investment opportunities. He has also championed the department’s efforts to expand diversity, equity and inclusion of women and people of color within the industry and who manage investments on Kresge’s behalf.
Barker joined Kresge from the University of Notre Dame Investment office, where he was assistant investment director for 5 years. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and received a bachelor’s degree in finance with a minor in accountancy from Notre Dame.
A native of Pittsburgh, Barker is active in the metro Detroit community where he serves on various boards including the Children’s Foundation of Michigan and Forgotten Harvest. In 2019 he was named a “40 Under Forty” by Crain’s Detroit business; in 2018, and again in 2019, he was recognized by Institutional Investor with its “Most Wanted Allocators: First Team” designation.
Georgia Clarke is a senior manager at Raytheon Technologies’ pension fund, with oversight over private equity and real estate. She oversaw the creation of the first private equity emerging manager program at the pension fund. She previously worked at MassMutual Financial Group as a senior analyst in alternative investments. Ms. Clarke started her career as an auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. She received a M.S. in accounting from Western New England University.
David Gilmore is the Chief Investment Officer of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Foundation has $3.1 billion in assets and will make over $140 million in grants this year. The portfolio is invested across all asset classes including public equities, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real assets.
Prior to joining the Foundation, David helped start The Ohio State University investment office in 2009 and served in senior roles. The investment office was responsible for the investment management of the University’s $3.5 billion long-term investment pool. David was previously a partner at Gerber/Taylor Capital Advisors, Gerber/Taylor is an independent investment advisory firm. During his tenure the firm consulted on over $20 billion in assets and managed over $3 billion in discretionary fund of funds mainly focused on hedge funds and private equity investments.
David earned his BBA from Baylor University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Memphis. David holds the Certified Financial Planner™ professional (CFP®) designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.
Nickol Hackett is Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer at the Joyce Foundation, a private foundation advancing policy in the areas of education, democracy, environment, justice reform, and journalism. Ms. Hackett is part of the executive leadership team and manages the endowment in support of the foundation’s strategy and grantmaking. Prior to joining Joyce, Ms. Hackett served as Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of the $10 billion Cook County Pension. Before becoming Executive Director, Ms. Hackett served as the founding Chief Investment Officer establishing the fund’s first investment office.
Ms. Hackett has over 25 years of expertise in investment management and capital markets with prior experience as Vice President at Bear Stearns and financial sponsors. She serves on the board of the First Women’s Bank and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. An avid supporter of civic and cultural engagement, she serves as Vice Chair of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and as a trustee of the University of Chicago Medical Center. She earned her M.B.A. in finance and economics from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and earned her B.A. in History from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Ms. Hackett has been featured as part of the Harvard Business School Case Collection. She’s also been recognized by Chicago United as a Business Leader of Color, Crain’s Notable Executives of Color in Finance, and among Chicago’s Top Ten Black Women of Impact by Better Magazine.
Jarvis V. Hollingsworth is Vice Chairman of Irradiant Partners, LP, an investment advisor with $7.5 billion in assets that focuses on investments in renewable energy private equity and credit, and liquid and private credit. Previously, he served as the Secretary/General Counsel of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P. and is a former Partner of the law firm Bracewell LLP.
Jarvis currently serves as a Director of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE: VTLE), a diversified energy company, where he serves on the Audit and Nominations/Governance committees and as Lead Director of Core Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ; CORZ), the largest Blockchain infrastructure, hosting provider and digital asset miner in North America.
He also currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, a $200 billion pension trust fund for retirees, teachers and employees of education-related institutions, and as a Director of Memorial Hermann Health System.
Jarvis serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Financial Sector Advisory Council and is the Chair of the Milken Institute DEI in Asset Management Executive Council.
He is a former Director of Emergent Technologies LP and Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. (Frost Bank) (NYSE: CFR).
Jarvis formerly served as Chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of Houston System.
He received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served for several years on active and reserve duty in the U.S. Army upon graduation. Jarvis received his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center. He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife Andrea, and they have three adult children
Ken is responsible for all aspects of the finance, accounting, tax, audit, information technology, administrative services, core services and facilities functions for the Foundation as the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the MacArthur Foundation. Ken also serves as the Chief Equity Officer for the foundation. In addition, Ken implements and evaluates the Foundation’s financial objectives and performance to support MacArthur’s priorities and programs.
Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, Ken was the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In this role, he oversaw the Finance, Grants Management, Business Technology and Facilities & Operations functions as well as the disaster recovery & relief process for the Foundation. He traveled extensively in Africa and Southeast Asia as CFO for Danya International, a public health and education organization and Jhpiego, a nonprofit international health affiliate of Johns Hopkins University. Ken held previously corporate finance positions at the Ford Motor Company, the Pfizer Corporation and Prudential.
Ken received his Master of Business Administration degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a master’s degree in economics from the University at Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree from Boston University.
Ken serves on the boards of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the Mission Investors Exchange, the Thurgood Marshall Academy, the Southern Education Foundation, the Center for Urban Families, Collegian Directions, Episcopal Relief & Development and Corus.
He is a Who’s Who Black Baltimore recipient, Arthur Vining Davis Fellow for the Aspen Ideas Festival, Presidential Scholar at Concordia College – New York, Smart CEO Magazine Executive Management Award recipient, DCA Live Star CFO awardee, Daniel Burnham Fellowship recipient and ABFE James Joseph Lecturer. Ken was in the 2nd Cohort of the Council of Foundations’ Career Pathways Program.
Andrew Junkin serves as the Chief Investment Officer of the Virginia Retirement System where he manages and oversees the investment program for the fund, valued at more than $100 billion. The fund serves approximately 773,000 active members, retirees and beneficiaries. VRS covers teachers, state employees and most employees of the Commonwealth’s counties, cities, towns and political subdivisions.
Previously, Junkin served as the Chief Investment Officer for the State of Rhode Island’s pension plan, defined contribution and 529 plans, as well as cash and operating funds and debt management program.
Prior to his public fund experience with Rhode Island, he worked at Wilshire Associates in California and Colorado, where he served in various capacities, including Managing Director and President from 2015 to 2020. During his tenure, Junkin also served as the Lead Consultant for a $400 billion pension plan and was responsible for driving overall strategy, asset allocation, risk management, implementation and sourcing new strategies.
From 1995 to 2005, Junkin was the President of Asset Services Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where he served as Lead Consultant for family office and foundation clients.
Junkin holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School and a bachelor’s degree in Business from Oklahoma City University.
Juan Martinez joined Knight Foundation in 2002. As a member of Knight’s executive committee, Martinez is a partner in the development and implementation of the foundation’s strategy. He is responsible for the foundation’s financial management, reporting and regulatory compliance, overseeing the management of its $2.5 billion investment portfolio, and partnering with program staff in development of grants and program-related investments. As Treasurer, Juan manages the Foundation’s cash needs to align its $145 million annual spending with liquidity within its investment portfolio.
In order to best ensure the impact of major grants at Knight Foundation, Juan led the development and implementation of a grant financial review program that annually assesses the financial and business operations of the Foundation’s major programmatic investments.
In 2011, Martinez led the development of the Knight Enterprise Fund. The fund invested in more than 50 early-stage digital media companies that align with Knight Foundation’s program mission. Martinez serves on the board of portfolio company ViewLift, an OTT management and streaming platform.
Juan staffs both the Board’s Audit and Investment Committees, working closely with the Committee Chairs and Trustees to help achieve their governance goals. He also leads the relationships with the Outsourced Chief Investment Officer, and Outside General Counsel.
Juan started his career at CPA firm Arthur Andersen & Co. He later worked in the development of intellectual property for film and television and as an independent financial consultant. Prior to joining Knight, he was manager of financial planning for Telemundo Group Inc., the second largest Spanish language US television network.
He is an alumnus of Florida International University, Miami Dade College, and the Wharton School of Business. He has been a certified public accountant in the state of Florida since 1992. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Council on Foundations, The Florida International University Foundation, and City to City Miami. He also serves as an advisor on several committees including the Launch with GS (Goldman Sachs’ initiative to support diverse entrepreneurs).
Angela Miller-May currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, a $55.8 billion pension fund that services a membership of over 457,000 members and over 3,030 employers. She focuses on providing strategic portfolio construction, excellent manager selection and rigorous due diligence and provides leadership to a team of investment professionals in meeting IMRF’s investment goals. Ms. Miller-May joined Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund in August 2021.
Prior to serving as IMRF’s Chief Investment Officer, she served as the CIO for Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund and in several progressively responsible positions since 2010 when she joined Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund.
Ms. Miller-May serves as a member on the First Women’s Bank (FWB) advisory board, a member on the Women Investment Professionals (WIP) Board, a member of the Toigo Advisory Board, a member of Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN), a member of the NASP Africa Institutional Investors Advisory Council, a member of SEO’s LP Advisory Council, a member of NCPERS CIO Summit Advisory Faculty, a member of Accelerate Investors CIO Council, a member of the St. Ignatius College Prep Board, a member of the Link Unlimited Board, a member of The Economic Club of Chicago and engages with many other organizations.
Ms. Miller-May was honored with the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP) 2022 Pacesetter Award, the Institutional Investor’s 2022 DEI Leadership Award, named as Trusted Insight’s 2022 Top Chief Investment Officers, the Women Investment Professional (WIP) 2020 Trailblazer Award “Distinguished Woman Investment Professional of the Year”, named as one of Institutional Investor’s 2020 Industry Voice Innovators, Crain’s 2019 most Notable Women in Finance, 2019 Trusted Insight’s Top 30 Chief Investment Officers, Institutional Investor’s 2019 Change Maker of the Year and has had the honor of testifying at a 2019 Congressional Hearing on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion.
Ms. Miller-May holds an MBA from Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and has earned her BA in Economics from Northwestern University.
Nicole Musicco was named Chief Investment Officer of CALPERS in February 2022.
She oversees an investment office of nearly 400 employees and manages investment portfolios of roughly $500 billion, including the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund and affiliate funds.
As Chief Investment Officer, Nicole oversees total fund investment and operational strategies. She collaborates with the managing investment directors and their teams to implement asset allocation and investment strategies. She also oversees the Investment Office’s business management needs, including strategic planning, financial reporting, expense management, and talent management.
Prior to joining CalPERS, Nicole was a partner at RedBird Capital Partners where she led the firm’s Canadian investment business. She also previously managed the private markets investment program at the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO).
Nicole’s experience includes 16 years with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan where she led the public equity investment team and oversaw the private equity fund and co investment program. She was responsible for opening the fund’s Asia Pacific office in Hong Kong and helped build its presence in Asia.
Nicole graduated with a bachelor of science degree in Kinesiology from Western University in London, Ontario, and a bachelor of arts in Honors Business Administration and MBA from Western’s Ivey School of Business.
Bola Olusanya joined The Nature Conservancy in March 2020 as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. He provides leadership, vision and oversight to the management and strategic growth of TNC’s multibillion-dollar endowment and other long-term investment assets. Bola has more than 25 years of experience in investment management as an executive and a thought leader. Prior to joining TNC, he was a managing director at Key Private Bank, where he led asset allocation, portfolio strategy and manager research for the bank’s investment management business.
Previously, Bola was a managing director at Strategic Investment Group, an Outsourced-CIO firm, where he co-managed the public equity portfolio as well as the firm’s emerging manager program. Before that, he was a managing director at Vanderbilt University’s investment office, where he oversaw asset allocation, risk management and manager selection for the university’s endowment. Earlier in his career, Bola was a managing director at IHS Markit (previously Quantitative Services Group LLC), worked at the Emory University’s investment office and held senior positions within the Nigerian banking sector.
Bola is a board member of TIFF Investment Management and serves on the Investment Committee of the Cleveland Foundation. Bola enjoys writing poetry and spending time with his two sons.
Bola received his M.B.A. in finance from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and holds an M.S. in computer science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He obtained his B.S. in computer science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he graduated with First Class Honors.
Brian O’Neil joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as Chief Investment Officer in January 2003. He is responsible for the Foundation’s $15 billion investment portfolio.
O’Neil worked at the Equitable Life Assurance Society (now AXA Equitable) from 1980 to 2002. He was named Chief Investment Officer in 1992, at the time the company demutualized and went public. In this role he was responsible for Equitable’s general account investment portfolio, as well as relationships with ratings agencies and investors. In 1995, he moved to AXA’s headquarters in Paris, where we was global head of Asset/Liability Management and, in 1997, was named Chief Investment Officer of AXA Investment Managers Paris. On his return to Equitable, he became head of the Variable Life and Annuity Funds Management business.
O’Neil is a trustee of the Brooklyn Public Library System.
He received an MBA from the Columbia Graduate School of Business, and an AB from Princeton University. He received the CFA designation in 1983.
O’Neil lives in Brooklyn, is married, and has four children.