—Katherine Graham
The last 12 months, through mid-2025, have been volatile. Investors need patience, an open mind and willingness to make tough decisions. CIOs need to be strong leaders, with the skills and investment discipline to know that the trends that drove markets over the prior two years have subsided. The past year has required evaluating new global power structures, trading relationships and the ever-growing importance of private markets.
Navigating the difficulty of investing through volatility while also recruiting, developing and retaining talent continued to challenge CIOs everywhere. Lately, it comes alongside tracking the shifting alliances of a globe in flux over climate, supply chains, deglobalization and more. The mega-trends of artificial intelligence, energy transition and demographic change make it critical to plan carefully, anticipate corrections, temper reactions and determine how best to meet investment goals with old and new sources of return, some of which—including fast-growing private credit—have not yet weathered a market cycle at scale.
Leadership is always most critical in changing times. In 2025, as interest rates remain elevated, it is important for allocators to consider their opportunities for the best risk-adjusted returns. CIOs have had to guide funds and use their authority and insight to drive investment results, while not being lulled into complacency by the strength of equity market returns. The need to collaborate and bring new ideas to light remains as important as ever.
Leadership takes on many forms. This year, for our annual Power 100 list of CIO allocators, we found it in patience, flexibility, political savvy, assets under management and team-building.
Many CIOs have maintained focus and guided their organizations through tough choices about how and where to invest their funds’ assets and where to invest in the infrastructure of the fund itself—adding people and technology while balancing the two.
There are few comparables when measuring against political or board mandates in a universe that spans different regions and the gamut of public pensions, corporate pensions, endowments, foundations and sovereign wealth funds. Risk appetites, as well as return-filing deadlines, vary per plan and per plan type, so the AUM figures we offer represent a ballpark figure of the funds’ current assets.
Tenure, for this list, was rounded to the nearest year, and our list focuses on people who have been in their posts for at least one year. In most cases, we have left those who retired during the year off this list, although we do wish them well. Also in most cases, we did not feature their replacements on the list, as we hope to give them sufficient time to settle in and put their mark on their institutions. It is an alphabetical list.
It is no simple task to see the future.
Yet in reviewing our Power 100 list, it is clear: Those who have made it to the CIO seat and onto this 2025 list continue to guide their funds through the ever-shifting challenges the world throws at them and are disciplined enough to navigate whatever is ahead. Leadership is an essential quality that shapes the success of individuals, teams and organizations.
These CIOs have the skills needed to build teams, navigate uncertainty and continue to serve the missions and beneficiaries of their funds, regardless of market or investment environment.
—Amy Resnick, Executive Editor, CIO
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