Stefan Strein
CIO focuses our coverage on the dynamics of institutional asset allocation, the market and other forces that drive them, and the asset allocation leaders that navigate them on behalf of their organizations. This year, we present the Versatility Award to a leader managing $16 billion in long-term, short-term, pension and insurance assets for the Cleveland Clinic—its CIO, Stefan Strein.
The award will be presented on October 16 at CIO’s Industry Innovation Awards Dinner in New York City.
Strein was hired in 2015 to become the Cleveland Clinic’s first internal CIO. He joined the health care system after 10 years as vice president and CIO at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. During his tenure at the Cleveland Clinic, Strein was recognized as a CIO Industry Innovation Award finalist in 2022 in the health care plans category and as a winner in the same category in 2024.
Strein has been described by peers as possessing the characteristics CIO has honored with our awards for the last 15 years. He stands out for combining his belief that a generalist culture works best to build a collaborative investment team; his record of training at least eight individuals to become CIOs themselves; and his success ensuring a strong foundation for the Cleveland Clinic to remain what he calls “the best place to receive health care anywhere.”
In Strein’s more than 10 years in the role, he and his team have navigated operational challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation, along with the ongoing staffing and payments challenges facing the hospital sector. This year, those challenges also include rising supply and drug costs and the potential of significant Medicaid funding cuts set to take effect in late 2026 and in 2027.
“We have an obligation to make sure the health system is as strong as it can be to serve patients and research” needs, Strein says. “If the research budget has to come from the endowment, rather than from operations, that is OK. But the balance sheet is strong, investment returns are good and we can weather the storm.”
The investment model, where one group is focused on growth assets, one on defensive assets such as, fixed income, absolute return hedge funds and real assets; and another focused on risk and operations, including a data analytics and performance, all report to Strein.. A fourth team, is focused on stakeholder engagement, supporting all the investment office’s stakeholders, including Cleveland Clinic’s executive team, board, board committees; investment managers the investment office itself, which Strein calls important to the generalist model.
Additionally, “everyone is assigned to be a skeptic of the investments we make,” he says.
Strein has demonstrated leadership in talent development and investment collaboration, and those tasks will continue to be even more important—and challenging—for investors working on behalf of a global health care organization.
He described the generalist investment model that his team of 23, with four current vacancies, uses as allowing the team “to think about [investment] ideas across asset classes.”
“People work across the portfolio on thematic investments,” he explains. “Themes tend to be big. … The beauty of the generalist model is that it allows [people] to think about ideas, regardless of their day-to-day responsibilities. We can decide where to invest and then decide on the asset class. People feel a lot of ownership.”
As an example, Strein says the model enabled his team to think about how to invest in the opportunities they saw in the metals used in batteries for power storage.
“Battery metals evolved into energy transition, to energy scarcity; [and] now, particularly with respect to artificial intelligence and data centers,” he said.
Strein is the kind of creative, thoughtful leader the industry needs to continue attracting, especially because of his ability to train the best and brightest in the challenging field of institutional asset allocation. Through his thoughtfulness and desire to contemplate what comes next for asset allocators—he exemplifies the versatility this award celebrates.
Tags: CIO awards, Cleveland Clinic, leadership, Versatility Award