The 2025 CIO Industry Innovation Award winners were announced on Thursday in New York City at CIO’s 15th awards dinner.

The event also recognized Geri Melchiorre, senior director of investments for the University of Illinois System, as 2025 CIO of the Year.

The 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Andrew Palmer, the recently retired CIO of Maryland State Retirement and Pension System.

The Versatility Award, recognizing collaboration, innovation and leadership in an evolving industry, was presented to Cleveland Clinic Investment Office CIO Stefan Strein.

Geri Melchiorre (Photo by Casey Fatchett)

Andrew Palmer (Photo by Casey Fatchett)

Stefan Strein (Photo by Casey Fatchett)

The event also recognized the 2025 Knowledge Brokers, including naming Katita Palamar, the co-founder and CEO of LP Analyst, as the 2025 Consultant of the Year.

The 2025 class of NextGen leaders, a group of rising stars from across different asset allocator organizations, was also honored.

New this year were the Market Movers awards that recognized the fastest-growing funds, by rate of net new flows year-to-date as of June 30, using data from ISS Market Intelligence’s MarketPulse Powered by Simfund. The funds recognized, by asset class and fund type, are listed here.

A photo gallery from the day’s Influential Investors Forum and the Industry Innovation Awards is available here.

2025 Industry Innovation Awards

Asset Owner Winners and Finalists

Collaboration

• Jennifer Neppel, Pinnacol Assurance
• Carlos Rangel, W.K. Kellogg Foundation—Winner
• Joe Siprut, Kerberos Capital Management

Corporate Plans

• Harshal Chaudhari, GE
• Robin Diamonte, RTX Corp.—Winner
• Walter Kress, EY

Endowments

• Richard Chau, Tulane University
• Geeta Kapadia, Fordham University
• Geri Melchiorre, University of Illinois System—Winner
• David Morehead, Baylor University

Foundations

• Nickol Hackett, The Joyce Foundation—Winner
• Lisa Murray, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
• Peng Wang, Inatai Investment Management Company

Health Care/Hospital Plans

• Mark Cagwin, SSM Health
• Kathleen Jacobs, RWJBarnabas Health
• Josh Rabuck, Indiana University Health—Winner
• Rob Roy, AdventHealth

Public Defined Benefit <$25B

• Ted Hall, Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund
• Katherine Molnar and Andrew Spellar, Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System and Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System—Winner
• Molly Murphy, Orange County Employees Retirement System
• Kristin Varela, Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii

Public Defined Benefit >$25B

• Geoffrey Berg and Bryan Moore, SC Retirement System Investment Commission
• Benjamin Cotton, Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System
• Craig Husting, The Public School and Education Employee Retirement Systems of Missouri—Winner

Public Defined Contribution

• Elizabeth Fernando, U.K. NEST
• Yup Kim, Texas Municipal Retirement System—Winner
• Paul Taylor, Government Employees Superannuation Board

Asset Management & Servicing Industry Winners and Finalists

Data and Technology

• Alkymi—Winner
• Dynamo Software
• Jacobi
• Oxane Partners
• PitchBook
• Vidrio Financial

Emerging Markets

• Artisan Developing World/Artisan Partners—Winner
• Principal Asset Management
• Vontobel

ESG/ Sustainability

• Mirova—Winner
• Principal Asset Management

Liability-Driven Investing (LDI)

• Capital Group
• Goldman Sachs Asset Management—Winner
• L&G
• NISA
• Wellington Management

Multi-Asset Portfolios

• Capital Group
• L&G—Winner
• Lumenai Investments LLC

OCIO

• Cerity Partners OCIO—Winner
• Goldman Sachs Asset Management
• PNYX Group SA

Opportunistic Investments

• L&G
• Project Level (Ariel Investments)—Winner
• Wilkinson

Private Credit

• Kerberos Capital Management
• L&G
• Saluda Grade—Winner
• Seix Investment Advisors

Private Equity

• Apollo Global Management
• Kingswood Capital Management—Winner
• Schroders Investments

Public Equity

• AQR Capital Management
• Arrowstreet Capital Management
• L&G
• Parnassus Investments—Winner
• Schroders Investments
• Vontobel

Public Fixed Income

• Capital Group
• L&G
• NISA
• TwentyFour Asset Management, a boutique of Vontobel—Winner

Real Assets and Infrastructure

• Brookfield Asset Management
• DigitalBridge
• Global Infrastructure Partners (BlackRock)
• Harrison Street
• KKR
• Maquarie Asset Management
• Principal Asset Management—Winner
• Stonepeak