Christopher J. Ailman

Mr. Ailman is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the $120 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the second-largest pension fund in the nation. As CIO, Mr. Ailman leads a team of seven directors, and an investment staff of 96, which manage the following divisions: Private Equity, Global Equities, Corporate Governance, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Operations and Innovation / Risk. He joined CalSTRS in the fall of 2000. He has over 23 years of institutional investment management experience.

He currently serves on several boards and advisory boards in the U.S. and U.K. He is a Governor of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), a U.K. non-profit promoting shareholder rights across the globe. He is also on the board and was the past chairman for the Pacific Pension Institute, an educational institute for the study of Pacific Rim institutional investments. He currently represents institutional investors on the Russell Index Client Advisory Board and the MSCI Barra Index Editorial Advisory Board. Mr. Ailman is also the first pension plan member of the New America Alliance, a Latino business initiative. For the past ten years he has served as advisor to the Institute for Fiduciary Education (IFE) Market Makers annual investment conference.

In 2000, he received the CIO of the Year – IFE Leadership Award by IFE. In 2003, his state CIO peers awarded him the Richard Stoddard Award for service in the investment of public pensions. In 2006, he was honored to be the first Anglo to receive the Distinguished Service Award for the Advancement of Latinos in business by the New America Alliance.

Prior to joining CalSTRS, Mr. Ailman had more than four years experience managing the $60 billion Washington State Investment Board and 11 years experience working for the Sacramento County Employees Retirement System where he served as CIO of the pension fund for the county.

Mr. Ailman received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1980. He received his Certified Financial Planner certification from the University of Southern California in 1984. He is married with three daughters and is a committed Promise Keeper.