MSCI Institutional Investor Forum

Sacramento

Allison Miller

Head of Systematic Equities, AustralianSuper

Allison is Head of Systematic Equities at Australian Super, Australia’s largest superannuation fund managing over A$430 billion of retirement savings on behalf of over 3.6 million members. Allison leads the internal team managing over A$40 billion in global listed equity quantitative strategies. Prior to joining Australian Super in 2020 as a Portfolio Manager, Allison worked in risk and quant equities at Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC), and in ESG and trading support roles for the Capital Group in their London and Los Angeles offices. Allison has a BA (Hons) in International Relations from Brown University and a Master of Economics (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, and is a CFA charterholder.

Anton Orlich

Deputy CIO, Private Markets, CalPERS

Anton Orlich first joined CalPERS in 2013 and served in various leadership roles before being named deputy chief investment officer of private markets in June 2026. Anton works closely with CalPERS’ chief investment officer and overseas private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and other alternative investment programs.

Prior to that, Anton served as managing investment director of private equity at CalPERS from 2022 to 2026 and was interim managing investment director at private debt from 2024 to 2025. His CalPERS career began when he served as a portfolio manager for private equity from 2013 to 2016.

During his time away from CalPERS, Anton worked as head of alternative investments for Kaiser Permanente from 2019 to 2022.

Anton holds a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in economics from Columbia College in New York and a PhD in political science from Yale University. He is also a Harry S. Truman Scholar, a Yale Prize Teaching Fellow, a Kauffman Fellow, and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst charterholder. He serves on the board of directors for the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) and on the National Advisory Board for Girls with Impact (GWI). Orlich is a U.S. Navy veteran and served in Afghanistan.

Arthur Ribeiro Guimarães

Chief Data and Operating Officer, co-head of Real Estate, University of California Investments

Arthur is Chief Data and Operating Officer and co-head of Real Estate at the $210 billion University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the Regents (UC Investments). He has also managed the $45 billion defined contribution plan and in 2018 was awarded the Innovation award by Pension and Investment and the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. He joined in 2014.

Arthur joined UC Investments from Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) in Canada.  There he led Operations and managed a transformational, technology program of change known as 'AIMCo Innovations'. He has more than 20 years of experience in asset management including at Manulife Financial.

Arthur is a member of the Portuguese Diaspora Council, a global network appointed by the President of Portugal. He serves on the board of Bishop O’ Dowd High School and has served on the board of The Practice Space, a non-profit in El Cerrito with a mission of building strong communities, as well as and The Academy school in Berkeley. He has also served on several education boards in Canada and the US.

Arthur holds a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Canada, where he graduated with distinction and has taught in the BBA and MBA programs.  He has also served as an instructor for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario as a Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant. Arthur is also a Chartered Business Valuator.

Arthur lives in Berkeley with his wife Ana, and three children who are all involved in sports.

Ashley Lester

Chief Client Officer, MSCI

Ashley Lester leads the development of MSCI’s research across the company’s wide range of product lines and clients. He was previously the founding head of systematic investments at Schroders, where he led a team managing over USD 30 billion in equity-factor and ESG strategies. Before Schroders, Ashley served as MSCI’s head of fixed-income and multi-asset-class research. He holds a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Economics (with first-class honors and the university medal) from the University of Sydney.

Chief Client Officer, MSCI

Axel Kilian, as Chief Client Officer, is responsible for overseeing MSCI’s sales, client relationship management and client service teams globally. He is also a member of MSCI’s Management Committee and previously served as Head of Client Coverage — EMEA.

Axel joined MSCI in June 2020 with over 25 years of financial services industry experience. Over the past decade and a half, he has held various senior client management roles at leading financial institutions including JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Nomura and UBS across the equity, derivatives and wealth segments.

Prior to joining MSCI, Axel served as Head of Ultra High Net Worth Clients for UBS in Germany and Austria, based in Frankfurt. He also held the role of Global Head Equity Derivatives Distribution and European Head Equity Distribution at UBS in London.

Axel holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Augsburg in Augsburg, Germany.

Executive Director, Head of Private Capital Indexes and Taxonomies, MSCI

Courtney Scharff is Head of Private Capital Indexes and Taxonomies at MSCI, where she leads strategy and execution for private markets benchmarks and classification frameworks across private capital and real assets. With over 20 years of experience across financial services, fintech, and data, she has held senior commercial and product leadership roles at Wilshire Indexes, Qontigo, Bloomberg, and FTSE Russell, building global teams and driving transformational growth throughout her career. Courtney is recognized for her expertise in indexing, institutional sales, and go-to-market strategy, with a track record of launching innovative products. A sought-after leader and mentor, she is passionate about advancing the next generation of talent and bringing transparency and rigor to private markets investing.

Dianne Sandoval

Chief Investment Officer, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System

Head of Multi-Asset-Class Investing Research and Development, MSCI

Dimitris Melas heads multi-asset-class investing research and development at MSCI. Prior to joining MSCI, Dimitris headed asset-allocation research and quantitative strategies at HSBC Asset Management. He is a CFA® charterholder and holds an MSc in electrical engineering, MBA in finance and PhD in financial mathematics from the London School of Economics. Dimitris has published several research papers in peer-reviewed journals and serves as an editorial board member of the Journal of Portfolio Management.

Managing Director, Senior Account Manager, Asset Owner Coverage, MSCI

Edward Berman

Head of Portfolio Construction and Risk, Office of the New York City Comptroller

Ed Berman is responsible for Public Markets and Portfolio Construction Analytics across the five New York City retirement systems the Bureau of Asset Management advises on. He joined the Office of the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management in May 2022 as the Chief Risk Officer. In his current role, Ed leads an investment staff and supports oversight in Public Market investments, which comprise approximately 69% of the total $286 AUM (as of November 30, 2024). Additionally, he is responsible for analytical framework for portfolio construction across the entire portfolio with a focus on transitioning to a Total Portfolio approach. Within the Bureau, he also leads strategic asset allocation at the portfolio level.

During his tenure at the Bureau of Asset Management, Mr. Berman has focused on enhancing alpha generation at the total portfolio level through superior portfolio construction and risk management. He and his team have developed an asset-class and manager analytics suite for managing public market portfolios based on quantitative analysis.  This allowed to optimize the level of portfolio diversification, established a framework for passive, active, and systematic decision for external managers, created a risk-parity approach to manager sizing, and introduced a rigorous analytical process for manager oversight. The goal of his team is to achieve high alpha generation relative to management fees paid. Ed works closely with the CIO on development of Total Portfolio metrics across public and private assets, designed to support a non-siloed, holistic approach to portfolio management.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Berman was the lead of the global team of Investment Directors covering Multi-Asset and Quantitative strategies at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he focused on portfolio construction, alpha generation, and risk management.  Before joining J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Mr. Berman participated in the launch and served as the CRO of a start-up broker/dealer company C&Co/PrinceRidge Holdings LLC. His career also includes a range of roles at major investment banks and hedge funds. He began his career in the quantitative field, modeling fixed-income products at Bear Stearns.  

Mr. Berman holds a Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from Boston University and an MBA degree in Finance and Statistics from NYU’s Stern Business School.   

Gareth Shepherd

Managing Director and Co-Head of Strats and AI Transformation Research and Development , MSCI 

Gareth Shepherd is Managing Director and Co-Head of Strats and AI Transformation, Research and Development at MSCI.

Gareth was a co-founder of G Squared Capital, one of the foremost hedge funds applying AI/ML to investing. Following its acquisition by Voya Investment Management, he co-led the Voya Machine Intelligence group and was a portfolio manager. He began his career in risk and asset management roles across Australia, Switzerland, the US and the UK.

Gareth holds a PhD in Expert Systems from the University of New South Wales and was named a Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum for his pioneering work in Artificial Intelligence. He is a CFA® Charterholder.

Gene Podkaminer

Senior Asset Allocation Strategist, Capital Group

Gene Podkaminer is a senior asset allocation strategist at Capital Group. He has 25 years of investment industry experience and joined Capital Group in 2025. Prior to joining Capital, Gene worked as an executive vice president and head of research at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, where he chaired the global investment committee and directed research activities across markets and asset classes, strategic and tactical asset allocation, and manager due diligence, using quantitative and fundamental approaches. Before that, he was a senior vice president in the Capital Markets Research group at Callan Associates and a principal in the Client Advisory Group at Barclays Global Investors. Gene has authored numerous articles published in the Journal of Portfolio Management and Journal of Investing focusing on risk factors in portfolio construction, asset allocation methodologies and the impact of macroeconomic shocks to multi-asset portfolios. He also writes curriculum for the CFA Institute. He holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of San Francisco. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco. Gene is based in San Francisco.

Joseph Simonian

Head of Equity Portfolio Design and Analytics, CalPERS

Joseph Simonian, PhD, is Head of Equity Portfolio Design and Analytics at CalPERS. He has more than 20 years of experience in portfolio management, AI, and quantitative investing. Dr. Simonian is the co-editor of The Journal of Financial Data Science, serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Portfolio Management, and is a senior affiliate researcher at the CFA Institute.

He has authored more than 50 research papers in leading finance and economics journals and is the author of Quantitative Global Bond Portfolio Management, Computational Global Macro, AI in Asset Management: Tools, Applications, and Frontiers, Foundations of Financial Data Science (forthcoming), and Beyond Hegemony: Investing in a Multipolar World (forthcoming).

He is a frequent presenter on quantitative methods, AI, and investment strategy at investment conferences and in the media. Dr. Simonian earned his BA from UCLA, his MA from Columbia University, and his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Josh Diedesch

Total Fund Management Director, CalSTRS

Ju Hui Lee

Chief, Financial Risk and Performance, United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF)

Ju Hui Lee, CFA, CAIA, FSA, FCIA, CERA, FRM, is Chief of Investment Risk and Performance at the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF), which manages approximately $112 billion in assets as of June 30, 2026.

Her work spans total fund strategy, asset allocation, portfolio construction, liability-aware investing, liquidity, and risk management. At UNJSPF, she has led efforts to promote more integrated, total-fund thinking for better investment decision-making, focusing on asset-liability management, risk target setting, portfolio rebalancing, liquidity, derivatives, and risk frameworks.

Prior to joining UNJSPF, Ju Hui held investment and risk roles at CPP Investments, Scotiabank, Manulife, Mercer, and KPMG. Her career has combined investing, actuarial science, and enterprise risk, with a particular focus on how long-term institutional investors can translate their mandates, liabilities, and risk appetite into better portfolio decisions.

June Kim 

Deputy Chief Investment Officer, CalPERS
Capital Markets

June Kim serves as deputy chief investment officer for capital markets and joined CalPERS in 2025. June works closely with CalPERS’ chief investment officer and managing investment directors to lead decision making across the portfolio.

She has three decades of investing experience, most recently as senior investment director of total fund management at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS). 

At CalSTRS, June oversaw asset allocation, balance sheet management, and investment risk across the fund, which was valued at $374.3 billion as of Aug. 31, 2025. Prior to that, June served as the investment director of global equity at CalSTRS for 10 years.

Before joining CalSTRS, June served as head of equities for the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association. She also served as an investment officer for the City of Los Angeles. June worked in the private sector before joining public service, with experience at Northern Trust Global Investments, Citibank, Barclays Global Investors, and Wilshire Associates.

She graduated with a degree in business economics from UCLA and is a 2019 Finance Leaders Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. 

​​Chief Technology Officer and Head of Product Engineering, MSCI

As chief technology officer and head of product engineering, Kashi Kakarla leads product technology and engineering across all product lines and client segments, using AI to enhance the way clients access and engage with our content. He is also a member of MSCI’s Management Committee.By embedding AI into our solutions, Kashi and his team help market participants navigate complexity and uncertainty with greater speed, scale and foresight. In addition, he is leading the establishment of a new MSCI office in Silicon Valley to serve as an innovation and talent center for our AI and technology transformation.Before joining MSCI in 2026, Kashi spent 17 years at Intuit, where he built and transformed products and platforms that serve millions of customers worldwide, including the Intuit Small Business Platform and QuickBooks. Previously, he held engineering leadership roles at SiRF, a pioneer in the commercialization of GPS technology, and Motorola.Kashi has an undergraduate degree from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, one of India’s most prestigious engineering institutions, and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Adelaide, now Adelaide University, in Australia.

Senior Investment Director of Private Markets and Sustainable Investment and Stewardship Strategies (SISS), CalSTRS

Kirsty Jenkinson is the Senior Investment Director for Private Markets and Sustainable Investment and Stewardship Strategies (SISS) at CalSTRS, the largest global educator-only public pension fund with an investment portfolio valued at over $400 billion. Kirsty sits on the Investment Branch Senior Management Team and is responsible for overseeing the Private Equity, Real Estate, Inflation Sensitive, Collaborative Strategies and SISS teams, representing approximately $150 billion in assets and over 120 people.

Prior to CalSTRS, Kirsty was a managing director at Wespath Benefits and Investments in Chicago and at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington, D.C.-based research organization focused on the environment and economic development. Before moving to the United States, Kirsty worked at F&C Asset Management (now Columbia Threadneedle Investments) and in the Fixed Income division of Goldman Sachs in London.

Kirsty sits on the boards of Ceres and the Business and Human Rights Centre and holds an M.A. degree in international history from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Laura Nishikawa

Head of Emerging Risks Research & Development, MSCI

Laura Nishikawa leads a global research team responsible for producing ESG-related research content and developing models to help institutional investors identify, measure and manage investment risks and opportunities arising from significant ESG issues. Laura joined MSCI in 2010 through the acquisition of RiskMetrics. Laura received her Masters degree in International Economic Policy from Columbia University (SIPA), and her Bachelors degree from McGill University, and is a CFA® charterholder.

Lauren Hahn

Managing Director and Head of Global Private Equity Product Strategies, Global Client Solutions, KKR

Lauren Hahn (New York) joined KKR in 2019 and is a Managing Director and Head of Global Private Equity Product Strategies within the Global Client Solutions Group. She and her team are responsible for product origination and management across KKR’s private equity funds as well as KKR’s private equity focused wealth strategy. Previously, she was a member of KKR’s Capital Markets team, focused on equity capital advisory and execution. Ms. Hahn joined KKR from Bank of America Merrill Lynch where she was a member of the equity capital markets team and responsible for leading origination and execution efforts across the technology, media and telecom sectors. Previously, she worked for Barclays and Lehman Brothers in roles spanning investment banking and equity capital markets. Ms. Hahn holds a degree from Northwestern University.

Head of Private Assets, MSCI

Luke Flemmer is head of Private Assets at MSCI. In this role, he is responsible for building, scaling and overseeing our private assets business, leading commercial strategy and product development.

Previously, Luke served as managing director, head of digital strategy for alternative investments at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and was co-founder and CEO of Lab49, a global solutions provider of investment and risk technology to asset managers and investment banks.

When the ION Group acquired Lab49, Luke became co-head of ION’s Capital Markets division, delivering software and solutions to the group’s global financial services customer base.

Earlier in his career, Flemmer worked in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. He is a CFA® charterholder.

Chief Investment Officer, REST 

Michael joined Rest as Chief Investment Officer in August 2025. He has more than 25 years of experience in the investment and superannuation industries. Michael is responsible for the strategic direction of the Investment division and the management of the full suite of Rest’s investment products. His focus is on delivering competitive investment performance that helps members achieve their best possible retirement outcomes.

Before joining Rest, Michael was Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Super for more than 9 years. His experience also includes senior executive roles at the National Australia Bank and Russell Investments. In addition to his role with Rest, Michael is also the Chair of CFA Society Australia.

Michael is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the CFA Institute. He holds a Bachelor of Business in Finance and Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Michael Krimm

Investment Director, CalPERS

Michael Krimm is Head of Portfolio Design at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). He is responsible for risk budgeting and capital allocation, portfolio completion, and total portfolio analytics.

Prior to joining CalPERS in 2015, Michael spent seven years as an Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates, where he held roles on both the portfolio construction and institutional client advisory teams.

Previously, Michael worked in strategy consulting as an Engagement Manager for McKinsey and Company in London. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA, Summa Cum Laude, in Physics and Economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Nick Cherney

Head of Innovation, Janus Henderson

Nick Cherney is Head of Innovation at Janus Henderson Investors. In this role, he is responsible for helping the firm and its clients to identify, understand, and execute on longer horizon developments that have potentially disruptive impact to the way business is managed, and clients manage their investments. He is also responsible for the firm’s exchange traded funds (ETF) business and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Janus Detroit Street Trust, and Clayton Street Trust. Nick is a member of the firm’s Strategic Leadership Team, is the executive sponsor of the Black Professional Network, and is committed to advancing DEI in financial services. Previously, Nick was the Chief Investment Officer and co-founder at VelocityShares until Janus’ acquisition of the company in 2014. Earlier, he held product management and development responsibilities for iPath ETNs at Barclays Capital. Before that, Nick was a portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investors managing over US$25 billion of ETF assets.

Nick received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of California – Berkeley, where he graduated with highest honours. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has 21 years of financial industry experience.

Peter Cashion 

Managing Investment Director for Sustainable Investments, CalPERS

Peter Cashion was named Managing Investment Director for Sustainable Investments in March 2023.

In his role, Peter sets the vision, strategy, and governance for CalPERS’ sustainability work. He’s also responsible for leading all aspects of the fund’s efforts to develop and implement a financially driven sustainability-based research and data framework to support sustainable investment integration throughout the investment decision-making process across the CalPERS portfolio.

Prior to CalPERS, Peter worked at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) spanning back to 1995. There he most recently served as the global head of climate finance & chief investment officer in the Financial Institutions Group (FIG), in addition to other prior senior roles, including global equity head, principal investment officer, and principal financial officer.

Peter graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in administrative and commercial studies from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from Queen’s University in Canada. He's also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Peter Shepard

Global Head of Analytics Research and Development, MSCI

Peter Shepard is a Managing Director, Head of Analytics Research & Development at MSCI. He leads a team of researchers responsible for MSCI’s multi-asset-class RiskManager and Barra platforms used by institutions in managing USD trillions in assets. The team researches factors, systematic strategies, portfolio construction, liquidity, artificial intelligence and macro finance across all asset classes. Peter holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley, where he researched string theory and the quantum theory of gravity. He has publications in theoretical physics and finance. Peter also holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Brown University.

Raymond Venner

Portfolio Manager, CalSTRS

Raymond Venner is a Portfolio Manager for CalSTRS Global Equity, responsible for public equity analytics and risk management. Ray previously worked in Asset Allocation / Risk and in Global Equity at CalPERS, the Trust department at PG&E Corporation in San Francisco, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. Ray earned a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis. 

Roger Urwin

Portfolio Manager, CalSTRS

Roger Urwin is Global Head of Investment Content for Willis Towers Watson, a role he assumed after acting as the Global Head of the investment practice from 1995 to 2008.

Roger joined Willis Towers Watson to start the firm’s investment consulting practice and under his leadership the practice grew to a global team of over 500.

Roger’s current role includes work for some of the firm’s major investment clients around the world and thought leadership within Thinking Ahead Institute which he co-founded in 2016.

He is the author of a number of papers on asset allocation policy, manager selection, sustainability and governance.

Roger can claim a number of innovations where he was the first to develop new investment content – notably the first lifecycle DC design in 1988 and the originator of governance budget and risk budget methods in the 2000s as well as building out the universal ownership model in 2011.

Roger has worked on strategic issues for some of the largest and most complex asset owners globally. He has led significant engagements at among others RPMI-Railpen, CalPERS, ADIA, Future Fund, TCorp, Aware Super, New Zealand Super and USS in each case contributing to these organisations’ governance and investment models.

He is a strategic adviser to the Future of Finance initiative of the CFA Institute and an Advisory Director to MSCI Inc.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Society of Investment Professionals and a graduate of Oxford University.

In 2022 Roger received the CFA Institute Inspirational Leader Award for Professional Excellence for innovation and excellence of practice in the investment profession.

Simiso Nzima

Managing Investment Director, Global Equity, CalPERS

Simiso Nzima is the Managing Investment Director of Global Public Equity at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest state public pension fund in the United States with approximately $650 billion in total assets under management. He assumed the role in October 2021.

In this role, he oversees CalPERS’ $250B Global Public Equity asset class’s investment strategies, programs, and policies, which includes direct in-house implementation of domestic, international, and emerging market index and systematic/quantitative portfolios, as well as oversight of externally managed active strategies, and the integrated corporate governance functions of proxy voting and corporate engagement.

Simiso has been a member of the CalPERS investment team for more than 21 years. He previously served as the Investment Director of Corporate Governance where he oversaw all aspects of the corporate governance program, including proxy voting, shareowner campaigns, and corporate engagements.Before that, he was Portfolio Manager of the internally managed emerging markets equity portfolios.

Prior to joining CalPERS, he held equity research and portfolio management roles at First Mutual Asset Management Company, Sagit Stockbrokers, and Alliance-MBCA Capital Management in Zimbabwe.

He is a former member of the Climate Action 100+ global Steering Committee and a former member of the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) board.

Simiso holds an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, a Bachelor of Commerce Honors degree in finance from the National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe, and the CFA designation.

Tony Schmitz

Portfolio Manager, Total Fund Asset Allocation, CalSTRS

Tony Schmitz is a Portfolio Manager covering Total Fund Asset Allocation at CalSTRS. He specializes in strategic & tactical asset allocation, Total Portfolio Approach implementation, and integrating AI into the investment process. He began his career in economic consulting and solar finance and then served as Director of Quantitative Research at a Bay Area investment management firm before joining CalSTRS. Tony holds MS and BS degrees in Nuclear & Radiological Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a CFA charterholder.