2021
All-Star Institutional Investors
As the world looks ahead to a post-COVID recovery, we pause to recognize some of the All-Star Institutional Investors who helped lead their teams through these turbulent times. Our All-Star list honors LPs at every level of seniority and at every institution type. This year’s All-Stars bring a wealth of experience, diversity, and insights to the profession.
Reggie Sanders is the director of investments at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where he leads in the formulation and implementation of the investment strategy and processes for the $3.5 billion diversified pool of assets in the $8 billion portfolio. He has served the organization since 2010. Previously, he was a manager, pension investments at Eastman Kodak Company. Sanders holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in accounting from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
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Tom Masthay is the Director of Private Equity for Texas Municipal Retirement System, a $32.5 billion hybrid defined-benefit public pension plan. Tom has experience across a diverse set of alternative investments including private equity, real estate, real assets, hedge funds, and other non-traditional public markets strategies. His career has been spent principally in public and corporate pension plans at TMRS, Kentucky Retirement System, and Nextera Energy. Tom holds degrees from the University of Kentucky.
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Anton Orlich is the Head of Alternative Investments at Kaiser Permanente, which has both foundation and corporate pension capital pools totaling about $150 billion with over a 40% allocation to alternatives in the following asset classes: absolute return, private credit, private equity, and real assets. The private equity program includes buyout, growth, venture, and secondaries. Also, Kaiser Permanente pursues co-investments and direct investments across private markets. Anton's prior experience includes tenures at Pivotal Group (a family office), CalPERS, Neuberger Berman, and McKinsey & Co. He holds a B.A., summa cum laude, in economics from Columbia and a PhD in political science from Yale. Anton is a U.S. Navy veteran and deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer.
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Todd Cohen is the director of investments at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he has served since 2016. Previously, he was a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Treasury. Cohen holds a degree in finance from New York University and holds a chartered financial analyst designation.
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Ilene Spitzer is the director of investments at The Rockefeller University, where she has served since 2012. Previously, she was an associate at Forester Capital, LLC. Spitzer holds a B.A. in economics from Barnard College and holds a chartered financial analyst designation.
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Joe Greiner is a director of investments at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Previously, he was director of private markets at Emory University, which he joined in 2012. Prior to that, he also worked at both J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Greiner holds an MBA from the University of Georgia and a B.A. degree in economics and history from Emory University. He also holds a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.
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Andrew Kelsen serves as a portfolio manager of alternative investments at Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund, where he focuses on private equity, natural resources, private debt, cash management, asset allocation, and operational optimization. Andrew has over 30 years of broad investment and global capital markets experience. He has held senior roles in consulting, trading, portfolio management, project finance, market-making, structuring, product development, compliance, and management.
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Natalia Ilmark is senior investment manager for private equity at Skandia Mutual Life Insurance Company, where she has overseen private equity investments for more than 12 years. She holds a master’s degree in finance from Stockholm University.
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Joon Choi is the managing director of private investments at Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. Previously, he was director of private investments at Howard Hughes Medical Institute for over 3 years. Choi holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University.
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Jesús Argüelles is the director of investments at The James Irvine Foundation, where he has served since January 2019. Previously, he was a director of funds at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and a portfolio manager at CalPERS. Arguelles holds a B.S. in managerial economics from the University of California.
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Josh Stern is director of private investments at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where he is responsible for all areas of private equity investing, including venture, growth and buyout, as well as private credit, private energy, and real estate. Before joining RWJF in 2012, he was an adviser at Antarctica Capital and director of private investments at Rockefeller University. Stern holds a Master’s degree in management from NYU, an MPA from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and a bachelor’s from Binghamton University.
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Sarah Anderson is director of investments at the University of Missouri System Endowment, where she has served in several investment roles since joining in 2006. Prior to the University of Missouri, Anderson was a securities accountant for SimmonsCooper Law Office. She holds a degree in business administration and finance from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
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Matthew Werner is managing director at Emory Investment Management, the endowment of Emory University. Before joining Emory in 2018, Werner spent 13 years as a director at Spider Management Company in Richmond, Virginia. He began his career as an analyst at Barra in New York City. Werner holds an MBA from the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond and a bachelor’s degree from Penn State.
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Avantika Patel has been director of investments for the investment office of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research since 2004. Before joining the Ludwig Institute, Patel was a performance analyst for Credit Suisse and US Trust, and an analyst for Lord Abbett. She holds a Masters in Finance from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an MBA from Seton Hall University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University.
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Kate Butler is a managing director at Melba Investments. Previously, she was an investment manager focused on private equity and venture capital at Rice Management Company. Prior to that, she worked in private equity, investing out of a $1.5 billion pool of capital at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; in real estate, repositioning a $6.6 billion portfolio at Equity Group Investments/Equity Commonwealth; and in investment management, refining the strategy at Invesco. Butler holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree from Yale University.
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Sean Richardson has been investment director at The Mount Sinai Medical Center since 2009. He joined Mount Sinai after three years as an investment associate at Tremont Capital Investment. He holds an MBA and a BBA from Saint Bonaventure University.
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Richard Iwuc is a portfolio manager at the University of Alberta endowment, the fourth largest in college endowment in Canada. Prior to joining the Alberta endowment, Iwuc managed investment research at Quadrant Asset Management and was an investment manager at Manitoba Public Insurance. He began his career as a marketing and operations manager for the Winnipeg Stock Exchange. He holds bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Manitoba, where he also earned an MBA in finance. Iwuc is a chartered financial analyst (CFA).
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Zack McGuire is director of investments at The University of Georgia Foundation, prior to which he was an investment director at Emory University. He holds an MBA from Emory’s Goizueta Business School, a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Maine, a commercial real estate certificate, and a Chartered Alternative Investment Certificate.
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Shahid Farooqi is director of investments at the University of Connecticut Foundation, where he has served in several roles since 2007. Prior to joining the investment team at UConn, Farooqi was a research scientist who directed a physics lab at the university. He holds a PhD in physics from Imperial College, London, a Master’s in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the University of Connecticut.
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Adam Messerschmitt
Investment Officer, Global Private Credit
Adam Messerschmitt is an investment officer for global private credit at the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio. Previously, he served as director of manager research at Nationwide Financial, and in various investment roles at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Messerschmitt holds a BBA from Ohio State and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
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