The Winners

Leader of the Year

Robert Manilla, CIO at Kresge Foundation

For raising talent, such as Hackensack Meridian’s Donna Snider, that “may one day even surpass Rob himself” — which is a high bar.

Advisor of the Year

Sarah Samuels, Partner and Head of Investment Manager Research at NEPC

For applying her firsthand experience as an allocator to the research engine room of a leading consulting firm, earning admiration from clients and envy from peers. Samuels built a reputation as “CIO material” while serving as deputy CIO at MassPRIM, before rounding out her institutional bona fides with a managing director role at Wellesley College.

NEPC spotted consultant material, too: the pairing has been tremendously successful. “She brought an incredibly important allocator perspective,” said one committee member, who nominated Samuels on the spot. “I think NEPC very smartly grabbed her to lead investments, and she’s done some really excellent work.”

Team of the Year

Meredith Jenkins, CIO, and the investment team, Trinity Wall Street

For taking the church’s real estate-dominated portfolio to a global, diversified powerhouse portfolio worth more than $6B, led by “dream-team duo” Jenkins and Nick Csickso, her deputy.

Best Citizen

Ted Seides, Podcaster and Investor at Capital Allocators

For exceptional contributions to the institutional investor community and visibility of its best people, work, and practices.

Seides’ famed podcasts “contribute to the sharing of knowledge, which is critical to success and yet not widely practiced,” wrote one prize committee member in nominating Seides, though they weren’t alone.“The podcasts are thought-provoking, by including people who many of us would not generally get exposed to, like a brain surgeon or decision-making guru. I especially appreciated Ted’s recent note on Melvin Capital which was tactful yet clear that they totally blew it.” His more recent venture Capital Allocators University “is long overdue, as there are few opportunities for professionals to gain this kind of exposure (and we all know that the CFA Institute can be a bit dull).”

And from a CIO at a big-name endowment: “Ted works tirelessly to bring meaningful and relevant content to his listeners from some of the best allocators and practitioners in the business. He makes us all smarter and better connected in this fast-paced and ever-changing world!”

Fiduciary of the Year

Collette Chilton, CIO and her team at Williams College

For the exceptional endowment performance under Chilton's leadership, which makes possible the college's super high-profile move to eliminate student loans.

“Collette will hate the attention, but she’s the best, and so is [deputy CIO] Abigail Wattley — it’s all the way down. Williams has to be in here,” a committee member said in deliberations, with universal agreement. The investor’s investment team has outperformed year after year, elevating Williams from “a normal small liberal arts college” to a funded force for education equity in the U.S.

Because of the remarkable investment team at Williams, generations of young people without rich parents will get to go to college, learn, and take risks. “Talk about making an impact.”

Idea of the Year

Clark Hoover, Investment Officer, and Rodney June, Chief Investment Officer at Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System

For speaking out on gender inequality at LACERS & its peers — and taking action to fix it at home.

In March, the mid-level investor Hoover wrote an internal letter to the leaders of L.A.’s three major public pension plans — including his own boss, or rather boss’s boss — raising alarm that no women were serving on any of their hiring committees. “I find this both embarrassing and unacceptable — and I hope that some of you do — especially given statements and actions made by some of us to increase diversity in the investment industry,” he wrote in the internal letter.

The next month, LACERS promoted ESG head Ellen Chen. Sharing the news, CIO Rodney June told The Allocator: “LACERS was able to have an executive-level woman on the interview panel. Ellen Chen was selected for the promotional position through a competitive selection process. LACERS appreciates input from staff to help us identify ways in which LACERS can grow and improve.

Best Partner

Baupost Group

For brave consistency through investment trend and market cycles, commanding more investor interest than there is fund capacity at almost any point.

Baupost immediately came up when the committee heard their Partner of the Year prompt: “Out of all the service providers to institutional capital — asset managers, but also data and tech firms, consultants, legal, whatever — who do you trust? Which ones go above and beyond their profit motive to serve the institutional mission?”

“Seth Klarman,” a member of selection panel replied. “Seth has got to be on there. Baupost has been so consistent, so successful, and so in-demand for decades.” What about the management fees charged on Baupost’s hefty cash position? A committee member laughed. “If you don’t want to pay their fees, no problem. Don’t invest. Anyone complaining probably can’t get in anyway.”

Best Bad Investment Idea

Al Hemmingsen

For his Hex Crypto bet, which lost 58.1% over the 12 months to August 1, beating Sam Gallo and John Greaves’ respective bets on steel futures and small-cap gold miners to clinch the top (bottom) spot.

Investment Operations of the Year

Kelly Sandquist, Director of Investment Operations, and her team at Grinnell College

For punching above their weight at the $3B endowment, which has best-in-class operations thanks to an outstanding internal team and a strong new partnership with outsourced provider Bitsync.

“Kelly is amazing,” praised a senior member of the investment team. “She reads all of our board books, makes sure the numbers work and the grammar flows. The ops team asked early on to stay on for investment meetings, which I've never seen before. They know what’s going into the portfolio, and I don’t even have to ask if things are set up.”

“This is my 3rd operations team, and the smallest one,” the Grinnell investor went on. “They deliver like they are 3x the size.”