Episode 268: Ghiané Jones of the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois: Answering the Exam Question with Creative Solutions

Ghiané Jones, is Deputy CIO at the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois, where she is based in their Chicago office. She previously was Managing Principal at Meketa Investment Group, a role she held for over 6 years, and prior to that worked in a range of financial services roles including in institutional ETF Sales at Invesco and Northern Trust, and as a Regional Consultant at Goldman Sachs.  

We start our discussion with Ghiané, describing her path into finance and her determination and drive that led her to early internships and a career path with blue chip firms. We move then to what is on her mind as Deputy CIO at a large public pension fund and describe some of the key attributes of that fund and its asset allocation. We discuss the challenges of underfunding and what that means in terms of cash flow focus and asset allocation, and also examine the interplay between the officer and consultant relationships and how they are evolving.

We conclude with a discussion of diversity within the profession and the challenges that diverse and emerging managers face and examine the role that public pensions can have in amplifying and assisting these managers grow to their full potential. 

This episode is supported by PIMCO, a global leader in active fixed income with deep expertise across public and private markets. PIMCO invests their clients’ capital in income and credit opportunities that span the liquidity spectrum, leveraging their decades of experience navigating complex debt markets. Their flexible capital base and deep relationships with issuers have helped them become one of the world’s largest providers of traditional and alternative investment solutions and a valued financing partner. Visit pimco.com to learn more.

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