2025 The Next Elite Part 2

Frank Atkins is a Senior Director at the $43 billion Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS), where he focuses on Global Public Equities and Hedge Fund Strategies. With a career spanning investment banking, institutional asset management, and consulting, Atkins brings deep expertise in portfolio management, risk mitigation, and investment strategy.

Before joining TMRS, Atkins worked as a senior equity analyst at Bank of Montreal and Truist, covering sectors such as technology services and software, aerospace and defense, energy, and business services. His experience in corporate investment banking provided him with a strong foundation in fundamental research and portfolio construction. Prior to that, he spent six years at Cambridge Associates in Washington, D.C., where he held client-facing roles and later contributed to the firm’s central research team, supporting endowment and foundation clients.

At TMRS, Atkins has been instrumental in restructuring the $15.8 billion Global Public Equity Portfolio, enhancing risk management capabilities, integrating factor-aware strategies, and strengthening investment manager relationships. He also played a key role in revamping TMRS’s Hedge Fund Portfolio, delivering strong outperformance amid evolving benchmarks. As part of the “Tactical Opportunities” portfolio team, he focuses on both return generation and risk mitigation. Additionally, his background in equity research and corporate investment banking has enabled him to contribute to private investment strategies within the fund.

Atkins holds an MBA with distinction from Yale University’s School of Management, as well as the CFA and CAIA designations. He earned a B.S. in Finance and Biology from the University of Richmond.

Ed Berman is responsible for Public Markets and Portfolio Construction Analytics at the New York City Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management, advising on investments for the five New York City retirement systems. Since joining in May 2022 as Chief Risk Officer, Berman has played a key role in overseeing Public Markets investments, which account for approximately 69% of the total $286 billion AUM (as of November 30, 2024.) He also leads the strategic asset allocation framework, guiding the transition to a Total Portfolio approach across all asset classes.

During his tenure, 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 to optimize portfolio diversification, refine passive, active, and systematic investment decisions, and establish a risk-parity approach to manager sizing. His work has been instrumental in introducing a rigorous analytical process for manager oversight, ensuring that high alpha generation aligns with management fees.

Prior to joining the Bureau of Asset Management, Berman led a global team of Investment Directors at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he specialized in portfolio construction, alpha generation, and risk management for Multi-Asset and Quantitative strategies. His career also includes serving as Chief Risk Officer at C&Co/PrinceRidge Holdings LLC, where he was involved in launching the broker-dealer firm. He has held a variety of roles in major investment banks and hedge funds, beginning his career in quantitative finance by modeling fixed-income products at Bear Stearns.
Berman holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Boston University and an MBA in Finance and Statistics from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Carol Chan, CFA, is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer for EY’s retirement plans, overseeing more than $28 billion in assets and serving over 90,000 plan participants and retirees. She works closely with the Retirement Investment Committee, developing investment policies, recommending strategies, conducting external manager due diligence, and managing portfolio construction, liquidity, and risk.

Prior to joining EY, Chan was a senior member of the Global Manager Research team at Hewitt Associates, where she focused on investment manager evaluation and due diligence. Before that, she served as Director of Trust Investments at Dun & Bradstreet, managing global pension and defined contribution plan assets. In this role, she was a member of the Canadian Investment Committee and an advisor to the UK Trustees, providing strategic oversight on global retirement assets.

Earlier in her career, Chan held various strategic planning and financial leadership roles in Fortune 500 companies, including serving as Divisional CFO at Thomson Financial. Her diverse background in corporate finance and institutional investing has provided her with deep expertise in pension fund management, investment governance, and risk mitigation.

Doug Macbean is the Senior Managing Director of Investments and Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the Caltech Investment Office, overseeing the institute’s $4.2 billion endowment. Since joining Caltech in 2014, he has played a key role in shaping the endowment’s investment strategy, leading the investment team in risk management, asset allocation, and portfolio oversight across all asset classes. He was elevated to his current role in 2022, where he continues to drive portfolio innovation and long-term sustainability.

Macbean’s leadership has been instrumental in sourcing and partnering with emerging investment talent, prioritizing new firms and unique strategies. He has structured creative terms, fees, and incentive models with public equity managers to better align LP and GP interests. In private equity, he has led an initiative to identify and collaborate with buyout firms specializing in founder- and family-owned businesses in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, he spearheaded a 2023 re-underwriting of Caltech’s hedge fund portfolio, focusing on reducing equity beta and incorporating uncorrelated return streams to enhance portfolio resilience.

Prior to Caltech, Macbean was an Associate Director of Investments at Nazarian Enterprises, a single-family office in Los Angeles. He also spent five years at Stanford Management Company, where he managed domestic and global long-only and long/short strategies for the endowment. He began his career in sell-side research at Robertson Stephens and Jefferies & Company.

Macbean earned an A.B. in government, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Tom Masthay is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS), where he serves as a key partner to CIO Yup Kim and plays a pivotal role in shaping the investment team’s strategy and execution. With a focus on servant leadership, Masthay collaborates closely with every member of the investment department, amplifying their capabilities and fostering their growth as stewards of public assets.

Over the past decade, Masthay has been instrumental in scaling TMRS’ private markets exposure, helping to build a well-diversified portfolio aligned with the system’s long-term objectives. More recently, he has taken on a broader leadership role, coordinating efforts to enhance returns across TMRS’ $43 billion trust fund. Under his guidance and in partnership with CIO Kim, TMRS has expanded its investment team, developed a novel co-investment partnership, and refined investment processes to support a best-in-class co-investment program.

Masthay is recognized as a thoughtful and pragmatic advisor to general partners, elevating TMRS’ presence within the institutional investor community. His approach to portfolio construction and strategic allocation reflects a commitment to long-term, disciplined investing.
He holds both a BBA and MBA from the University of Kentucky and has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designations.