WIIIN's 2023 Annual Luncheon: Investing in a Political World

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:

Keynote Speaker
Mara Liasson 

National Political Correspondent, NPR

Mara Liasson is a national political correspondent for NPR. Her reports can be heard regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazine programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Liasson provides extensive coverage of politics and policy from Washington, DC — focusing on the White House and Congress — and also reports on political trends beyond the Beltway.

Each election year, Liasson provides key coverage of the candidates and issues in both presidential and congressional races. During her tenure she has covered seven presidential elections — in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Prior to her current assignment, Liasson was NPR's White House correspondent for all eight years of the Clinton administration. She has won the White House Correspondents' Association's Merriman Smith Award for daily news coverage in 1994, 1995, and again in 1997. From 1989-1992 Liasson was NPR's congressional correspondent.

Liasson joined NPR in 1985 as a general assignment reporter and newscaster. From September 1988 to June 1989, she took a leave of absence from NPR to attend Columbia University in New York as a recipient of a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism.

Prior to joining NPR, Liasson was a freelance radio and television reporter in San Francisco. She was also managing editor and anchor of California Edition, a California Public Radio nightly news program, and a print journalist for The Vineyard Gazette in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Liasson is a graduate of Brown University where she earned a bachelor's degree in American history.

Geraldine Jimenez, CFA 
Senior Investment Director - Public Markets, CalSTRS

Geraldine Jimenez oversees the management of internal and external portfolios within the CalSTRS public markets including public equity, fixed income and the risk mitigating strategies.  In this role, she is part of the senior leadership team making significant decisions on the management of the total fund asset allocation, both tactical and strategic, and advises the the Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Chief Investment Officer on investment strategy and decisions. 

In Geraldine’s prior role as the Director of Investment Strategy and Risk, she was responsible for implementing and monitoring CalSTRS overall investment portfolio strategy and risk.  Geraldine led the CalSTRS Asset / Liability team modeling and recommending to the CalSTRS Board the strategic asset allocation, chaired the Risk Allocation Committee, setting shorter term portfolio positioning, and was part of the CalSTRS leadership team reporting to Deputy Chief Investment Officer.  She was also responsible for incubating new strategies in the Innovative Strategies portfolio.

Prior to this position, Ms. Jimenez was the portfolio manager leading CalSTRS Investment Engagement Unit. In this capacity, she responded to stakeholder priorities and worked with the Teachers’ Retirement Board, senior investment team and executive staff to research investment information on external issues such as legislation, stakeholder concerns or environmental, social and governance issues. 

Before joining CalSTRS in 2015, Jimenez spent over 25 years at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System with substantial time working in the global equity markets and managing the affiliate funds. She holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration, with a minor in economics from California State University, Sacramento.  She is actively involved with the CFA Institute as a Chartered Financial Analyst, as a member of the Standard of Practice Council, and as the past President of the CFA Society of Sacramento.  She is a board member for a California non-profit organization providing services to at-risk kids and families.