The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF) announced that it invested $6.5 billion or 51.9 percent of total fund assets, with Minority, Women and Disadvantaged-Owned Business Enterprise (MWDBE) firms in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. CTPF is proud to remain a leader among pension and retirement systems throughout the United States in providing MWDBE firms access to investment opportunities. 

"We are pleased to announce that CTPF has once again demonstrated its commitment to diversity and inclusion by investing a significant portion of our assets with MWDBE firms," said Carlton W. Lenoir, Sr. "With more than half of our investments managed by MWDBE firms and 35-year investment performance of 8.34% net of fees, our continued efforts have not only far surpassed our initial goals but have also set a high bar for other pension and retirement systems across the nation."

A breakdown of assets by classification as of June 30, 2024, includes $4.05 billion managed by women-owned firms; $1.32 billion managed by Black or African American-owned firms; $919.7 million managed by Hispanic or Latino-owned firms; $148.0 million managed by Asian-American owned firms, $44.0 million managed by Disabled Veteran-owned firms, and $135 thousand managed by Multiple Minority-owned firms.

CTPF invests in emerging managers through direct mandates and Manager-of-Managers programs (MoM). CTPF has direct relationships with 39 MWDBE firms, with 75 funds. The Fund has MoM relationships with 16 MWDBE firms via 12 investment strategies. Managers who perform well under the MoM program may graduate to direct mandates with the Fund. Since the program's inception, nine firms have graduated to direct mandates. 

In fiscal year 2024, 34.6% of total business expenditures paid by the Fund were to MWDBE fiduciaries and service providers for goods and services and 36.9% of Investment-related expenditures were paid to MWDBE Investment Managers. 

The recently submitted report is required by a 2009 Illinois law, PA 96-006, encouraging the trustees of public pension funds to use emerging investment managers in managing their systems' assets. A copy of CTPF's Annual Report: Diversity & Inclusion is available at www.ctpf.org/financial-investment-reports.