The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF) announced that it invested $7.6 billion or 56.9 percent of total fund assets, with Minority, Women and Disadvantaged-Owned Business Enterprise (MWDBE) firms in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. CTPF leads pension and retirement systems throughout the United States in providing MWDBE firms access to investment opportunities.  

“CTPF is proud to be a leader among pension and retirement systems in providing MWDBE firms access to meaningful business opportunities,” said Carlton W. Lenoir, Sr. “As we enter 2026, our commitment to diversity and inclusion remains strong, ensuring MWDBE firms have even greater opportunities to serve our $13.7 billion fund.” 

A breakdown of assets by classification as of June 30, 2025, includes $4.49 billion managed by women-owned firms; $1.60 billion managed by Black or African American-owned firms; $1.13 billion managed by Hispanic or Latino-owned firms; $356.3 million managed by Asian-American owned firms, and $42.2 million managed by Disabled Veteran-owned firms. 

CTPF invests in emerging managers through direct mandates and Manager-of-Managers programs (MoM). CTPF has direct relationships with 42 MWDBE firms, with 75 funds. The Fund has MoM relationships with 16 MWDBE firms via 11 investment strategies. Managers who perform well under the MoM program may graduate to direct mandates with the Fund. Since the program's inception, 10 firms have graduated to direct mandates.  

In fiscal year 2025, 32.9% of total business expenditures paid by the Fund were to MWDBE fiduciaries and service providers for goods and services and 35.2% 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.