Caltech Announces New Chief Investment Officer
Ken Lee, a seasoned investment manager and respected leader in the financial sector, will join Caltech on April 15, 2025, as the Institute's new chief investment officer (CIO).
As a member of the Institute's senior administrative leadership group, Lee will oversee the Institute's investment strategies and manage its approximately $4.5 billion investment portfolio. He will work closely with the Investment Committee of the Caltech Board of Trustees to formulate and implement policies to help secure Caltech's long-term financial health.
"Ken's broad experience across the financial sector, demonstrated success as an investment manager, idealism about and commitment to university values, and appreciation of what makes Caltech special, make him a wonderful fit," Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics, said in an email announcement to the campus community. "We look forward to welcoming Ken to a leadership role at the Institute."
Lee brings to Caltech more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector. Most recently, Lee worked at Children's Health System of Texas, a private academic teaching hospital, where he led an independent office that managed a $3 billion portfolio of donor-endowed funds, board-designated reserves, and corporate cash for the largest nonprofit provider of pediatric health care in North Texas. He successfully implemented a multiyear strategic plan to overhaul the hospital's $2 billion endowment fund through volatile market conditions.
"The Board of Trustees is thrilled to welcome Ken to Caltech," says Caltech Trustee Tim Sloan, who serves as the Board's Investment Committee chair and co-chaired the CIO search committee that included members of Caltech's faculty, administrative staff, and Board. "Ken brings an impressive combination of investment acumen, creativity, and leadership to the role, and we look forward to working with him to continue to deliver top quartile long-term returns for the Institute's investment portfolio."
Prior to joining Children's Health System, Lee served as managing director of Carnegie Corporation of New York, one of the oldest grantmaking foundations in the country, where he and his group managed a $3.5 billion endowment. He also led the New York office of the investment research group at Fauchier Partners and held positions at Horsley Bridge Partners and Robertson Stephens.
Lee graduated from Yale College with a double major in Economics and East Asian Studies. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
"Caltech is a beacon of creativity and innovation," Lee says. "I am proud to build on its long history of focused excellence, working alongside Dr. Rosenbaum and other talented senior leaders. As a native Californian, I am also thrilled about the opportunity to reunite several generations of my family."
