Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Carrie Lo

Before joining California State Teachers’ Retirement System in 2009, Carrie Lo was a portfolio manager at San Francisco–based quantitative hedge fund firm ACI. Now 36 and a portfolio manager in CalSTRS’ Innovation and Risk group, Lo — who has a BS in business administration from the University of California, ­Berkeley, and an MS in finance from the London Business School — is helping to head the $150 billion, Sacramento-­based CalSTRS’ first foray into hedge funds. Its crosstown cousin, the ­California Public Employees’ Retirement ­System, started moving, albeit slowly, into hedge funds more than ten years ago. Now, aided by Lo’s guidance and analysis and starting with commitments to global macro managers, CalSTRS is proceeding as well. The system has begun rolling out its initial investments, having hired fund-of-funds firm Lyxor Asset Management last year to develop a separate account platform and act as an adviser.