A Pakistani-American woman, Saira Malik, has been named as chief investment officer (CIO) by Nuveen, a leading American asset manager that handles $1.2 trillion in equities, fixed income, real estate, private markets, natural resources, other alternatives and responsible investments.
Malik, who has 26 years of investment experience in portfolio management, global research and analyst roles, will be responsible for driving market and investment insights and delivering client asset allocation views from across the firm’s independent investment teams as she assumes the new position.
She will also lead the firm’s global investment committee to hatch actionable portfolio allocation ideas.
Malik will maintain her portfolio management and leadership responsibilities for Nuveen’s $450 billion global equity business, in addition to developing consensus views alongside colleagues from across the firm’s investment platform.
She will remain lead portfolio manager for the $132.95 billion CREF Stock strategy and a listed portfolio manager for the US$37.84 billion CREF Growth and US$27.21 billion CREF Global Equities strategies, said a statement issued by The Asset.
Born to Pakistani parents, Saira Malik sharing her early life story said: “I was advised by a career counsellor to skip university and go to community college”. She continues “I didn’t listen and went off to university instead, earning my series 7 and 63 registrations (investment broker licenses) by age 19. After graduating, every Wall Street firm to which I applied rejected me. Then I earned a master’s in finance and finally, a large firm hired me. It’s important to be persistent and it’s fine to reject bad advice. My grandmother was among the first class of women admitted to medical school in India, graduating with an M.D. in 1934. Her diploma hangs on a wall in my house. It wasn’t written for a woman; it was written for a man. On it, administrators crossed out the preprinted words ‘him’ and ‘his’ and replaced them with handwritten ‘her’ and ‘hers.’ To this day, that diploma inspires the women in my family.”
Saira attributes her interest in finance to her father’s habit of watching financial news channels. Last year, Ms Malik was included among Barron’s “100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance”.
Meanwhile, Pakistanis have shown praises to Saira Malik for his achievement.
Saira Malik an American Pakistani now chief investment officer of a $1.2 trillion fund. She was rejected by every Wall Street firm she applied to after her graduation…but here she is today…a shinning super star of the financial world. So inspiring.https://t.co/aPiAsPNfK3
— Fakhr-e-Alam S.I & S.E (@falamb3) February 17, 2022
Pakistani-American Saira Malik has been named chief investment officer of Nuveen which manages US$1.2 trillion in equities, fixed income, real estate….#PakistaniWomenShine #womenempowermenthttps://t.co/Uptlso0ep5
— Andleeb Abbas (@AndleebAbbas) February 17, 2022
