Cassandra Lichnock is the first female chief executive officer of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

As CEO, Lichnock builds and executes strategy, delivers on operational excellence, and maintains a strong relationship with the Teachers’ Retirement Board. She leads organizational efforts to modernize CalSTRS systems and processes, build on the pension fund’s commitments to sustainability, and focus on evolving CalSTRS’ culture.

Lichnock joined CalSTRS in 2008 as the human resources executive officer and served as chief operating officer from March 2013 until her 2021 appointment as CEO, Lichnock has also held a variety of key positions throughout her career with the State of California.

A native of California, Lichnock holds a bachelor of arts in management from Golden Gate University, San Francisco; an executive certificate in technology operations and value chain management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and certificates in human resource management from Golden Gate University and labor management relations from the University of California, Davis.

Cassandra Lichnock

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Cassandra Lichnock

Will Farrell

Federated Hermes
Assistant Manager, EOS
London

Will co-leads the climate change theme at EOS, the stewardship arm of Federated Hermes Limited, where his coverage includes companies in Europe and Australia, primarily financial services, energy, chemicals, and materials. Prior to joining EOS, Will worked in the energy and infrastructure investment banking team at Macquarie Capital, where he specialised in renewable energy. Before that, Will held a number of roles across the UK climate policy space, including as a parliamentary researcher for Rt. Hon. Chris Skidmore MP on climate and energy issues, and as a climate and economic policy analyst at a diplomatic institute. He was appointed as a voluntary adviser to Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26, on preparations for COP26 after co-founding a Westminster climate policy group in 2019, which engaged MPs and Members of the House of Lords to advocate for more ambition on climate action in public policy. Will has a Bachelor’s degree (1st Class Honours) in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.