LEADERSHIP

Throughout her career, Ms. Etienne has operated at the highest levels of leadership in the investment management business.

Prior to founding Daraja Capital, Ms. Etienne served as a Senior Advisor / Senior Director at the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), a global strategy firm where she focused on expanding opportunities in the investment sector both for ASG and its clients.

Prior to ASG, Ms. Etienne was the first African-American woman to serve as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), the third-largest public pension fund in the United States with assets of $254.1 billion as of June 30, 2023. As CIO, she oversaw all aspects of CRF’s investment strategy and operations. She broke new ground during her tenure, innovating new investment strategies that led to the creation of several multi-billion-dollar, multi-strategy funds investing in emerging/diverse managers, opportunistic/unconstrained strategies as well as sustainable investment opportunities.

Prior to serving the CIO for the New York State CRF, Ms. Etienne was a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Non-traditional Investment Group at institutional consultant Rogerscasey in Connecticut, which is now Segal Marco. She led consulting relationships for public and corporate retirement systems on issues of investment policy and governance, asset-liability management and asset allocation, and investment manager selection and monitoring. During her time there, she advised the state of Connecticut on the creation of the Horizon Funds Program, which has become a very successful, multi-billion emerging manager program today known as the Connecticut Inclusive Investment Initiative.

Ms. Etienne currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Janus Henderson Funds, and on the board of Brightwood Capital Advisors, a capital provider to U.S.-based middle-market enterprises. She also serves on the investment committee for the Board of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art’s Endowment Investment Committee. She has previously held Board positions at the Van Alen Institute, the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, the Toigo Foundation Governing Board, the International Accounting Standards Board and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board's Financial Crisis Advisory Group.

​Ms. Etienne earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance from the University of California at Berkeley where she was a Toigo Foundation Fellow.