Global Impact Awards
The Kroner and Koenigsberger Center for Financial Research
Theme: Beyond Citations
Research Initiative Summary
The Kroner and Koenigsberger Center for Financial Research (KKCFR) empowers pension funds worldwide with data-driven insights that enhance retirement outcomes and financial resilience. By translating rigorous academic research into practical investment strategies, the center advances social good through improved financial security for retirees and future generations.
Inspiration for Research Initiative
The inspiration for the KKCFR began with a deeply personal moment for its founder, Ken Kroner. Before establishing the center, Kroner built a distinguished career at the intersection of academia and industry. He served as a senior managing director at BlackRock, where he led multiasset strategies and scientific active equities and was a member of the firm’s global executive and operating committees. Earlier, at Barclays Global Investors—which BlackRock acquired in 2009—he oversaw asset allocation, hedge fund, and client solutions businesses.
Kroner began his professional journey as a professor of economics and finance at the University of Arizona, where he developed a lifelong interest in using financial research to improve real-world decision-making. Kroner recounts a pivotal conversation with his father, a retired firefighter, that reshaped his understanding of finance’s true purpose. When his father proudly shared that his best-performing retirement investment was one of Ken’s own funds, he was struck by a realization.
“I told my dad, ‘That’s my fund! I manage that fund,’” Kroner recalls. “In that moment, I realized that we weren’t managing money for companies; we were managing futures—for people like my dad who worked hard their entire lives. We need to get this right. And if academia doesn’t address the questions that matter, commercial interests will fill that gap.” That moment became the seed for the Kroner and Koenigsberger Center for Financial Research, founded at the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management. Kroner envisioned a center where independent, rigorous research would guide pension funds toward better, more sustainable investment decisions, improving financial outcomes for millions of retirees.
To bring this vision to life, Kroner partnered with Andrew Karolyi, then editor of the Review of Financial Studies (now dean at Cornell University’s SC Johnson School of Management), who shared his concern that academic finance too often failed to translate into societal benefit. Karolyi became the founding chair of the Academic Advisory Council. Kroner then collaborated with Michael Melvin, a former colleague at BlackRock and faculty member at Rady, to establish the center at UC San Diego.
Their idea quickly gained momentum when Christopher Ailman, chief investment officer (CIO) of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, joined as founding chair of the CIO Advisory Council, and Robert Koenigsberger, founder of Gramercy Funds Management, became chair of the Industry Advisory Council and a major benefactor. With three advisory councils in place and Graham Elliott, a professor from UC San Diego’s Department of Economics, as co-director, the center was formally launched.
The KKCFR now stands as a living embodiment of Kroner’s insight—that finance research should advance the public good, bridging theory and practice to strengthen retirement security and promote evidence-based investment decisions worldwide.
Description of Research Initiative
The KKCFR was designed from the outset to redefine how academic research engages with real-world financial challenges. Its most distinctive innovation lies in its reverse research model, where CIOs and industry leaders, not academics, identify the most pressing issues facing global pension funds. This structure ensures that every research project is grounded in practical relevance, addressing the long-term financial security of millions of retirees worldwide.
Each September, KKCFR convenes its CIO Advisory Council and Industry Advisory Council at the Rady School of Management to identify the top three research priorities of the year—issues where independent, data-driven insight is most urgently needed. The center’s directors then collaborate with the Academic Advisory Council to issue a call for proposals to the global academic community. Faculty proposals are reviewed by the Academic Council, and the three most promising projects receive KKCFR support—covering summer salary, research assistants, specialized data, and travel to the center’s annual meetings.
This model ensures that academic rigor meets industry need, fostering research that is both publishable in leading journals and actionable for practitioners. The center’s annual cycle of engagement strengthens this bridge between scholarship and practice:
- January Symposium: Researchers present near-final results from the prior year’s funded projects alongside new proposals. CIOs and academics engage in open, evidence-based dialogue, translating findings into actionable insights for pension fund management. Each symposium also includes a keynote from a leading scholar outside finance, broadening the intellectual perspective. In 2025, for example, a University of Chicago professor and scientific director at Argonne National Laboratory discussed “The Global Race for Better Batteries,” highlighting how financial systems intersect with innovation in sustainability.
- Spring Workshop: The newly funded research teams present progress updates to the Industry Advisory Council, receiving practitioner feedback to ensure real-world relevance and usability.
- September Roundtable: Researchers deliver mid-project updates, while CIOs review findings and collectively set the next year’s research agenda. The 2025 keynote, by a UC San Diego professor of pediatrics and director of the Gene Therapy Initiative, explored “Gene Therapy: Transforming Treatment for Rare and Common Diseases,” demonstrating the center’s interdisciplinary ethos.
- Following the September meeting, a new call for proposals is issued, and projects are selected in November, completing the annual cycle.
Since its founding in 2019, the KKCFR has delivered rigorous, independent, and impactful research that shapes both academic thinking and global pension fund strategy. By placing asset owners at the center of agenda-setting, the center has created a unique ecosystem of engagement and impact, exemplifying AACSB’s values of innovation, impact, and engagement. It is a living model of how business schools can advance social good—ensuring that academic insight directly improves the financial futures of millions worldwide.
Impact of Research Initiative
The KKCFR has created a new model for socially impactful finance research. By linking academia directly with the decision-makers responsible for managing more than two trillion dollars in pension assets, the center ensures that scholarly insight translates into better outcomes for retirees and society. KKCFR’s stakeholders form a unique triad of influence:
- A CIO Advisory Council of leaders from 11 major pension funds that collectively represent global asset owners
- An Industry Advisory Council of senior executives from firms such as Gramercy Funds, Morgan Stanley, D.E. Shaw & Co., and Meketa Investment Group
- An Academic Advisory Council of distinguished scholars from institutions including UC San Diego, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Toronto
Since 2019, the center has sponsored 16 research projects, each proposed by CIOs seeking independent analysis on issues where academic insight can drive positive change. These projects go far beyond publication: They directly shape institutional investment policy and practiceThree of these impactful projects demonstrate the efficacy of the center’s method:
- Driving Environmental Impact through Engagement: Leaders from a consortium of pension funds debated whether to divest from fossil-fuel companies or remain invested and advocate for change. CIOs requested rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of shareholder engagement. KKCFR sponsored the study “Real Effects of Environmental Activist Investing,” conducted by researchers at London Business School and Rice University. The findings show that sustained ownership and engagement lead to measurable reductions in corporate environmental harm. One member fund leader used this research to persuade its investment board to favor engagement over divestment, producing tangible environmental benefits while preserving portfolio value.
- Advancing Diversity Without Sacrificing Returns: Another KKCFR-funded project, “Diversity and Inclusion and Portfolio Returns: Is There a Trade-off?” examined whether investing with “emerging managers”—firms led by women or underrepresented groups—imposes a performance cost. The research found no statistically significant difference in returns compared with the broader industry. CIOs now use these independent results to justify greater allocations to emerging managers, thereby expanding opportunity and representation in global asset management.
- Reevaluating the Role of Active Management: As passive investing gained momentum, several pension fund leaders questioned whether higher-fee active strategies could still deliver value. KKCFR sponsored “The Case for Actively Managed Funds,” which showed that when CIOs identify and retain top-tier active managers, net returns can outperform index strategies. This evidence empowered fund leaders to make data-driven, cost-effective decisions rather than adopting passive management by default.
Across all projects, the center’s impact is clear: Research becomes practice. KKCFR’s collaborative model has improved how pension funds integrate environmental, social, and governance factors; diversify manager representation; and optimize asset-allocation strategies. By ensuring that rigorous academic research directly informs fiduciary Kroner and Koenigsberger Center for Financial Research, the center advances both financial and societal well-being—demonstrating impact, engagement, and innovation.