Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Program

Lead investment strategy across markets, risk, governance, and AI.

The Chief Investment Officer Program prepares senior investment leaders to operate at the CIO level, where judgment must be held under scrutiny and under stress.

The Chicago Booth Executive Education program moves from first principles to practice: defining the opportunity set, translating investment beliefs into allocation and implementation choices, and defending decisions before boards and investment committees with clear, disciplined logic. The program gives special attention to two forces reshaping the CIO role: the use of AI to strengthen investment workflows, and the capacity to make sound decisions through crisis and regime change.

Participants leave with the frameworks, judgment, and communication discipline to lead when markets shift, technologies disrupt, and stakeholders demand results.

Applications for the upcoming cohort are now open. Invest in Your Future Now

In partnership with Global Alumni.

The Chief Investment Officer Program prepares investment leaders to move into broader portfolio, governance, and investment-decision responsibilities at the CIO level. Following the logic of the CIO role, participants learn to define the opportunity set, translate investment beliefs into allocation and implementation choices, govern risk and liquidity, prepare for regime change, and defend decisions before stakeholders. The program also examines where AI and advanced analytics can strengthen investment workflows and where they introduce new model, data, governance, and cybersecurity risks for their firms.

By the end of the program, you will be better prepared to lead investment functions and make high-stakes, data-driven decisions with clarity and discipline.

The program is designed as a progressive learning journey that moves from foundational asset strategy to portfolio policy, implementation, governance, regime-change stress testing, AI-enabled decision support, and capstone defense.

Live Online Sessions (14 sessions over 10 weeks)

Two live online sessions per week (90 minutes each); Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8–9:30 a.m. CT

Course 1: Asset Landscape (4 sessions over 2 weeks)

Examine public, private, and real assets while exploring the market forces, investment beliefs, and constraints that shape portfolio decisions.

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Course 2: Portfolio Design and Management (6 sessions over 3 weeks)

Design institutional portfolios through asset allocation, manager selection, risk management, and performance evaluation.

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Course 3: Regulations, Taxes, and Governance (2 sessions over 1 week)

Examine the regulatory, tax, fiduciary, and governance frameworks that influence investment decisions.

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Course 4: Risk, Crisis, and Regime Change (2 sessions over 1 week)

Explore how CIOs respond when the assumptions underpinning portfolio strategy are stressed or challenged by changing market conditions. Examine how to recognize signals of regime change, adjust institutional posture, preserve liquidity and optionality, activate governance triggers, and communicate with boards and investment committees under uncertainty.

Modules:

Live sessions will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 8–9:30 a.m. CT. Participants will be notified of any schedule changes.

On-Campus Immersion (2 days)

Engage in an immersive, application-focused learning experience that brings together AI, leadership, and the capstone project through instructor-led discussions, interactive exercises, and practical investment scenarios.

AI Investment Leadership: Evaluate practical applications of traditional machine learning, generative AI, and agentic systems across the investment lifecycle, including market monitoring, manager selection, portfolio analysis, decision support, and risk governance.

CIO Leadership Class + Capstone Defense: Examine stakeholder dynamics and high-stakes communication in the CIO role, including board and investment committee dynamics and crisis communication. The day culminates in a capstone simulation in which participants defend a stress-tested Investment Policy Statement before a mock investment committee, practicing the discipline required to explain and defend investment decisions under regime-change conditions.

Capstone Project

As a culminating experience, participants develop an Investment Policy Statement that reflects the major decisions of the CIO role: investment beliefs and constraints, portfolio objectives, strategic allocation, implementation architecture, manager oversight, liquidity and rebalancing policy, governance triggers, and risk posture. The IPS is stress-tested against a regime-change scenario and defended before a mock investment committee during the on-campus experience.

This program is designed for senior investment decision-makers responsible for institutional capital and for experienced investment professionals moving into broader portfolio, governance, and stakeholder-facing responsibilities, including: