New Board Director Cheryl D. Alston Joins Tides Network

Tides Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Cheryl D. Alston to its board. Alston is the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Employees’ Retirement Fund (ERF) of the City of Dallas, a $3.6 billion pension fund. Alston is responsible for strategy development, finance, operations, and investments. She has held prior positions at CIGNA Corporation, and Chase Global Securities.

“Cheryl brings more than 25 years of valuable experience in the financial services industry to the Tides board,” said Tides Chair Tuti B. Scott. “Her deep finance and investment expertise will help Tides grow our impact and build a future in shared prosperity and social justice.”

Cheryl was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Advisory Committee and served two terms ending in 2016. The PBGC protects the retirement incomes of more than 44 million U.S. workers and has over $80 billion in assets. She also chairs the Finance and Strategy committee for a large Catholic health care system and chairs the investment committee for the Dallas Women’s Foundation.

Alston is a noted speaker on asset allocation, manager selection, and risk management. In 2016, she received Institutional Investors Investor Intelligence Network Award for her significant contributions to the industry through her work with emerging managers. Cheryl has also received the Pacesetter award from the National Association of Securities Professionals in 2018.

Alston has a MBA in Finance from The Leonard N. Stern School at New York University. She has B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Tides impact solutions include philanthropic giving and grantmaking, impact investing, fiscal sponsorship for social ventures, collaborative workspaces, and policy initiatives. Cheryl’s extensive financial background will help Tides push the boundaries with every dollar and idea to fuel real and lasting change,” said Tides CEO Kriss Deiglmeier.

The appointment of Alston brings the total number of Tides board directors to 16. Alston joined the board officially on August 1, 2018.