NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's eight most innovative institutional investors for 2012 (http://ai-cio.com/Class_of_2012.aspx) were named at the third annual aiCIO Industry Innovation Awards Dinner, held at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown New York City yesterday evening.

Spanning eight categories, the winners included:

From hundreds of nominees, the award winners were selected by aiCIO magazine and prominent executives formerly associated with the IBM Retirement System, Guggenheim Investments, Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System and EDS pension fund.

"One commonality among this year's winners is their tendency to defy expectations," according to Kip McDaniel, aiCIO editor-in-chief. He noted that few people would expect a world class foundation to be run by individuals in their early 30s or for groundbreaking strategies to emanate from a massive government pension plan or miniscule sovereign wealth fund.

"In an industry changing at warp speed, these eight institutions are at the vanguard," McDaniel added.

About aiCIO
An online and print provider of news, information and proprietary survey data, aiCIO focuses on the 5,000 largest pools of capital in the world, across pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, insurance funds and other leading institutional investors. aiCIO is edited by Kip McDaniel. Please visit www.ai-cio.com/

About Asset International
Asset International is a privately-held provider of information and technology to global pension funds, asset managers, financial advisers, banking service providers, and other financial institutions in the private and public sector. Its industry-leading brands include Strategic Insight, SIMFUND, Plan For Life, PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER, aiCIO, Philanthropy Management, Global Custodian, and The Trade. The company has offices in New York, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne and Stamford, CT.

SOURCE aiCIO