Ben Meng is executive vice president, chairman of Asia Pacific, head of Global Private Equity and the executive sponsor of Sustainability for Franklin Templeton. Dr. Meng is responsible for expanding the firm’s investment offerings and client reach in the Asia Pacific region, with a particular focus on leading private equity, venture capital and other alternative asset investment capabilities.
He leads Franklin Templeton’s China business, including the firm’s joint ventures and Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise. Additionally, Dr. Meng leads the Franklin Templeton Global Private Equity group and supports efforts to expand the reach of the firm’s tailored solutions for the firm’s institutional clients globally. Dr. Meng reports to the CEO and is a member of Franklin Templeton’s Executive Committee, a small group of the company’s top leaders responsible for shaping the firm’s overall strategy.
Dr. Meng has more than two decades of experience working in the global finance industry across three continents, including extensive experience in Asia Pacific, as well as a strong track record for delivering results across a broad range of asset classes. He has served in top investment roles at two of the largest asset owners in the world. Previously, Dr. Meng was Chief Investment Officer for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). Most recently, he served as Director of Eight Sequoias LLC, an independent firm providing consulting services to the financial industry. He is currently a member of the ESG Advisory Council of Novata, a company that empowers the collection, analysis, benchmarking and reporting of ESG data in private markets, as well as the Customer Advisory Council of PortageBay, an AI ESG solution that provides evidence-based sustainability analytics.
Dr. Meng holds a Master of Financial Engineering degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Davis. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Investment Management and frequently teaches at top business schools globally such as the Haas School of Business, where he received the 2014 Cheit Award of Excellence in Teaching. He is the Citi Visiting Chair in International Business at the Schwarzman College. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee of 100.