Mike Pia, a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the son of a career Marine Skyhawk pilot, assumed the role of chief investment officer of the Texas A&M Foundation in May of 2020. In this role, Pia leads the investment team and drives critical investment and team decisions to ensure the long-term success of the Foundation’s endowment. Annually, the Foundation’s ~$3 billion endowment provides over $100 million directly to the Texas A&M University ecosystem to support donor-directed impacts across the student body, faculty, and campus.
Prior to the Foundation, Pia held a variety of roles over a 13-year span within the Investment Management Division (IMD) at Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Texas, including chief of staff as well as managing director of Strategic Partnerships & Research. As managing director, he spearheaded the management and engagement of the Trust’s six largest and most complex relationships, which at the time compromised more than $15 billion of assets in both public and private strategies. Additionally, Pia served as chairman of the IMD’s Management Committee as well as a voting member of the Trust’s Internal Investment Committee.
Before his investment career, Pia worked in the defense industry with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as software/systems engineer. He was a senior member of the JSF Lethality IPT within the operations research team at the inception of the program. He also spent time on the Information Operations team within Lockheed Aero’s Skunk Works (Advanced Development Programs).
Pia started his professional career as Naval Aviator in the United States Marine Corps serving on active duty for eleven years as a Hornet WSO, finishing a 20-year career in the Reserves and retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. While on active duty, he twice deployed to support NATO operations over Bosnia as well as floating with the 24th MEU to the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf as BLT 3/6’s air officer. His final active-duty assignment was as a flight instructor in Pensacola, FL. Pia was also deployed as a reservist in 2004, activating to support OIF II as a liaison in the CAOC in Al Udeid, Qatar.
In addition to holding a CFA Charter, and a CAIA designation, Mike earned an MBA from Texas Christian University, an M.S. in software engineering from the University of West Florida and a B.S. in mechanical engineering (With Distinction) from the U.S. Naval Academy.
He is married to the former Patricia Stock of Corpus Christi, TX, where they both went to high school. They currently reside in College Station, TX and have two adult Aggie daughters (and two grandkids).