About

Aka & Associates works alongside institutional investors, asset managers and public institutions on portfolio strategy, investment decision-making, capital strategy and market development.

Founded by Jahangir Aka, the firm advises sovereign wealth funds, pensions, central banks, family offices and asset managers across both developed and emerging markets.

Our work spans both sides of the investment ecosystem, advising asset owners on portfolio strategy and investment committee decision-making, while translating evolving asset-owner priorities into capital strategy and market development for asset managers.

Our Approach

Institutional depth

Experience advising sovereign wealth funds, pensions, central banks, family offices and global asset managers across public and private markets.

Institutional Perspective

Understanding how investment priorities, governance structures and decision-making differ across institutions, markets and investment environments.

Senior-level engagement

Acting as a strategic adviser to boards, investment committees and executive teams during periods of market change, institutional growth and strategic decision-making.

Senior Practitioners

Aka & Associates brings together senior practitioners with experience across asset ownership, investment management, portfolio strategy and institutional decision-making.

Jahangir Aka

Jahangir Aka

Investment professional and strategic adviser with over 25 years of experience across asset management, global capital markets and institutional investing. Advises asset owners and asset managers on portfolio strategy, investment decision-making, capital strategy and market development.

in LinkedIn
Paul O'Brien

Paul O'Brien

Institutional investor and investment committee practitioner with senior experience across sovereign wealth, public pensions and global investment management. Former Deputy CIO at ADIA, bringing a long-term asset-owner perspective to portfolio strategy, investment decision-making and investment committee effectiveness.

in LinkedIn

Jahangir Aka

Jahangir Aka is an investment professional and strategic adviser with over 25 years’ experience across asset management, global capital markets and financial services. He has held senior leadership roles at Neuberger Berman, SEI Investments and Standard Chartered, building and scaling businesses across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

At Neuberger Berman, he served as Managing Director and Global Head of Official Institutions, advising sovereign wealth funds, central banks and pension funds on asset allocation, portfolio construction and investment strategy across public and private markets.

In 2025, he founded Aka & Associates, an independent advisory firm translating asset owner priorities into investment and capital strategies. The firm advises asset owners on portfolio strategy, investment decision-making and investment committee effectiveness, and works with asset managers on capital strategy and market development.

Jahangir is a frequent speaker at global investment forums and has appeared on Bloomberg and CNBC.

Paul O'Brien

Paul O'Brien is a Trustee, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, and member of the Investment Committee of the Wyoming Retirement System, the public pension fund supporting state and local employees in Wyoming. He is associated with the Institutional Investor Middle East Institute and is active as an adviser to major global institutional investors and as a conference speaker.

From 2009 until 2019, Paul was Head of Fixed Income Strategy and Deputy Chief Investment Officer at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He helped lead both strategic and tactical asset allocation, benchmark selection, portfolio construction, and research, as well as advising ADIA's Investment Committee. He managed a multi-national team of over 20 investment professionals with expertise across all asset classes as well as economics and quantitative methods.

Before joining ADIA Paul was a global fixed income portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) in London and West Conshohocken, PA. He worked with institutional investors around the world with a focus on interest rate and currency strategies.

Prior to that, he worked as an economist for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in Paris and in London as Head of Morgan's European economics team. Paul started his career as Economist and then Section Chief at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC. He worked in the Division of Monetary Affairs and regularly briefed the Board on monetary policy issues and developments in financial markets. While at the Federal Reserve he was seconded to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

Paul has a PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota. He attended the US Naval Academy and received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.