Equally at home in the boardroom, on the water, or out in the scrublands, Kathryn shares with us her best memories and life lessons from GIC and beyond.
If you think about what the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a big investment company does for fun, you might imagine golf games at the country club, champagne brunches, or theatre outings with high-society friends.
But Kathryn Leaf, 51, is built different. To the CEO of private markets investor Pantheon, a great time involves venturing far from civilisation.
“I am lucky to have incredible trails – redwoods, lakes, ocean bluffs, and rolling hills – right outside our home. One of my greatest joys is being out on the mountain on a winding trail. I stay out as long as my legs can take it!” says Kathryn, who lives in California.
Kathryn showed a penchant for sports as long ago as 1995, when she joined the Women’s Boat Race – an annual rowing race between Cambridge University Boat Club and Oxford University Women’s Boat Club. The event celebrates its 100-year anniversary next year.
Reflecting on her experience with the Oxford women’s lightweight crew, she says: “It was a transformative experience that gave me the confidence to continue to step up to new challenges. I’m glad I took the risk of putting my name down on that sign-up sheet 30 years ago. That decision played a big role in who I am today.”
Kathryn in her element – the great outdoors.
Her confident and adventurous mentality continues to serve her well in her current role at Pantheon, which has assets under management of about US$85 billion and over 40 years of history. The firm invests in private equity, infrastructure, and credit across more than 3,600 funds, holds over 680 advisory board seats, and employs about 550 people in 14 offices.
Kathryn joined Pantheon in 2008 from GIC, where she was a Vice President in the North American Private Equity team in the San Francisco Office.
Back then, Pantheon hired her for a special mission: to build the firm’s infrastructure platform, which at that time was “an idea on a blank piece of paper”.
That year, of course, was also when the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) happened. “In hindsight, I was somewhat naive about the challenges of raising a first-time fund in a new asset class with the GFC as our backdrop!” Kathryn quips.
Undeterred, Kathryn pressed on, traveling the world several times over to look for investors. A year later, she got her first close on the fund, and it was officially in business.
“That was genuinely exciting,” says Kathryn. “There was no established buyer universe for infrastructure secondaries at that point, and we were effectively helping to create the market which the GFC helped to unlock.”
The infrastructure platform Kathryn created has since grown to become one of the largest of its kind globally. Her success led to her taking on the role of Co-Head of the Investment Team, and in 2025, she became CEO.
But she hasn’t forgotten the foundations laid earlier in her career at GIC. Indeed, her connection to GIC couldn’t be stronger – she’s married to Eric Wilmes, GIC’s current President (Americas). They have two children – Adelaide,16, and Jack, 14 – and as a family, they visited Singapore for the first time last winter.
Highly urbanised Singapore isn’t their typical choice of holiday destination though. Kathryn’s children are a chip off the old block and enjoy going with their parents on their expeditions off the beaten path.
“My idea of a holiday is to put on a backpack and head off into the wilderness – ideally with no cell coverage. As a family, we enjoy the outdoors and have made the most of our summer holidays doing some combination of hiking, rafting, or camping,” Kathryn says.
From left to right: Jack, Eric, Kathryn, Adelaide.
It seems fitting that Kathryn, who started a fund from scratch during one of the worst recessions ever, is inspiring the next generation to adopt the same journeyman spirit of courage and exploration that has propelled her career to where it is.
And she credits GIC, and the colleagues she met at the firm, for imparting valuable early lessons that she could take with her.
We hear more from her about this formative period in her career.
I have lots of great memories from my time with GIC. One memory that stands out was lunchtime and sharing fabulous Asian food (although no comparison to what you can find in Singapore!).
I worked in the Redwood Shores office in the Bay Area as a member of the North American private equity team, and at that time my boss was Tay Lim Hock. Lim Hock would insist on going out for a team lunch in the neighborhood. We would all climb into his car and drive off to a local lunch spot – Chinese, Thai, Indian – most often a non-descript venue on the outside but with great food inside and a lively lunch conversation.
Taking the time to have lunch with my colleagues was a much-welcomed cultural change after having spent the bulk of my career hunched over my computer for lunch with a bland sandwich or soup. I came to realise that a career is a marathon, and it’s the small moments with colleagues along the way that make a lasting impact.
My time at GIC was formative in a couple of ways.
First, it helped me understand what it means to be a fiduciary. Sitting on the client side of the table, I came to appreciate what institutional investors really care about. Of course, it is returns (which are table-stakes in our industry), but it is also the need for a trusted and transparent partnership, open lines of communication, and making sure you have a robust alignment of interests.
I also always welcomed a little humility from the external fund managers I covered. The reality in our industry is that everyone makes some mistakes along the way, and the fund managers who acknowledge the missteps and learn from them have an opportunity to build a more robust investment program over time and a deeper partnership with clients. One of the things that attracted me to Pantheon was the firm’s client-first approach, and this is a key part of our culture that I have been very focused on continuing to cultivate.
The other thing I took away was a deep respect for GIC’s strategic planning and vision. When I joined, the firm was already a leader in private markets. What struck me over time was that the firm never assumed that this leadership position was permanent.
There was a genuine culture of strategic self-challenge and thinking five, ten, even fifteen years out. This meant looking around the corner, identifying what skills and capabilities were needed, and then committing to making it happen.
It’s a powerful mix of both strategic vision and also strong execution. When I was there, the firm expanded into co-investments and moved into new asset classes like infrastructure. In my new role, I have sought to instill the same strategic approach, encouraging my teams to dream bigger and bolder and to commit to a plan.
Kathryn at Pantheon’s Singapore office.
I was fortunate to overlap with a lot of great GIC alumni. While I was at GIC, I worked closely with Tay Lim Hock (whom I saw late last year in Singapore for breakfast), John Tang, Suzi Kwon, Heidi Miskin, Yvonne O’Mara, Yar Ping Soo, and David Chiang. We were a small, collegial team, and it was fun being part of GIC in those years.
I think it genuinely matters. Finance is a relationship business, and the people you work alongside early in your career tend to stay with you in a way that later professional relationships don’t quite replicate.
Beyond the personal connections, alumni networks matter because the world is smaller than it looks. Former colleagues reappear as counterparts, as clients, as collaborators in ways you never anticipated, and staying connected means those moments of overlap are warm rather than cold. And frankly, it’s just good to know what people are up to and to stay in touch.