Builders Vision, the family office of billionaire Walmart heir Lukas Walton, has promoted Noelle Laing to chief investment officer. The Chicago-based organization, known for leveraging philanthropy and impact investing, focuses on advancing global solutions in clean energy, sustainable food systems, and ocean health.
Laing began her collaboration with Walton 12 years ago while managing impact investments for him at Cambridge Associates. She officially joined Builders Vision in 2019 and has served as CIO of the firm’s philanthropic division, Builders Initiative, since 2022. During her tenure, she redirected 90% of the $1.7 billion philanthropic endowment toward mission-aligned investments that support social and environmental objectives. Under her leadership, the team committed over $300 million to early-stage companies and investment managers aligned with the firm’s values.
In her expanded role, Laing will now oversee the full scope of the family office’s investments, including family trusts and the firm’s asset management division. Builders Asset Management, which manages a multibillion-dollar taxable portfolio, will fall under her purview, although the exact size of the portfolio remains undisclosed.
According to Walton, Laing’s leadership has been essential to the success of the firm’s investment strategies. Her promotion reflects a strategic effort to unify investment initiatives across the organization and create greater synergy in the pursuit of Builders Vision’s mission. She will oversee a team of roughly 20 investors, with plans to make several additional hires to bring the team’s total to nearly 30 professionals.
Builders Vision has evolved into a sophisticated family office with a scale and structure comparable to institutional investors. Laing emphasized the advantages of this scale, noting it enables the organization to support its core causes through a wide array of financial tools—ranging from nonprofit grants and venture investments to co-investments and allocations to specialized fund managers. This diversified approach provides strategic flexibility in achieving impact.
Recent investments include a backing of Norway’s Bluefront Equity, a sustainable seafood fund, and a $70 million debt co-guarantee for the Bahamas that allowed the government to finance marine conservation more affordably. Laing, who began her career at Cambridge Associates in 2003 and later held roles at the Red Cross and a pension fund, rejoined Cambridge in 2010 before joining Builders Vision.
She is among a growing cohort of women leading investments at top family offices, many of whom share roots at Cambridge Associates, a leading advisor to wealthy families and institutions.
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