Paul Cavazos
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- Full Name
- Paul B. Cavazos
- Title
- Senior Vice President & Chief Investment Officer
- Firm
- American Beacon Advisors, Inc.
- Firm Type
- SEC-registered investment adviser / asset manager; open-architecture “manager of managers” platform
- Investment Stage
- Public-market and institutional asset-management mandates; not verified as a seed-stage startup investor
- Target Company Profile
- Institutional-caliber active asset managers and sub-advisors with differentiated strategies, durable philosophy/process/people, consistent discipline, and capacity to serve U.S. wealth and retirement channels
- Sector Focus
- Equities, fixed income, alternatives, money market, liquid alternatives, private investments, mutual funds, ETFs, interval funds, collective investment trusts, model delivery, and separate accounts
- Geographic Focus
- U.S. wealth and retirement markets; domestic and international public-market strategies
- Location
- Irving, Texas
Background
Paul B. Cavazos serves as senior vice president and chief investment officer of American Beacon Advisors. He also serves as vice president of the American Beacon Funds complex and is a member of the companies’ Product Management Committee. In this role, he oversees investment sub-advisors to the American Beacon Funds and corporate pension plan investments.
Cavazos joined American Beacon in June 2016 and was named vice president of the American Beacon Funds in August 2016. Before American Beacon, he was chief investment officer and assistant treasurer at DTE Energy Company in Detroit, where he developed asset-allocation strategies and had fiduciary oversight for DTE’s approximately $10 billion in retirement trust assets.
Earlier, Cavazos was chief investment officer at Navistar, responsible for investment aspects of approximately $5 billion in retirement trust assets. His prior experience also includes investment and finance roles at The Boeing Company and Chrysler Corporation. In 2014, he received Chief Investment Officer magazine’s CIO Industry Innovation Award of the Year.
Cavazos earned an MBA in Finance from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in Finance from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He is a member and current director of the Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets, where he served as board chair from October 2020 to October 2022 after previously serving as vice chair.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- American Beacon’s platform is open-architecture: it selects external managers for each strategy, either as single specialists or complementary teams of sub-advisors.
- Cavazos’ diligence lens is manager-focused rather than startup-company-focused: leadership biography and podcast descriptions emphasize manager searches, due diligence, risk-control oversight, style discipline, and process durability.
- His stated investment-process framing: “Driven by a trusted fiduciary mindset,” American Beacon partners with institutional-caliber managers, performs rigorous due diligence, maintains disciplined style, and seeks competitive pricing.
- American Beacon says it evaluates investment managers quarterly, reviewing performance, adherence to investment philosophy, and continuity of management teams.
- In a May 2026 Bloomberg Intelligence podcast, Cavazos discussed why philosophy, process, and people matter more than recent returns when distinguishing durable investment managers from managers benefiting from favorable markets.
- American Beacon works with more than 25 sub-advisors and reported $65.1 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026.
Notable Investments
- American Beacon Funds sub-advisor platform: Cavazos oversees sub-advisors to American Beacon’s mutual funds and ETFs; the platform works with more than 25 sub-advisors across equities, fixed income, alternatives, and money market strategies.
- American Beacon International Equity Fund: Cavazos is listed by Fidelity as a fund manager with tenure since December 31, 2016; the fund includes multiple external managers and international public-equity exposure.
- Lazard Asset Management mandate: A March 2024 SEC-filed investment advisory agreement lists Cavazos signing for American Beacon Advisors in connection with Lazard Asset Management’s sub-advisory role for the American Beacon International Equity Fund.
- SSI Alternative Income Fund fee-waiver arrangement: A July 2025 SEC filing lists Cavazos signing for American Beacon Funds in an amendment involving SSI Investment Management and the American Beacon SSI Alternative Income Fund.
- Pender Capital Management partnership: American Beacon Partners announced on January 15, 2026 a strategic distribution partnership with Pender Capital Management to support the Pender Real Estate Credit Fund, focused on short-term senior secured commercial real estate bridge loans.
- City National Rochdale fund oversight transactions: On May 21, 2026, American Beacon Advisors announced planned transactions to assume management oversight of three City National Rochdale funds, subject to shareholder approval and customary conditions.
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