MetLife Investment Management (MIM), the institutional asset management arm of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), has appointed Chris Aiken as head of Real Estate Equity Strategies. Aiken will report to Andrea Drasites, global head of Real Estate and Agricultural Finance.

In his new role, Aiken will lead MIM's direct property investment platform and oversee investing activities for MetLife's general account and third-party institutional investors across core, core-plus, build-to-core, value-add, and opportunistic strategies.

Aiken previously served as head of Acquisitions for MIM's Real Estate Equity Strategies Group. Before joining MIM, he was a managing director at Safanad, where he oversaw investment activities across multiple real estate strategies. He also held real estate investment roles at BlackRock and Salomon Smith Barney.

MIM's real estate portfolio had $106.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2026. The firm reported $736.3 billion in total assets under management as of the same date.

Aiken holds an M.S. in Real Estate Finance from New York University and a B.A. in Business Administration from Morehouse College. He is a co-chair of the Membership Committee for the Real Estate Executive Council and a member of the Urban Land Institute's Urban Development Mixed-Use Council.