Onay Payne (she/her) is a seasoned finance and real estate executive with more than 25 years of experience in private markets investment management, client engagement, product innovation, and talent development.

She most recently served as Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Manulife Investment Management, a global investment firm with $1.3 trillion in assets under management. As a member of Manulife’s Private Markets Global Real Estate Leadership Team, she led the development of impact investment strategies. Prior to joining Manulife, she was Managing Director of Real Estate at Lafayette Square, a private credit platform investing in businesses and communities to stimulate growth and create long-term value. There, she launched and led the firm’s real estate division and played a key role in talent development across the platform.

Earlier in her career, Payne was an Equity Partner and Managing Director at Clarion Partners, a leading global real estate investment manager. Over 19 years, she oversaw $10 billion in assets across separate accounts and co-mingled investment mandates covering all major property types. Fluent in Spanish, she directed investments across the U.S. and Mexico, bringing cross-cultural fluency and a global perspective to institutional and retail strategies. Her leadership at Clarion spanned portfolio management, investment structuring, finance, reporting, and risk management, and she served on the firm’s Investment and Career Management Committees.

A Jamaican immigrant who rose through the New York public school system to earn degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Business School, Payne began her career in 1997. A former competitive college rugby player and semi-professional dancer, she continues to align her personal passions with her professional expertise as Chair of MMDG’s Audit & Finance Committee.