Aaron DiCenzo Named Interim CIO of STRS Ohio

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio has chosen Aaron DiCenzo as the fund’s interim CIO, a spokesperson for the fund told CIO. The appointment will be announced at a February 20 investment committee meeting, according to board meeting materials.

DiCenzo, currently head of alternative investments, will take on the role as interim CIO on April 1. DiCenzo will assume the duties of Matt Worley, the fund’s current CIO, whose resignation is effective March 31. Worley and Lynn Hoover, then the fund’s chief financial officer and acting executive director, announced their resignations in September 2024. Hoover left the organization on December 1, 2024.

“Matt and Aaron are working closely in many areas, including asset liability study, policies and guidelines, departmental budget, associate performance appraisals, investment strategy and board meeting preparation to ensure a smooth transition,” the fund’s board meeting materials stated.

The teachers’ pension fund manages $97.8 billion in assets as of the end of January, according to the board meeting materials. In 2024, the fund achieved a 9.98% return.

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STRS Ohio had a rocky 2024: The pension fund faced investigations, significant staff turnover, allegations of board members conspiring to allocate billions of dollars of assets to inexperienced investors and ire from beneficiaries over the fund’s lack of a cost-of-living adjustment over the past few years.

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Tags: Aaron DiCenzo, CIO, Lynn Hoover, Matt Worley, Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (OSTRS)

The investment performance of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund rebounded sharply in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, more than offsetting a dismal second quarter that was the pension giant’s worst period since the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. The 4.3% Q3 return raised the pension giant’s asset value by 10,703.2 billion yen ($69.9 billion) to total $1.69 trillion.

A rally in foreign equities holdings helped fuel the GPIF’s robust return for the quarter that ended December 31, 2024, surging 8.96% after losing 5.35% the previous quarter, but it was nine basis points shy of its benchmark’s performance. Domestic equities returned 5.55% after dropping 4.92% in the second quarter and edged out the benchmark performance by 12 basis points. Foreign bonds gained 4.12% following a 5.51% loss the prior quarter but beat the benchmark by 10 basis points.

Domestic bonds were the only assets that did not post a gain in the third quarter, losing 1.33%, just two basis points shy of the benchmark’s return, after gaining 1.42% in the second quarter.

For the first three quarters of fiscal 2024, the GPIF’s total return is 4.26%, which produced an investment gain of $69 billion. The fund’s performance for the third quarter alone was more than the three quarters combined because of the Q2 loss. During the three quarters, the foreign equity portfolio has returned 13.41%, earning $53.6 billion for the pension fund but still performing below it benchmark’s 13.81% return. Foreign bonds were a distant second with a 3.79% return, adding $15.5 billion to the pension fund’s asset value and topping the benchmark’s return of 3.68%, while domestic equities rose 2.12%, contributing $9.1 billion to the coffers and beating the benchmark by 16 basis points.

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Lagging behind over the three quarters were domestic bonds, which lost 2.32% during the period, erasing $9.4 billion from the GPIF’s asset value but still beating their benchmark, which lost 2.42% during the period.

As of the end of September 2024, the pension fund’s asset allocation was 25.51% to domestic bonds, down from 26.74% in the second quarter, while domestic equities accounted for 24.99%, compared with 23.98% the previous quarter. The fund’s foreign bonds’ allocation was 24.58%, up from 24.30%, while the GPIF’s foreign equity holdings accounted for 24.93% of the portfolio, down slightly from 25% the previous quarter.

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Tags: foreign equities, Government Pension Investment Fund, GPIF, Japan