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Pensions

CalPERS Prepares for 2nd Round of CIO Interviews

With the CIO position vacant since September 2023, a second set of interviews will be held on February 28.
By Matthew Toledo

Following two days of first-round interviews in January, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System will hold a second round of interviews for its vacant CIO position later this month, according to the fund board’s meeting calendar.

The calendar has second-round interviews scheduled for February 28.

The largest pension fund in the U.S. has been without a CIO since Nicole Musicco’s resignation in September 2023, after 18 months in the position. The fund’s CIO has been something of a revolving door, with three different CIOs in the last 10 years.

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CalPERS Deputy CIO Dan Bienvenue is serving as acting CIO, as he did from 2020 into 2022 following the resignation of the prior CIO, Ben Meng.

CalPERS is moving more quickly than in its previous search, which took more than a year to reach second-round interviews in December 2021. In recent board meetings, CalPERS staff stated they want to identify a candidate in the first quarter of 2024.

The interview committee members, who will meet with each candidate, include CEO Marcie Frost and board members, according to the fund’s interview process documents. After the second round, the next steps will be final candidate selection, then a background check followed by the appointment of the new CIO.

A CalPERS spokesperson said the fund had no further comments on the hiring process.

Related Stories:

CalPERS Expects to Hold 1st Interviews for Vacant CIO Position Next Week

CalPERS CIO Nicole Musicco Will Step Down

CalPERS Selects Executive Search Firm to Identify New CIO

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Home > News > Research > Asset Management, Admin Fees Dropped, per Recent Public Sector Pension Data
Research

Asset Management, Admin Fees Dropped, per Recent Public Sector Pension Data

An NCPERS survey also revealed that real estate and private securities were the highest-performing asset classes for public sector pension funds.
By Paul Mulholland



Asset management and administrative fees for public sector pension funds fell sharply in 2022, according to a survey conducted by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems and Cobalt Community Research.

The survey was conducted from September through December 2023 and included 157 public pension funds (82 local, 75 state) with approximately 1.38 million members and $2.3 trillion in assets. Of the plans, 91% were defined benefit plans, and 115 participated in the same survey in 2022.

Seventy-one percent of respondents responded using data from their pension fund’s 2022 annual report and 28% used data from their 2023 annual report.

According to the survey, average investment management fees fell to 0.39% in the 2023 survey from 0.49% in the 2022 edition. The new level represents a four-year low for the survey that has been conducted for the last 13 years.

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Administrative expenses, including investment management, fell to 0.56% from 0.64%.

Asset Performance

The average one-year return among survey participants was -1.9% in the most recent survey, down significantly from the prior year’s 5.4%. Plans with participants eligible for Social Security did worse, with an average return of -3.3%, compared to -1.5% for plans in which participants were not eligible for Social Security. The survey did not comment on potential causes.

The worst-performing assets for respondents were global fixed income and domestic fixed income, which had returns of -7.1% and -7%, respectively. Overall, returns were buoyed by other asset classes, such as real estate at 8%; private equity at 6.7%; private debt at 6.5%; commodities at 6.3%; and other alternative investments at 8%.

In part to account for this drop, 51% of respondents said they have already lowered their expected rate of return in their actuarial assumptions, and 4% are considering doing so. Another 23% reported having already increased employee contributions, and 9% said they are considering it.

The average funding level among responding pension plans was 75.4% down from 77.8%

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