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Newsmakers

Scaramucci Becomes White House Communications Director

Press secretary Sean Spicer resigns in aftermath.

By Chris Butera

Anthony Scaramucci was named White House communications director Friday, marking another change in course in White House plans for the former Skybridge CEO.

Scaramucci’s appointment by President Trump did not go without controversy, directly triggering Sean Spicer to resign from his position as White House press secretary, according to the AP. 

Scaramucci will replace Mike Dubke, who resigned in May.

According to Axios, where Scaramucci’s rumored appointment was first reported Thursday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus discovered the plans after they had already been made. Preibus took part in an earlier plan for Scaramucci to be placed in the White House Office of Public Liaison, which was instead given to George Sifakis.

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Scaramucci will leave his position at the US Export-Import Bank, which he took last month. Prior to that, he was expected to be appointed US ambassador to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. In January, Scaramucci sold his stake in SkyBridge Capital —the global investment firm he founded— for his first White House opportunity, which did not materialize.

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Home > News > CalSTRS Generates 13.4% Return

CalSTRS Generates 13.4% Return

The fund outperforms benchmark for first double-digit returns in three years.

By Christine Giordano

The $208.7 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) system fund generated a 13.4% return net of fees for its fiscal year ending on June 30. The fund outperformed its customized benchmark by 80 basis points.

The fund has come back to a double-digit return following three fiscal years of single-digit returns. CalSTRS’ 10-year return is now roughly 2% shy of its 7% targeted return average, reduced from last year’s target of 7.25% in February. 

“Just as one bad year will not break us, one good year won’t make us. We intentionally keep our eyes focused on a 30-year horizon and make our adjustments with that timeframe in mind, rather than reactively responding to any given situation at-hand,” said Chief Investment Officer Christopher J. Ailman. “Investment performance over time is the true hallmark and measure of success in a pension fund like CalSTRS, as we aim to achieve long-term value creation to secure the retirement futures for more than 914,000 California educators.”

Global public equity (19.6%) and private equity (17.2%) were key contributors to the fund’s performance,  outperforming benchmarks by 1% and 4.6%, respectively. The fund’s worst performing strategy was its risk mitigating strategy (-8.9%), which represents 5.1% of the overall portfolio.

The plan’s RMS allocation acts as a diversifier for the portfolio. This allocation targets investments that tend to have a low or negative correlation to the global equity class, such as long-term U.S. government bonds. 

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In periods of strong economic growth/global equity returns the asset classes may result in low or slightly negative returns, according to CALSTRS’ internal documents.

CalSTRS other portfolio holdings included 56.4 % in US and non-US stocks, or global equity; 8.1 % in private equity; 12.6 % in real estate; 1.3 % in inflation sensitive; 0.3 % in innovative strategies and strategic overlay; 14.7 % in fixed income; and 1.5 % in cash.

On April 6, 2017, CalSTRS funded status is 63.7 %.

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