Simiso Nzima Named Head of CalPERS’ $250 Billion Global Equity Portfolio

Simiso Nzima

The $487 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has promoted Simiso Nzima to managing investment director of global equity to oversee the $250 billion asset class’ investment strategies, programs, and policies.

Nzima, who has been a member of CalPERS’ investment team for more than 16 years, was most recently investment director and head of corporate governance, overseeing the entire corporate governance program, including proxy voting, shareowner campaigns, and corporate engagements.

“Simiso has a deep understanding of our portfolio and the global equity asset class,” Dan Bienvenue, CalPERS interim CIO, said in a statement. “He is a thoughtful leader and a strategic investor with extensive experience in the financial industry. He will do an exceptional job in his new role.”

Prior to joining CalPERS, Nzima was a fund manager at First Mutual Life in Harare, Zimbabwe, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was also a senior equity research analyst at Sagit Stockbrokers and an equity research analyst at Alliance-MBCA Capital Management, both of which were also in Harare.

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The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder earned a bachelor of commerce honors degree in finance from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

CalPERS’ global equity program, which accounts for more than half of the pension giant’s asset value, is responsible for the fund’s global public equity investments, including direct in-house implementation of domestic, international, and emerging market indexes and alternative-beta portfolios, as well as externally managed active strategies. The global equity program is also responsible for CalPERS’ corporate governance activities, including proxy voting and corporate engagement. Assets in the portfolio include US and international public equities, foreign currencies, and derivative exposure.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead a talented group of professionals in global equity,” Nzima said in a statement. “Our team is committed to generating the investment returns needed to fulfill CalPERS’ mission to deliver retirement security to our members and their beneficiaries.”