Home ListingOctober 29, 2015

Commonfund Hires Former CalPERS, BT CIO

Mark Anson is to lead the endowment and foundation investor beginning next year.

Reported by Featured Author

The former CIO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is to join endowment and foundation investment manager Commonfund as its investment chief in the New Year.

Mark Anson will take up the CIO role at the Connecticut-based group in January 2016, reporting to Commonfund’s President and CEO Catherine Keating.

Anson is currently CIO of Acadia Investment Management, the asset manager for the Robert Bass family office. He has managed the family office’s money since 2010.

Anson was CalPERS CIO from December 2001 until October 2005, when he left to take the same role at the BT Pension Fund. He has also led asset manager Nuveen Investments as president. He holds a BA in chemistry and economics from St Olaf College, Minnesota, a PhD and master’s in finance from Columbia University, as well as a JD from Northwestern University, Illinois.

“I am excited to be joining Commonfund, as it is a firm I have long admired for its innovation, investment leadership, and client stewardship in the nonprofit community,” Anson said.

Keating described Anson as “an outstanding institutional investor” and “a leader and innovator across asset classes, particularly in alternative investing.”