PensionsApril 3, 2024

CalPERS, Stanford Engineering Create Fellowship for Training Institutional Investors

The program aims to foster a pipeline for investment talent.

Reported by Matt Toledo

Public pension funds, corporate defined benefit plans, university endowments, foundations and other institutional asset owners often have trouble recruiting junior staff, frequently due to the locations where these funds are based and salaries lower than those available on Wall Street.

In an effort to address this, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Stanford University School of Engineering announced on Wednesday a program to develop junior institutional investing talent. The program, the Long-Term Investing Fellowship, aims to train and cultivate future investors from a select number of graduates who will learn at Stanford and work at CalPERS.

“This difficulty in recruiting talent is a big part of our motive, [which is] also to make young Americans more aware of this space generally,” says Ashby Monk, the executive and research director of the Stanford Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing, via email.

The program is intended to address difficulties that might arise when trying to convince graduates to take a lower-paying job in a smaller city, rather than a role in New York or another city. Jobs in top banking and private equity groups are coveted by graduates, who might often overlook an institutional investing role with an asset owner.

“The program will not only provide students with a remarkable opportunity, it will also allow CalPERS to continue its mission of developing talent and building a successful learning and teaching culture,” said CalPERS Chief Executive Officer Marcie Frost in a statement about the program.

The LTIF program will recruit four graduates from undergraduate and master’s degree programs from across the U.S.to spend a 12-month rotation split between Stanford, where they will learn about long-term investing, and CalPERS, where they will join a training program and be placed on teams.

At Stanford, fellows will study long-term investing under Monk at the Stanford Long-Term Research Initiative. Fellows will develop a case study to be published at the end of the program. The program is planned such that fellows will teach the next cohort of fellows about their experience and long-term investing.

“This unique fellowship will provide a handful of stellar, mission-driven university graduates an opportunity to engage deeply with the world of long-term investing,” said Monk in the announcement. “The goal will be to create a new pathway for graduating university students to make a difference inside beneficial investment organizations, such as public pension funds, university endowments, charitable foundations and sovereign funds.”

The application deadline for the first cohort is May 15.