In a recent article from Institutional Investor, North Pier’s Managing Partner Jim Scheinberg spoke with Alicia McElhaney about CalPERS’ upcoming CIO search. Below is an excerpt from the article.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has an ambitious goal to hire its next chief investment officer early in 2024. According to industry experts, the right person to fill the role might not be easy to find.
The new investment chief — CalPERS’s fourth since 2018 — will have to contend with not only managing a $454.8 billion portfolio through a downturn, but also with managing board and constituent relationships.
This task has proved challenging for recent CIOs, including Ben Meng, who held the role for a year and a half before Nicole Musicco took the helm. Musicco announced in September that she was stepping down to spend more time with her family.
“The new CIO has to appreciate the fact that they are in a very high-profile position,” said Jim Scheinberg, founder at North Pier Search Consulting. “That kind of fishbowl environment puts really everything they do in constant scrutiny from perspectives that are beyond traditional return-seeking, objective-accomplishing aspects.”