US. Calpers Seeking an Investment Chief With Staying Power
The nation’s largest public pension fund has a retention problem, an especially pressing issue given the deep hole it and other retirement plans are in.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has burned through six chief investment officers over the past two decades.
Its most recent investment chief, Ben Meng, lasted just 19 months. His tenure ended this summer in the midst of questions about whether his personal investments created a conflict of interest.
Elsewhere, investment chiefs stay for six to seven years on average at the 25 largest U.S. pension systems, according to 2018 research by Funston Advisory Services, a governance consultant.
Calpers is hoping to find a replacement by early next year and is trying to get on a longer-term footing. The need for stability is acute: Calpers has only about 70% of the assets needed to pay future pension benefits for more than two million police officers, firefighters and other public workers and retirees.
Annual pension bills for California towns are rising so quickly that some have resorted to borrowing and marijuana legalization to help cover the cost.
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