(Bloomberg) - The California Public Employees’ Pension Retirement System appointed Nicole Musicco its new chief investment officer, capping an almost 18-month search.
Musicco succeeds Ben Meng, who departed over conflict-of-interest concerns. She will arrive at the fund, which has nearly $500 billion in assets, on March 28, according to a statement Tuesday.
The second woman ever to run investments at the largest U.S. public pension fund, Musicco joins from RedBird Capital Partners, where she led Canadian investments. Her background includes experience in private markets and more than 16 years at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
“Nicole’s experience, vision, and skill as an investor in public and private markets is critical for CalPERS,” said Marcie Frost, the chief executive officer of Calpers, in the statement.
Calpers has been on the hunt to fill the CIO role since its former investment chief Ben Meng abruptly departed in August 2020, amid a controversy over his disclosures and personal investments. The pension fund found that Meng approved an investment into a private-equity fund managed by Blackstone Group Inc. at the same time he held Blackstone shares.
Musicco arrives at a moment when Calpers, like other large pension funds, is moving deeper into private equity investments to boost returns. Last year it adopted plans to increase private equity investments to 13% from 8% of its assets, and added an allocation to private debt of 5%.
Musicco will report to Frost and run a team of about 300 people, according to the statement.
(Updates with additional information on former CIO’s departure, starting in first paragraph.)
By Annie Massa
