CalPERS’ expert 329-person investment team is charged with carrying out this important board direction. They come from all over the world, attracted by the CalPERS mission. Collectively, they manage the largest defined benefit pension fund in the United States, a portfolio totaling $635 billion as of June 4.
“We’re looking after the pension benefits of 2.4 million members, and that is really rewarding,” said Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gilmore, who joined CalPERS in July 2024 from the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.
Tamara Sells, an associate investment manager on the Sustainable Investments team, said she feels “a personal and professional interest” in the success of the fund as a CalPERS member herself.
“Over the time of your lifespan, you will reach significant milestones, and one of them is retirement,” she added. “To be part of securing something that is so important, so hard worked for, and so hard earned gets me up every day.”
For fiscal year 2024-25, CalPERS reported an investment return of 11.6%, well above the system’s investment goal of 6.8%. Results for FY 2025-26 will be reported in July.
A Diverse Portfolio for Long-Term Results
The team invests pension dollars with long-term performance in mind, given the need to pay out pension dollars over many decades. About two thirds of the fund is currently invested in publicly traded stocks and bonds. The rest is divided among other categories that help diversify the portfolio and spread risk. These include:
- Ownership stakes in private firms (private equity)
- Loans to private firms (private debt)
- Real estate
- Ownerships of infrastructure assets (transportation, power, energy, digital)
Below, some investment team members talk about their work at CalPERS and how it fits into the mission to provide retirement security to members and their beneficiaries.
Simiso Nzima, Managing Investment Director of Global Public Equity
Nzima worked in finance in Zimbabwe before coming to California to earn his MBA at UC Berkeley. He started at CalPERS as an intern 21 years ago and now considers himself a “CalPERS lifer.” Global Public Equity oversees $220 billion invested in about 6,000 domestic and international companies listed on public stock markets.
“We have a team that is really diverse in terms of their experiences, backgrounds, where they grew up, all the things they have done in life,” Nzima said. “Having these different people come together makes for a stronger way of looking at investments.
“When you look at our outcomes, you can see that from a public equity perspective, over the past five years we’ve outperformed the index by 25 basis points on an annual basis. That may seem like a small amount, but that’s $2.4 billion over a five-year period. That goes a long way in securing the retirement benefits of CalPERS members and their beneficiaries.”
Anton Orlich, Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Private Markets
Anton Orlich worked as an investment manager at CalPERS from 2013 to 2016 before joining Kaiser Permanente as head of alternative investments. Since he rejoined CalPERS as head of private equity in 2022, it has become the top private equity performer among large public pension funds nationwide, posting a 21.5% return in the 12 months ended March 31. Orlich has since promoted to deputy chief investment officer for private markets.
“It’s very important that we generate the best return for our members to improve (CalPERS’) funded status, and private equity is an important part of that,” Orlich said. “It’s an area where we can get better returns than if we just invested in the public equity markets.
“We know that every dollar we generate is providing retirement security… to support our public workers.”
Juan Gaviria, Investment Director, Real Assets, Infrastructure
Juan Gaviria worked in (infrastructure) investment banking in Colombia, New York City, and London before joining CalPERS in 2013. He has helped build out the Real Assets – Infrastructure program since then.
“I take pride in doing my part in terms of serving our 2.4 million members,” he said. “I really enjoy being able to invest in the hard physical assets that we all see on a day-to-day basis. For example, when we invest in transportation, we improve road connectivity, or our experience in an airport gets better, or if we invest in power generation and battery energy storage, we make our grid more resilient, greener, with less emissions.
“When I came here, I realized there’s talent from all around the world.”
Tamara Sells, Associate Investment Manager, Sustainable Investments Team
Sells has worked at CalPERS for 12 years and is currently a member of the Sustainable Investments team, which works with investment partners to ensure sustainable labor, environmental, and governance practices.
“In November of 2023 our Board of Administration approved CalPERS’ labor principles,” Sells said. “These include respect for human rights around freedom of association, collective bargaining, a safe and healthy work environment, as well as non-discrimination and an abolition of forced child labor.
“We’ve asked all of our existing fund managers to attest to their awareness and alignment with those labor principles, and we’ve integrated them into our new investments going forward.
“Mismanaged human capital could cost the fund and essentially erode our returns.”
Bashar Zakaria, Investment Manager in Emerging Market Research
Zakaria has worked at CalPERS for 24 years and focuses on analyzing and recommending investments in emerging economies.
“My main task is to cover the emerging market universe for CalPERS, understanding their economies, analyzing their debt securities, and offering recommendations on whether we should get involved or avoid certain economies.
“Being here for 24 years, I’ve seen countries going from very weak to strong, going back to weak again—it’s never a dull moment.
“We have a very capable staff (at CalPERS) that’s able to deliver on the tasks we are assigned or the goals we need to meet or beat, and that is directly contributing to the monthly check we cut for our retirees.”