In this miniseries we are interviewing a group of the largest institutional investors (the ‘super allocators’), to understand how these immense pools of capital think about the assets they invest in, shifting asset allocations, passive versus active, public versus private, and steering through turbulent waters.

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This first conversation is with CalSTRS, the $300+ billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System. It is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world and the second largest pension fund in the United States.

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In this episode, the fund’s CIO Christopher Ailman discusses its evolution and the key considerations undertaken during his tenure. He makes the case for predominantly passive equity allocations and their approach to fixed income and benchmark considerations.

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He also covers infrastructure and its key role (given their long term horizons), PE allocation, and why VC does not fit their size and style.