CalPERS’ CIO Ted Eliopoulos to leave

The $355 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System has reported that Ted Eliopoulos, CalPERS’ chief investment officer, is leaving the pension fund in order to relocate to the East Coast to be closer to family. A search for his permanent replacement will begin immediately.

Eliopoulos will remain chief investment officer until a new CIO is named and assist in the transition through the end of 2018.

Eliopoulos will be stepping away from CalPERS by the beginning of 2019.

Eliopoulos joined CalPERS in 2007 as senior investment officer for the real estate division and the real assets unit. As CIO, Eliopoulos managed an investment portfolio of more than $350 billion, comprising both public and private assets, and a team of nearly 400 investment professionals. During his tenure, Eliopoulos implemented the Vision 2020 Strategic Plan, which sought to reduce the complexity of the portfolio, reduce fees and better manage risk.

As CIO and as head of the CalPERS real assets program before that, Eliopoulos focused on reducing external managers, ensuring only strategic partnerships were retained. This included reducing the number of external real estate managers from 90 to 15 and external managers from approximately 400 in 2007 to about 140 today. As a result, today more than 70 percent of CalPERS’ assets are managed internally. Eliopoulos also ended the hedge fund program at CalPERS in 2014, saving significant fees for the pension fund.

Under Eliopoulos’ leadership, CalPERS established its first Emerging Manager Plan in 2012 and the investment office’s first diversity & inclusion committee in 2016. He also established CalPERS’ first governance and sustainability plan and the opportunistic credit program in 2016.

Following the financial crisis, he led the effort to restructure the asset class, refocusing on core investments in real estate and infrastructure that generated stable returns. He continued this work across all asset classes when he was appointed interim CIO in June 2013 and later as the permanent CIO in September 2014.