Investment governance is not abstract. It determines who can act, how quickly capital can move, and whether an asset class is invested based on opportunity or simply on whether a target allocation needs to be filled.
For many years, North Carolina was one of only three states in which a single elected official held all investment authority. In our case, that was the state treasurer. The model could be efficient, but it made the program unusually exposed to changes in risk appetite from one administration to the next.
From 2017 through 2024, a low risk appetite and a strong focus on fee reduction led to large cash balances and limited new private market investments, even as most financial markets performed well. At one point, cash approached 15 percent of the portfolio. The plan also
