March 13, 2023
Communications & Stakeholder Relations
Contact: Nicole Ortega, Information Officer
(916) 795-3991 – [email protected]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – CalPERS has appointed Daniel Booth as Deputy Chief Investment Officer (DCIO) for Private Markets.
The newly created position is responsible for all private market investment strategies, including asset allocation. Booth will work closely with Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Nicole Mussico, and the CalPERS Investment Office’s managing investment directors to lead investment decision-making in the Private Equity, Real Assets, and Private Debt asset classes.
“I’m thrilled to have Daniel further CalPERS’ expansion into the private markets,” said Musicco. “He’s a visionary investor who’s consistently been able to identify key market trends and has delivered top-tier results. His strategic thinking and thought leadership, which have contributed to his global success, is what we need to ensure the long-term sustainability of our fund.”
Booth has approximately 25 years of investment experience and joins CalPERS from the United Kingdom Infrastructure Bank in Leeds, UK, where he serves as a senior advisor helping set-up the investment and equity investment platforms. In this capacity, he helped to formulate investment strategies to support the British government’s net zero agenda, focusing on higher risk transactions in evolving infrastructure sectors including clean energy projects.
He previously served as CIO and set up the investment activities for Border to Coast Pension Partnership, a centralized asset manager for 11 UK underlying local government pension schemes, and the largest UK public pension plan. Prior to this, he worked as CIO of Portfolio Management and Head of Alternatives for Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia, and as an Alternatives Investment Director for Prime Capital and FERI in Germany.
“I am honored with the opportunity to work at CalPERS and I look forward to working closely with Nicole and the investment team to help build retirement security for California’s public employees,” said Booth. “Efficient implementation of private assets will be key to achieving the returns needed to grow the fund and improve our long-term funding position.”
Private markets continue to provide a means of inflation protection and diversification for the fund, as well as the excess returns CalPERS needs to meet its pension obligations. Private Equity is the highest performing asset class in the CalPERS portfolio with a return of 13% over a 5-year period and 12.8% return over a 10-year period. The CalPERS board also increased the strategic asset allocation for private equity from 8% to 13% starting with the 2022-23 fiscal year. In total, CalPERS has allocated 1/3 of its portfolio to private assets based on the policy asset allocation that went into effect in July 2022.
Booth has a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Economics from Southampton University. He is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) member.
Booth will begin at CalPERS in April and will report to Musicco.
About CalPERS
For more than eight decades, CalPERS has built retirement and health security for state, school, and public agency members who invest their lifework in public service. Our pension fund serves more than 2 million members in the CalPERS retirement system and administers benefits for more than 1.5 million members and their families in our health program, making us the largest defined-benefit public pension in the U.S. CalPERS’ total fund market value currently stands at approximately $443 billion. For more information, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.
