CalPERS Names Chief of Investments

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has hired Russell Read, deputy chief investment officer at Deutsche Asset Management, to be its new chief investment officer.

Read, 42, replaces Mark Anson, 46, who resigned in January to become head of British retirement management firm Hermes Pensions Management Ltd.

“Russell is a highly respected and seasoned investment leader with a strong reputation for investment vision and innovation,” CalPERS President Rob Feckner said at a board meeting in Sacramento. At Deutsche Asset Management, Read oversaw more than $250 billion for retail and institutional investors.

CalPERS posted double-digit returns in each of the last two years as stocks rebounded and the pension fund had gains in real estate and private equity. The fund earned 12.7% in the fiscal year ended June 30, with 68% of its money in stocks, 26% in bonds and 6% in real estate. That contrasts with an average return of 9.53% for public pensions in the period, according to Wilshire Associates Inc.

Read will be paid an annual salary of $534,000, plus a performance-based bonus of 50% to 75% of salary. He joined Deutsche Asset Management in June 2004 after two years as an independent consultant on fund and portfolio design.