Why does IPERS say NO to 95% of co-investment deals? Their CIO reveals the disciplined approach that attracts top practitioners to public service.

In Episode 13 of “The Institutional EDge,” host Angelo Calvello explores an innovative co-investment approach with IPERS' CIO Sriram Lakshminarayanan and Senior Investment Officer Craig Payne. Managing $47 billion with a nine-person team, IPERS maintains a selective <5% co-investment acceptance rate while requiring three-week minimum diligence timelines. Beyond fee reduction, their coinvestment program serves as a deliberate talent development strategy, empowering staff to make consequential investment decisions while testing GP capabilities in real-time. The conversation reveals how hiring "practitioners of investments" creates a knowledge-based culture that attracts sophisticated talent to public service while elevating team conversations from manager selection to investment strategy.

Sriram Lakshmararayanan serves as Chief Investment Officer at Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, overseeing approximately $47 billion in pension assets. He has transformed IPERS' approach to public and private markets, emphasizing cost-effective beta access and strategic co-investment practices. Craig Payne is Senior Investment Officer at IPERS, focusing on private asset investments including fund commitments and co-investments. With over two decades of private markets experience, Craig previously served as Managing Director and IC Member at BlackRock Private Equity Partners and brings deep expertise in co-investment diligence and portfolio construction to IPERS' innovative approach.

Craig Payne is Senior Investment Officer at Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS), where he focuses on private asset investments, including fund commitments and co-investments across real assets and private credit. Craig brings over two decades of private markets experience to IPERS, most recently serving as Managing Director and IC Member at Transition Equity Partners (2022-23). Previously, he served as Director of Private Investments at Olympus Ventures (2020-2022), Managing Director and IC member at BlackRock Private Equity Partners (2007-2019). His earlier career includes roles at General Electric Equity as Vice President (2002-2006), where he managed a $1.6 billion portfolio. Craig holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from McGill University and an MBA in Finance, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, and Accounting from the University of Chicago.

In This Episode:

(00:00) Introduction to IPERS co-investment strategy and guest backgrounds

(03:29) Craig Payne: Accessing beta cost-effectively across public and private markets

(13:43) Independent diligence process and rubber stamp avoidance strategies

(19:54) Managing GP timelines while maintaining fiduciary responsibility standards

(23:40) Hiring practitioners over oversight managers for organizational development

(33:19) Mission-driven work and public service compensation realities

(39:32) Worst pitch stories from decades of private markets experience

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Dr. Angelo Calvello is a serial innovator and co-founder of multiple investment firms, including Rosetta Analytics and Blue Diamond Asset Management. He leverages his extensive professional network and reputation for authentic thought leadership to curate conversations with genuinely innovative allocators.

As the "Dissident" columnist for Institutional Investor and former "Doctor Is In" columnist for Chief Investment Officer (winner of the 2016 Jesse H. Neal Award), Calvello has become a leading voice challenging conventional investment wisdom.

Beyond his professional pursuits, Calvello serves as Chairman of the Maryland State Re...

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Can "onerous disclosure" actually protect 401(k) participants from alternative investment losses?

In Episode 4 of the Private Markets Series, Angelo Calvello, host of Institutional Edge, interviews Gerald Alain Chen-Young, Chief Investment Officer of the National Public Pension Funds Association and Principal at GCY Associates LLC. They examine President Trump's August 2025 executive order expanding 401(k) access to alternative assets including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, private credit, real estate, and digital currencies. Gerald identifies five critical risks: complete capital loss, extended illiquidity, zero government protection, complex valuations, and layered fees. He discusses both benefits and challenges, emphasizing that plan sponsors must provide clear risk disclosure and robust participant education to meet fiduciary standards.

Gerald Alain Chen-Young serves as Chief Investment Officer of the National Public Pension Funds Association and Principal of GCY Associates LLC, an independent global institutional advisory firm. Previously, he was VP and Chief Investment Officer at UNCF (2002-2016), managing three portfolios totaling approximately $1 billion at their peak. Gerald holds postgraduate degrees in Economics from the London School of Economics and York University, and in Law from the University of Miami and Washington College of Law. He won Institutional Investor's "Investor Intelligence Awards, Thought Leadership" (2016) and was twice nominated to the ai-CIO Power 100 CIOs global list.

In This Episode:

(00:00) Introduction to Private Markets Series Episode 3, Professor Gregory Brown

(03:37) Research framework, data sources, and performance metrics explained

(08:59) Benchmarking methodology and findings for equity funds

(16:32) Debt funds and real asset performance results

(22:23) Overall conclusions and practical guidance for institutional investors

(27:59) Future research directions and portfolio-level analysis

Like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might be interested!

Dr. Angelo Calvello is a serial innovator and co-founder of multiple investment firms, including Rosetta Analytics and Blue Diamond Asset Management. He leverages his extensive professional network and reputation for authentic thought leadership to curate conversations with genuinely innovative allocators.

As the "Dissident" columnist for Institutional Investor and former "Doctor Is In" columnist for Chief Investment Officer (winner of the 2016 Jesse H. Neal Award), Calvello has become a leading voice challenging conventional investment wisdom.

Beyond his professional pursuits, Calvello serves as Chairman of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System's Climate Advisory Panel, Chairman of the Board of Outreach with Lacrosse and Schools (OWLS Lacrosse), a nonprofit organization creating opportunities for at-risk youths in Chicago, and trustee for a Chicago-area police pension fund. His career-long focus on leveraging innovation to deliver superior client outcomes makes him the ideal host for cutting-edge institutional investing conversations.

Resources:
Gerald Chen Young LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geraldchenyoung/
GCY Associates: https://gcyassociatesllc.com/
Email Angelo: Angelo.Calvello@pionline.com
Email Julie: julie.parten@pionline.com
Pensions & Investments
Dr. Angelo Calvello LinkedIn

• (00:00:00) - The Institutional Edge: When Crypto Hits
• (00:01:41) - Private Market: The democratization of alternative investments in 401 plans
• (00:03:11) - Democrats: Democratizing Access to Alternative Investments in 401K Accounts
• (00:13:07) - Private Investment vs Public Asset Returns
• (00:14:38) - Private Equity Investments Under a DC Plan
• (00:19:38) - Private Crypto: Regulatory Risk
• (00:24:56) - Crypto: Safe Harbor or a Currency?
• (00:26:34) - Fiduciary perspectives on crypto-deductions
• (00:34:24) - CIOs and their Sell Side Suitability
• (00:36:00) - Best Investment Pitch You've Ever Heard
• (00:38:36) - Sponsored: This podcast is for educational purposes only

Is Total Portfolio Approach the next Portable Alpha—brilliant innovation or overhyped rebranding?

Justina Lee, senior reporter at Bloomberg News covering global markets and quant strategies, joins the show to dissect the Total Portfolio Approach phenomenon sweeping through institutional investing. Fresh off covering CalPERS's historic shift from 11 asset class benchmarks to a single 75/25 reference portfolio, Justina reveals why TPA has become the industry's latest buzzword—and why finding critics willing to speak on the record proved surprisingly difficult. The conversation explores whether TPA represents genuine innovation or clever rebranding of existing SAA capabilities, with Justina noting that many allocators claiming to adopt TPA are actually implementing "way lighter versions" while service providers rush to pitch whatever they're selling as TPA-compatible. The discussion addresses critical implementation barriers, including challenges in factor analysis in private markets, the governance tension between board oversight and CIO discretion, and the uncomfortable question of accountability when asset class benchmarks disappear.

The episode expands beyond TPA to explore cutting-edge developments in quantitative investing, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets. Justina discusses Numerai's unconventional crowdsourced hedge fund model, which recently raised $30 million at a $500 million valuation after outperforming traditional quant peers, and explains how founder Richard Craib's decade-long persistence with AI, crypto rewards, and global talent aggregation may finally be paying off. The conversation then shifts to prediction markets, where Justina reports that institutional players like Jump Trading are beginning to provide liquidity on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, though serious institutional money remains largely on the sidelines due to ongoing regulatory uncertainty. Throughout, Justina and Angelo debate whether the industry's incremental improvements, like TPA, are sufficient or whether truly transformative solutions, like deep reinforcement learning, are needed to solve the fundamental portfolio optimization problem.

Justina Lee is a London-based senior reporter at Bloomberg News covering cross-asset markets, with a particular focus on bonds, structured finance, cryptocurrencies, and quantitative strategies—and what she calls "weird asset classes" like prediction markets. She's been with Bloomberg for 12 years, starting her career covering Greater China markets from Taipei and Hong Kong before relocating to London, where she's reported on quantitative strategies and other nerdier financial topics for the past five years.

In This Episode:

(00:00) Introduction to guest Justina Lee

(04:12) Why Total Portfolio Approach became investing's latest buzzword

(08:15) Governance tensions and the Portable Alpha comparison

(12:16) TPA hype, implementation barriers, and leadership challenges

(20:34) Deep reinforcement learning as the real optimization solution

(24:04) Numerai's crowdsourced hedge fund model disrupting quant investing

(28:41) Prediction markets gaining traction with institutional players

(31:30) Closing thoughts and worst journalistic pitches

Like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might be interested, and please take time to leave us a review!

Dr. Angelo Calvello is a serial innovator and co-founder of multiple investment firms, including Rosetta Analytics and Blue Diamond Asset Management. He leverages his extensive professional network and reputation for authentic thought leadership to curate conversations with genuinely innovative allocators.

As the "Dissident" columnist for Institutional Investor and former "Doctor Is In" columnist for Chief Investment Officer (winner of the 2016 Jesse H. Neal Award), Calvello...

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