The largest public defined benefit pension fund in the US has promoted Anton Orlich to the position of deputy chief investment officer of private markets and was appointed externally to fill the position of chief investment officer in the management of the entire fund’s portfolio.
In his new role, effective immediately, Orlich will oversee private equity, private debt, real estate, infrastructure, and other investment programs, and will report to Stephen Gilmore, chief investment officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers).
He replaced Daniel Booth who resigned in October last year.
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Since 2022, Orlich has served as managing director of private equity investments at Calpers and, from 2024 to 2025, he was interim managing director of private equity investments. He will continue to lead private equity until a successor is found.
He also focused Calpers’ private equity strategy on management selection, low-cost properties, and diversification into trading companies, growth, and middle market acquisitions.
According to Calpers, in the last fiscal year it posted the best performance of private funds among the largest public pension funds in the US. The pension fund has also taken steps to reduce the amount paid as a percentage of total private assets by 35 percent from 2024.
“We will continue to leverage the expertise of our investment team to partner with senior management and reduce costs,” Orlich said. “Investing in the private sector gives us the opportunity to achieve better returns for our members while diversifying the portfolio to limit risk. We are very grateful for the vision and leadership of our CEO, Marcie Frost, to improve our private markets funding position, and the important responsibility she has given to the private markets team to contribute to the retirement security of those working in California.”
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Calpers also announced the hiring of Derek Walker, who joins after nearly 18 years in various roles at CPP Investments, managing assets on behalf of the Canada Pension Plan.
In his new role as managing director of total fund portfolio management, Walker will lead the pension fund’s transition to a total portfolio approach (TPA), “a holistic approach to evaluating each potential investment strategy for potential risk and income potential of a pension fund, rather than assigning specific allocations to each asset class”.
In November 2025, Calpers became the first large public pension fund in the US to adopt the TPA method, which will be officially launched in July this year.
Walker, whose appointment is effective in July, will oversee the fund’s comprehensive portfolio management team, and will report to Gilmore.
“I am very pleased to announce the promotion of Anton Orlich and the hiring of Derek Walker,” said Frost. “They are some of the most intelligent, experienced and respected leaders in the pensions world, and I am confident they will produce results for our members.”
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