February was a month of major shakeups at sovereign wealth funds globally. Two national mega funds in Asia saw changes of chief executives and key staffers. Domestic sovereign wealth funds and university endowments also had a busy month hiring senior investors.
On the GP side, a former Facebook wonderkid is to join Josh Kushner’s venture capital firm; Chinese search giant Baidu’s venture capital arm hired a new CEO; and a former national pension chief will attend a one-year fellowship program at a hedge fund.
Here are the top institutional investment job changes in February:
LP
Johns Hopkins University appointed Jason T. Perlioni as vice president and chief investment officer for the university’s $6 billion endowment and the assets of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Perlioni has been the chief investment officer for Pritzker Group Asset Management for the past 10 years. He will officially join Johns Hopkins on July 1.
Alaska Permanent Fund, the $55.4 billion sovereign wealth fund, hired Travis Brown, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, for the fund’s private equity team. Brown had worked at Goldman Sachs from 2013 to 2017. In his new role with Alaska, he will focus on private equity and special opportunity investments.
Ding Xuedong, chairman and CEO of China Investment Corp (CIC), the $810 billion sovereign wealth fund, resigned with no disclosed explanations, local media reported . It’s unclear yet who will take over his position at the Chinese state fund.
South Korea's national pension fund operator, the Investment Management Office of the National Pension Service (NPS), is looking to hire dozens of new investment managers following a recent staff exodus. Late last year, the office saw some 30 staffers quit before the office’s relocation to Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul. In addition, 11 investment managers have left or offered to resign.
GP
Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc’s early-stage investment arm, Baidu Ventures, appointed Liu Wei, a former partner at Legend Star, as the CEO. Baidu Ventures focuses on artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates will welcome Carsten Stendevad, who resigned as CEO of Danish pension fund ATP in August last year, as a member of its one-year-long “senior fellowship program.”
Josh Kushner’s venture firm Thrive Capital hired Josh Miller, a member of the White House Office of Digital Strategy under President Barack Obama. Miller previously worked at Facebook and left at the age of 24 to join the White House as director of product. At Thrive, Miller will focus on issues relating to how technology serves the needs of underprivileged Americans.