Craig Husting, CIO of the Public School and Education Employee Retirement Systems of Missouri, has overseen a transformation of the pension fund for Missouri educators.

Few public pension CIOs are as tenured as Husting, who has served as CIO of PSRS/PEERS since 1999. During this time, the assets of the systems have grown to $59.7 billion from $19.7 billion. The system has evolved over those two decades, and Husting points to the fund’s strong governance, continuity of staff and long-term strategy as critical to its success.

“The big key for us is to focus on the governance model and education with our board,” Husting says. “So it’s [been] a multi-year process to strengthen the governance with our board.”

This has allowed the pension fund to evolve from a basic stock and bond portfolio to a well-diversified portfolio that includes stocks, bonds, real estate, private equity, private credit and hedge funds.

“No matter what your long-term strategy is, as long as you stick to it through the market cycles, I think you’ll be successful as an investor,” Husting says.

He also emphasizes the importance of humility for all investors.

“I think the markets can humble you every single day, so I think there’s got to be humility from our entire team in managing the portfolio,” Husting says.

In 2014, the investment team began a private equity co-investment program. Five years later, it began a private credit direct lending program, significantly expanding the size of the investment team.

Over Husting’s tenure, the fund’s investment staff grew to 30 people from three, including investment staff. The fund saw one major challenge—the difficulty of recruiting investment talent to Jefferson, Missouri, so three years ago, PSRS/PEERS opened an office in St. Louis. Doing so has helped the pension fund recruit talent and increase the depth of its staff, according to Husting.

Those original three staffers—Husting and two executive directors—are still with the fund. This rare continuity has allowed the fund to produce top-quartile investment returns and steady contribution rates with no degradation in benefits, Husting notes.

“In this type of industry, we are really mission-based investors, and so we try to embrace that we’re investing to try to benefit the retirement of teachers throughout Missouri,” Husting says. “It’s important to focus on that every day.”

—Matt Toledo