Brunel CEO interviews Calstrs’ Harry Keiley

Laura Chappell has interviewed Calstrs’ Harry Keiley for the keynote at the Pension Bridge Summit organised by With Intelligence.

Harry Keiley was Chair of Calstrs until the Summer and is now Chair of the Investment Committee. As a former teacher, he has particular insight into the members the fund ultimately serves: more than a million educators across California.

Calstrs was founded in 1913 and, with $346bn in AUM, ranks among the largest ten pension funds worldwide. It is the largest educator-only fund globally.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Laura asked him about stakeholder relationships, passive vs active, climate change, manager selection, and Calstrs’ investments in private markets, which are approaching 40% of its AUM – and expected to reach 50%.

“Calstrs is very distant from Brunel in geography and scale, so it was very good to hear Harry’s perspective,” said Laura. “But I was also struck by how much we have in common, in terms of who we view as our stakeholders, how we need to protect our commitment to fiduciary duty, how climate change fits into that, and the enormous opportunity of private markets.”