The California Public Employees’ Retirement System today announced that Mascha Canio has been named managing investment director for its private debt portfolio.

Canio has decades of experience managing a variety of asset types on behalf of pension systems. She joins CalPERS after nine years as head of credit and insurance-linked investments at Dutch pension fund service provider PGGM, where she has managed assets valued at approximately $17 billion.

“Mascha will bring a wealth of talent and experience to her new role,” said Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gilmore. “She’s spent a career working to improve returns for pension funds, and managed portfolios across different asset classes. These experiences and her keen understanding of credit markets will allow us to build on the success of our private debt program.”

Earlier this week, CalPERS announced that private debt earned a 12.8% return for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

In other senior positions at PGGM, always in combination with credit risk sharing, Canio was responsible for infrastructure, private equity, and insurance-linked investments. Her financial expertise was also tapped to shore up financially troubled segments of the Netherland’s economy during the 2008 financial crisis.

Before PGGM, Canio served as head of Europe at Octagon Credit Investors, a U.S.-based corporate credit investment advising firm. She set up the firm’s European office after it decided to expand into Europe, and managed investments in the European market for leveraged bank loans and high-yield bonds.

Her career began in 1991 at Shell Pension Fund in the Netherlands where she quickly rose through the ranks to become a senior member of the fixed income team. In her role as a fund manager, Canio actively managed a portfolio in government debt, corporate bonds, and emerging markets debt.

Canio earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands.

Her appointment will take effect this October.

The private debt program has been under the interim direction of Anton Orlich, head of private equity, for the past year. Please visit the CalPERS Investment Office website for an overview of the program.