10X Capital Hires Former CalPERS and Alaska Permanent Fund CIO Russell Read


Russell Read will join the 10X team at the Milken Institute 2022 Middle East & Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi Nov 17-18

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 10X Capital, the New York based alternative investment firm, today announced that Dr. Russell Read, former Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”) of CalPERS, the Alaska Permanent Fund, and the Gulf Investment Corporation, and former deputy CIO of Deutsche Bank’s Deutsche Asset Management, is joining 10X Capital as its Chief Investment Officer.

Dr. Read will report to 10X Capital’s founder and CEO, Hans Thomas, and will oversee the Firm’s investment strategies globally, across both private funds and publicly listed vehicles. The Firm’s portfolio managers and investment teams remain unchanged.

“Russell’s exceptional track record and skillset will help the 10X Capital team continue to deliver on our mission of democratizing access to elite, institutional quality investment strategies for every investor,” Mr. Thomas noted. “Dr. Read embodies many of the hallmarks of the 10X Capital DNA. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a dedication to our central tenet of quantitative, data driven investing; as well as strong entrepreneurial capabilities, for example by building and scaling the first commodities mutual fund from $0, a cold start, up to $10B of AUM in 5 years; and an ability to drive upper echelon investment performance, as he showed by revamping the Alaska Permanent Fund to achieve top 1% returns,” Mr. Thomas continued. With regard to 10X Capital, “Russell’s role will be to continually enhance the success of our 10X Capital platform by working closely with each investment team and our investors to meet their allocation and return goals, as we expand our envelope from venture capital, crossover and private credit, into global equity, private equity, fixed income, healthcare, real assets, infrastructure & commodities investments,” Mr. Thomas added. 

10X Capital has grown, and is expected to continue to grow, in both size and complexity, leading to the expansion of the Firm’s senior team. Dr. Read’s hiring follows the Firm’s hiring of Ethan Wilson and Maximillian Staedtler, who both recently joined 10X Capital following roles in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs.  Dr. Read will become a member of the Firm’s senior management team, and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.

The Firm will acquire an interest in the infrastructure investment firm founded by Dr. Read, C-Change Group LLC, which will join the 10X Capital family of companies, and enter into a strategic partnership to provide 10X with expanded access to opportunities for transformative, sustainable infrastructure and related private equity investments, and to provide C-Change with enhanced execution capabilities. John Petersen, Esq. has succeeded Dr. Read in the role of C-Change’s Managing Partner.

Career
Dr. Read has extensive experience as a Chief Investment Officer for some of the world’s leading institutional investors.  After distinguished roles at OppenheimerFunds and Scudder Investments, where he held various senior positions in quantitative research and investing, Dr. Read served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Deutsche (Bank) Asset Management, where he led teams of 285 professionals, managing over $250 billion in assets, and developed successful commodities and stock-based approaches to natural resources investing.

Following Deutsche Bank, Dr. Read served as the Chief Investment Officer of the California Public Employees Retirement System (“CalPERS”), where he managed the investment success of America’s largest pension plan, achieving top decile risk-adjusted returns and growing assets under management (“AUM”) by over $50 billion to over $250 billion across global equity, private equity, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, timberland & commodities investments.

Dr. Read subsequently served as the Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Gulf Investment Corporation, headquartered in Kuwait, representing the finance ministries of the 6 GCC countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At GIC, Dr. Read managed the organization through a critical transition period, established partnerships with some of the largest investors and money managers in the United States, Japan and Korea, and led the organization to its second highest level of profitability since its inception.

Following the GIC, Dr. Read served as the Chief Investment Officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund, where he transformed the portfolio into a Sovereign Endowment Fund, able to provide up to one-third of the state of Alaska’s budget on an annual basis going forward, while achieving top 1% investment returns overall compared with other US public funds and global sovereign wealth funds, and growing AUM 25% over 2 years to $65 billion. Dr. Read was awarded recognition for APFC as “Top Private Equity Institutional Investor of the Year for 2017” by PEI Magazine, when he led private equity (21% IRR) and infrastructure (18% IRR) to achieve top 1% and top quartile investment performance, respectively.

Dr. Read has served and continues to serve as a board member and advisor to a number of Pension and Endowment funds, including currently as a Member of the Investment Funds Committee for the State of Wyoming’s sovereign wealth funds (tied for second in the U.S. with New Mexico at $28 billion in AUM), and formerly as Chairman of the Endowment Investment Committee for the New York Academy of Sciences, Official Advisor to the CEO and CIO for the Korea National Pension Service, Board Member for the University of Maine System’s Endowment.

In addition to his investment roles, Dr. Read has served and continues to serve in a number of official appointments and advisory roles to governments and exchanges.  Dr. Read currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Global Decarbonization Subcommittee of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (“REEEAC”), a private sector based Advisory Committee reporting to the Secretary of Commerce. Dr. Read was Appointed as Chair of the Investor’s Committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets under the auspices of Treasury Secretary Paulson with ongoing responsibility for developing and implementing best practice standards for institutional investors in hedge funds, and served as a senior advisory board member of each of the NYSE-Euronext exchange, Institutional Investor, and MSCI-BARRA.

Dr. Read has a PhD and an MA from Stanford University, and an MBA and a BA from the University of Chicago. He divides his time between the NYC Metro Area, Northern California, and Abu Dhabi.

“10X Capital has a well-earned reputation for bringing together Wall Street, Main Street and Silicon Valley to create unique opportunities and deliver strong returns for their investors, in a range of market environments. I am thrilled to join Hans, David, and the team at 10X Capital as they build on their culture of excellence, entrepreneurship, and execution to expand their investment strategies,” said Russell Read. “I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a number of today’s largest and most successful asset managers back when they were in their early days, and it’s clear to me that 10X Capital is at a similar point of inflection as a Blackstone in the late 1980s, where their capabilities and achievements are intersecting in a way that positions them for dramatic growth. Over the years I’ve watched the team evolve into one of the most active venture capital investors globally (by number of investments), become a prolific sponsor in the crossover market, execute on private funds and publicly traded vehicles, and ring opening and closing bells at the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. I am pleased to join such a dynamic, talented group of investment professionals, and look forward to guiding the firm through the evolution of their venture capital franchise, the establishment of income trusts, and their expansion into other major asset classes and strategies.”

David Weisburd, Co-Founder and Co-Head of Venture Capital, added “With the addition of Russell Read, 10X Capital has once again leveled up.  We are one step closer to executing on our vision of bringing access to top quartile and top decile investment strategies, often available only to the largest institutional investors, to a global investor base.  We have one of the largest, most diverse investor networks in the world, and in addition to venture capital, we are working with Dr. Read, our investment teams, and our investors in order to help accomplish their goals and drive significant returns. Russell’s presence in Northern California makes him a natural bridge to our relationships in Silicon Valley, and his extensive investment expertise in areas like Healthcare, Infrastructure, and Natural Resources makes him an excellent addition to our growing team.”

Dr. Read will join CEO Hans Thomas, David Weisburd, and other members of the 10X Capital team at the Milken Institute 2022 Middle East and Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from November 17-18, 2022.  For more information, or to schedule a meeting, please contact Zoe Wang, zoe@10xcapital.com .

About 10X
10X Capital is an alternative investment firm at the nexus of Wall Street, Main Street and Silicon Valley, aligning institutional capital with high growth ventures, and democratizing access to institutional investment strategies for investors globally. 10X Capital sponsors private funds, including venture capital funds and income trusts, as well publicly traded vehicles. The Firm Is focused on investing in major industries, including finance, healthcare, natural resources, transportation, infrastructure and real estate, and in the companies which are using technology to disrupt these trillion dollar markets. The Firm has also been the sponsor or co-sponsor of multiple SPACs, including currently 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. III (NYSE:VCXB) . For more information, visit https://www.10XCapital.com/.

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