Tad Fergusson
The Oregon State Treasury announced the appointment of Tad Fergusson as its director of private markets, effective July 28.
Fergusson will oversee Oregon’s private market investments across multiple state and trust funds. He will report to Rex Kim, CIO of the Oregon State Treasury.
“I’m honored to join the Oregon State Treasury as Director of Private Markets and am grateful for the opportunity to lead this team,” Fergusson said in a statement. “As a lifelong Oregonian, I look forward to building strong relationships with our partners and stakeholders as we work together to deliver long-term, sustainable value for Oregon and our state’s public employees.”
Fergusson had been a managing principal at Meketa Investment Group, the treasury’s investment consultant. Fergusson has been at Meketa since 2019, advising large pension plans on their private market investments.
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Fergusson earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Oregon and an MBA in finance from the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon. He spent nearly 23 years at investment consultant Pension Consulting Alliance LLC, which merged into Meketa in 2019.
Michael Langdon was the Oregon treasury’s previous director of private markets, serving from September 2015 until March 2025.
The Oregon State Treasury manages the investments of several state funds and trust funds, including the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, the State Accident Insurance Fund, the Oregon Common School Fund, the Oregon Short-Term Fund and several other investment funds managed on behalf of other state agencies and university systems.
In total, the treasury managed $141.1 billion across all funds as of December 31, 2024, with OPERF the largest at $100.1 billion in assets.
Private equity is the asset class with the most weight in the OPERF portfolio. At the end of 2024, 26.5% of assets were invested in private equity. Fixed income and public equities accounted for 23.3% and 17.3% of the portfolio, respectively. OPERF allocated 14.2% of its portfolio to real estate, 10.5% to real assets, 5.2% to diversifying strategies and 3.1% to an opportunity portfolio.
Private equity has been the best-performing asset class within the OPERF portfolio, returning 12.69% annualized over the past 10 years.
“Private market investments are an important part of Oregon’s portfolio,” said Oregon State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner in a statement. “Tad brings his experience and expertise to Treasury at a time when global economic uncertainty makes our investment decisions more complex. I welcome Tad to Treasury and look forward to working with him.”
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Tags: Meketa Investment Group, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF), Oregon State Treasury
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