UK Pension Giant USS Hires Robert Ross to Run £5.1 Billion Private Equity Portfolio

Universities Superannuation Scheme has hired California State Teachers’ Retirement System veteran Robert Ross to lead its private equity funds and co-investments business, bringing an experienced U.S. public-pension investor into one of the UK’s largest institutional private-markets platforms.

Ross will join USS Investment Management in September as head of private equity funds and co-investments, reporting to Ben Levenstein, head of private markets, according to reports of the appointment. He succeeds Geoffrey Geiger, who left USS last year.

The appointment puts Ross in charge of a private equity funds and co-investment portfolio worth about £5.1 billion. It also comes at a significant point for UK institutional investing, as pension schemes face growing policy pressure to increase allocations to private assets while seeking better long-term returns and greater exposure to domestic growth companies.

USS has roughly £84 billion of assets across its defined benefit and defined contribution arrangements, according to its latest investment figures, and nearly £26 billion — about one-third of the total — is invested across private markets.

Ross Brings CalSTRS Private Equity Experience to USS

Ross arrives from CalSTRS, where he is listed as a senior portfolio manager and has been closely involved with the pension system’s private equity program.

The California pension system represents a substantially larger investment platform. CalSTRS reported approximately $412.9 billion of total investment assets as of July 31, 2026, including $56.6 billion of private equity, equivalent to 13.7% of the portfolio.

CalSTRS’ private equity program spans limited partnerships, co-investments and secondary transactions, giving Ross experience across several of the structures increasingly important to large institutional investors. The pension fund has also been expanding co-investment activity as it seeks to improve economics and gain greater control over private-market deployment.

According to CalSTRS’ latest investment portfolio data, private equity remains close to its 14% strategic allocation target. CalSTRS reported separately that co-investments represented 24.6% of its private equity portfolio as of September 2025, with a longer-term goal of 33%.

That experience is particularly relevant to the role Ross will assume at USS, where co-investments sit alongside conventional fund commitments as a core part of the private equity strategy.

USS Has Built a £26 Billion Private Markets Platform

USS is unusual among UK pension schemes for the scale of its internally managed private-markets operation.

Its Private Markets Group manages nearly £26 billion across property, private credit and alternative income, direct equity, and private equity funds and co-investments. Approximately 70% of USS private investments are made directly or through co-investments, with the remainder managed by external investment firms.

Within that portfolio, private equity funds and co-investments account for approximately £5.1 billion. USS says the strategy concentrates fund commitments with private equity managers that have demonstrated strong track records, while its co-investment program favors cash-generative businesses with established market positions.

USS generally targets commitments of £75 million to £150 million or more to private equity funds and £15 million to £50 million or more for individual co-investments.

The structure means Ross will oversee more than manager selection. Co-investments require institutional LPs to assess individual transactions alongside their GP partners, potentially allowing investors to deploy larger amounts of capital with reduced management fees and carried interest compared with traditional fund commitments.

That approach resembles the strategy Ross worked with at CalSTRS, where increasing co-investment exposure has been an explicit portfolio objective.

USS’s private-market scale also places the appointment within a broader UK shift toward institutional investment in unlisted assets. PE NEWSWIRE recently reported that Nest plans to allocate up to £1 billion to venture capital by 2030 as UK pension reform encourages retirement systems to increase their exposure to private markets.

Stronger Funding Position Gives USS Investment Flexibility

Ross is also joining USS after a significant improvement in the pension scheme’s financial position.

USS said in July that provisional results from its 2026 valuation showed a £16.9 billion surplus and a 127% funding ratio. That compares with a £7.4 billion surplus and 111% funding level at the 2023 valuation.

The improvement followed years in which the scheme’s funding position was a major issue for UK universities and their employees.

The USS 2026 valuation update said favorable financial-market conditions and the performance of defined benefit assets relative to liabilities contributed to the stronger position. USS subsequently reported that its defined benefit fund’s net assets had increased by £6.8 billion to £79.8 billion as of March 31, 2026.

A better-funded pension plan potentially has greater capacity to maintain long-duration investments rather than prioritizing liquidity or liability-matching assets. That is relevant for private equity, where capital can remain committed for a decade or longer and distributions depend heavily on the exit environment.

USS describes private markets as particularly suited to its long-term pension liabilities because the scheme can provide patient capital and hold investments through market cycles.

Co-Investments Gain Importance for Large LPs

Ross’ appointment also reflects a wider change in how sophisticated pension funds approach their relationships with private equity managers.

Large institutional investors increasingly seek more than conventional fund commitments. Co-investments can give LPs greater exposure to selected portfolio companies while potentially reducing the blended fee burden of their private equity programs.

For managers, meanwhile, large LPs capable of underwriting co-investments can provide additional equity for transactions without requiring a GP to concentrate too much of a flagship fund in a single asset.

The economics have become more important as institutional investors scrutinize private-market fees, distributions and liquidity after a prolonged slowdown in private equity exits.

PE NEWSWIRE has also tracked changing allocator preferences through private investors shifting capital toward private equity and infrastructure, illustrating how portfolio construction across alternative assets continues to evolve as investors reassess return, liquidity and income characteristics.

For USS, Ross’ experience at a large U.S. pension plan provides a direct link to an institutional model where fund relationships, co-investments and portfolio construction are managed at substantial scale.

His arrival in September will put him at the center of USS’s relationships with external private equity managers while giving him responsibility for a co-investment strategy that is already embedded in the pension scheme’s broader private-markets platform.

With roughly one-third of USS assets now invested in private markets, the appointment is more than a routine leadership change. Ross will oversee a key part of the scheme’s long-term allocation strategy at a time when UK pension capital is being increasingly positioned as a potential source of financing for private companies, infrastructure and economic growth.