Key Takeaways
- • Jonathan Grabel, CIO of Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) since 2017, received the 2026 Allocator Lifetime Achievement Award from Institutional Investor, recognizing his transformative leadership in pension fund investment strategy and organizational culture.
- • Grabel implemented a decentralized investment committee structure for LACERA's co-investment program where all professional staff, including junior employees, hold voting rights while the CIO abstains from voting—a deliberate governance model designed to eliminate bias and enhance decision-making quality.
- • LACERA's co-investment strategy, launched in private equity in 2019 and subsequently expanded across all asset classes, has outperformed corresponding fund stakes, validating Grabel's approach of treating co-investing as both an organizational and investment strategy.
- • Grabel deliberately restructured internal processes to build organizational resilience, with the team strengthened through periods of market stress including Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Los Angeles wildfires, while simultaneously shifting how staff assessed risk across the entire organization.
- • The CIO's governance philosophy prioritizes succession planning, pattern recognition, and team cohesion ("esprit de corps") by distributing decision-making authority rather than concentrating it among senior leadership.
Summary
Jonathan Grabel's recognition as the recipient of the 2026 Allocator Lifetime Achievement Award underscores a distinctive leadership approach that has reshaped governance and investment execution at one of the nation's largest public pension funds. Since becoming CIO of LACERA in 2017, Grabel has pioneered an organizational model that prioritizes inclusive decision-making and distributed authority, departing significantly from traditional hierarchical structures common in institutional investment management.
When LACERA began internalizing the management of co-investments, Grabel conducted an extensive review of how peer institutions—including private equity firms, institutional investors, and investment banks—structured their internal investment committees. Rather than replicate conventional models where senior leadership drives investment origination and junior staff executes decisions, Grabel designed a system in which every professional contributor to an investment decision, regardless of seniority level, receives voting rights. Critically, Grabel himself abstains from voting, though his final approval remains required. This structure eliminates what Grabel characterizes as "putting a finger on the scale," ensuring that decision outcomes reflect the organization's collective analytical capacity rather than hierarchical preference.
The investment outcomes validate this governance philosophy. Since LACERA launched its co-investment program with private equity in 2019—subsequently expanding to encompass all asset classes—these directly-managed investments have consistently outperformed corresponding fund stakes. Grabel's approach treats co-investing as fundamentally an organizational exercise alongside its financial objectives, deliberately leveraging periods of stress to strengthen team resilience and analytical capability.
The institutional environment in which Grabel built LACERA's investment culture included significant market and operational challenges: Brexit volatility, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Los Angeles wildfires. Rather than viewing these events as disruptions to normal operations, Grabel strategically used them as crucibles for developing team depth, pattern recognition capabilities, and institutional memory. This philosophy extended beyond co-investment decisions to reshape how LACERA assessed risk comprehensively across the organization. The approach reflects Grabel's observation, drawn from his experience in private equity and pension management, that teams tend to emerge measurably stronger when forged through periods of adversity.
When LACERA began internalizing the management of co-investments, Grabel conducted an extensive review of how peer institutions—including private equity firms, institutional investors, and investment banks—structured their internal investment committees. Rather than replicate conventional models where senior leadership drives investment origination and junior staff executes decisions, Grabel designed a system in which every professional contributor to an investment decision, regardless of seniority level, receives voting rights. Critically, Grabel himself abstains from voting, though his final approval remains required. This structure eliminates what Grabel characterizes as "putting a finger on the scale," ensuring that decision outcomes reflect the organization's collective analytical capacity rather than hierarchical preference.
The investment outcomes validate this governance philosophy. Since LACERA launched its co-investment program with private equity in 2019—subsequently expanding to encompass all asset classes—these directly-managed investments have consistently outperformed corresponding fund stakes. Grabel's approach treats co-investing as fundamentally an organizational exercise alongside its financial objectives, deliberately leveraging periods of stress to strengthen team resilience and analytical capability.
The institutional environment in which Grabel built LACERA's investment culture included significant market and operational challenges: Brexit volatility, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Los Angeles wildfires. Rather than viewing these events as disruptions to normal operations, Grabel strategically used them as crucibles for developing team depth, pattern recognition capabilities, and institutional memory. This philosophy extended beyond co-investment decisions to reshape how LACERA assessed risk comprehensively across the organization. The approach reflects Grabel's observation, drawn from his experience in private equity and pension management, that teams tend to emerge measurably stronger when forged through periods of adversity.
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