Key Takeaways
- • Kent Custer, investment chief of the Illinois Police Officers' Pension Investment Fund since May 2021, has built a $15 billion combined asset portfolio managing 357 Illinois police pension funds and is now aggressively expanding into private markets with a 20 percent target allocation.
- • Illinois Police has established a structured private markets program with a 20 percent target allocation broken down as: seven percent private equity, five percent private credit, five percent real estate, and three percent infrastructure.
- • The fund has hired Albourne as consultant and selected Oaktree Capital and Lexington Partners for private credit and private equity mandates, respectively, with active searches underway for private infrastructure, private real estate, and additional private credit managers.
- • Greg Turk, recruited from the Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois, joined as deputy CIO and director of private markets to lead the expansion effort.
- • Custer's track record includes restructuring underfunded pension systems at the Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund (2011) and the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System (2018) before being tapped to consolidate Illinois police pensions into a single managed portfolio.
Summary
Kent Custer has transitioned from fixing troubled pension systems to building and scaling one of Illinois's largest public pension funds. Since joining the Illinois Police Officers' Pension Investment Fund in May 2021 as its inaugural investment chief, Custer has consolidated the assets of 357 separate Illinois police pension funds into a single $15 billion portfolio—a mandate that required building investment infrastructure from the ground up.
Custer's career reflects a pattern of stabilizing distressed pension plans. He previously restructured the Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund beginning in 2011 and took on a similar challenge with the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System in 2018. When offered the opportunity to build a new fund expected to exceed $10 billion from inception, Custer accepted despite being "very happy in Dallas," signaling the scale and strategic importance of the Illinois Police assignment.
With foundational portfolio management now established, Custer is executing an ambitious private markets expansion. Illinois Police launched its private markets program in 2024 and has committed to a 20 percent allocation across alternative asset classes: seven percent to private equity, five percent to private credit, five percent to real estate, and three percent to infrastructure. The fund has retained Albourne as its private markets consultant and selected Oaktree Capital for private credit and Lexington Partners for private equity. Additional manager searches are active for private infrastructure, private real estate, and a secondary private credit manager.
Supporting this expansion, Custer hired Greg Turk from the Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois as deputy CIO and director of private markets. Custer emphasized the fund's disciplined approach, noting that the team has "been really working on the private market portfolio" while remaining "very prudent and risk aware." His candidacy for the Allocators' Choice Award for public pension CIO of the year reflects recognition of his execution in consolidating and repositioning a major pension system.
Custer's career reflects a pattern of stabilizing distressed pension plans. He previously restructured the Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund beginning in 2011 and took on a similar challenge with the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System in 2018. When offered the opportunity to build a new fund expected to exceed $10 billion from inception, Custer accepted despite being "very happy in Dallas," signaling the scale and strategic importance of the Illinois Police assignment.
With foundational portfolio management now established, Custer is executing an ambitious private markets expansion. Illinois Police launched its private markets program in 2024 and has committed to a 20 percent allocation across alternative asset classes: seven percent to private equity, five percent to private credit, five percent to real estate, and three percent to infrastructure. The fund has retained Albourne as its private markets consultant and selected Oaktree Capital for private credit and Lexington Partners for private equity. Additional manager searches are active for private infrastructure, private real estate, and a secondary private credit manager.
Supporting this expansion, Custer hired Greg Turk from the Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois as deputy CIO and director of private markets. Custer emphasized the fund's disciplined approach, noting that the team has "been really working on the private market portfolio" while remaining "very prudent and risk aware." His candidacy for the Allocators' Choice Award for public pension CIO of the year reflects recognition of his execution in consolidating and repositioning a major pension system.
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