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Behind the Scenes with FPPA CIO Scott Simon: Investment Opportunities and Challenges for Public Pensions

Serving as the CIO for the Fire and Police Pension Association (FPPA) of Colorado since 2007, Scott Simon has seen his fair share of challenging market conditions. But with prudent management and a focus on long-term returns, he has successfully grown the $7.5 billion fund's investment portfolio during his tenure. Scott will join two fellow public pension CIOs—Colorado PERA's Amy McGarrity and Denver Employees Retirement Plan's Randy Baum—onstage at NCPERS 2025 Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE) for a candid conversation on investment challenges, opportunities, and market trends. 
By: Lizzy Lees, Director of Communications, NCPERS

Serving as the CIO for the Fire and Police Pension Association (FPPA) of Colorado since 2007, Scott Simon has seen his fair share of challenging market conditions. But with prudent management and a focus on long-term returns, he has successfully grown the $7.5 billion fund's investment portfolio during his tenure.

Scott will join two fellow public pension CIOs—Colorado PERA's Amy McGarrity and Denver Employees Retirement Plan's Randy Baum—onstage at NCPERS 2025 Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE) for a candid conversation on investment challenges, opportunities, and market trends. 

Before the panelists take the stage in Denver on May 20, we spoke with Scott about the current investment landscape for public pensions and the strategies FPPA is implementing to mitigate risk amid increasing economic volatility:

What are the biggest investment opportunities and challenges for public pensions today?

Public plans continue to be provided with diverse opportunities within private markets. We have continued our meaningful commitments to small buyout strategies and venture capital, and we are increasing our allocations to private credit. Hedge fund strategies—particularly global macro—continue to offer attractive risk-adjusted returns.

While we are less sensitive to the continued decline in distributions from private equity, we recognize how this is affecting other investors. A persistent challenge is the need for internal resources to process deal flow, including co-investment opportunities, along with the increased utilization of continuation vehicles by general partners.

How are you positioning your portfolio to mitigate risk in the face of increasing global economic volatility?

We maintain our focus on implementing our long-term strategic asset allocation, including continuing to add to differentiating strategies within private markets and increasing our overall private credit exposure—in particular with direct lending strategies.

We have increased our overall liquidity and diversified our strategies within our cash allocation. Additionally, we have seen some of our underlying managers positioning into more defensive sectors.

Currently, we are evaluating our criteria to ensure optimal rebalancing during times of increased market volatility.

Learn more at NCPERS Annual Conference and Exhibition, held May 18-21 in Denver. View the agenda and register now to join more than 700 public pension professionals at the industry's premier educational and networking event.  
 

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