E192: Lessons from a Top Pension Turnaround w/Anurag Chandra
In this episode, I spoke with Anurag Chandra, Chief Investment Officer of a single-family office and longtime trustee and former Investment Committee Chair of the San Jose Federated City Employees’ Retirement System (FSERS). Over the past decade, Anurag has helped transform FSERS from one of the worst-performing pension plans in the U.S. into a top-decile performer. He’s also an experienced operator, venture capitalist, and accidental allocator—with hard-won insight into everything from re-risking public portfolios to model delivery and tax-loss harvesting. In our conversation, Anurag shared how EQ, team dynamics, and governance structure often outperform raw IQ in investing—and how he helped rebuild a $2.2B pension plan through careful governance reform, luck, and great timing. We also covered how he now applies those same principles at a nimble family office, blending institutional rigor with operational agility.
Highlights:
- Why Anurag believes a 120 IQ and a great network beats a 160 IQ and no network
- The governance overhaul that led San Jose FSERS from bottom-2 to top-decile performance
- Lessons from studying Canadian pension best practices
- How his CIO made a bold move during the March 2020 crash—and why it paid off
- Why he thinks more family offices should behave like institutions
- A breakdown of model delivery, tax-loss harvesting, and custom indexing
- How his operator/investor/allocator background informs his investing philosophy
- Thoughts on emotional intelligence in finance—and why it’s more than a “soft skill”
-- Guest Bio: Anurag Chandra is currently the Chief Investment Officer of a single-family office based in the Bay Area. He previously served for nearly a decade on the board of the San Jose Federated City Employees’ Retirement System, including several years as Chair of the Investment Committee. Under his leadership, the pension plan went from being one of the lowest-performing in the country to a consistent top-decile performer. Anurag has also worked as a venture capitalist, operator, and advisor, with 25+ years of professional experience across legal, investment, and entrepreneurial roles.
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Transcript
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