The New Jersey Department of the Treasury’s Division of Investment announced the hiring of Dana Johns as head of private equity.
Before joining the $88 billion New Jersey Division of Investment, she was a member of the private equity team at the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, where she has yet to be replaced. She replaces Jared Speicher, who left the New Jersey Division of Investment last year for MetLife Investment Management.
‘We are very happy to welcome Dana as our new Head of Private Equity,” said Shoaib Khan, chief investment officer and director of the Division of Investment. “Her demonstrated success in managing institutional investments in the private market will help us further out fiduciary duty to the pension members we serve.”
She has more than two decades of experience managing multi-billion-dollar global portfolios of institutional alternative investment assets. She has a demonstrated long-term track record of selecting and managing strong performing private equity fund portfolios and is committed to initiatives focused on the advancement of private markets investing and creating pathways to inclusion for underrepresented talent in private equity, New Jersey officials said.
Johns is board chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network and a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council, Academy for Institutional Investors Editorial Committee, AIF Women’s Leadership Steering Committee, and the SEO Alternative Investments Limited Partner Advisory Council.
Recently, the Division of Investment selected CVC Capital Partners IX and AIP’s American Industrial Partners Capital Fund VIII. As of March 31, 2023, the pension fund has nearly $11 billion allocated to private equity.
Johns hire follows that of Brad Johnson as head of private credit.
