NEPC’s longtime investment chief Tim McCusker will succeed Michael Manning to lead the $1.7 trillion investment giant — first as president, then as CEO — as part of a multiyear transition plan.
Once McCusker becomes president of the Hightower-owned NEPC in January, which the wealth management giant bought late last year, he will work alongside Manning, who will stay on as CEO for the next 12 months before stepping down. The long-term transition plan is not unlike the one the $12 billion OCIO provider GEM Investments is currently embarking on with its CIOs.
Sarah Samuels, a partner at NEPC, has been appointed to CIO as part of this succession plan.
For NEPC’s leaders, with whom Institutional Investor spoke over video, continuity of service was important. With part of NEPC’s role evaluating asset managers as they go through these leadership transitions, Manning feels the team has insight into which structures, cultures, and succession plans thrive, and which ones fail due to poorly planned leadership changes.
“We’re trying to do it the right way,” Manning said, adding that he will take on an advisory role at the firm in 2027, serving as an “experienced sounding board on strategic priorities but not as involved on a day-to-day basis.”
McCusker echoed his boss’s sentiments: “A really important part of this transition is to create continuity,” McCusker said. “That’s not to say we won’t change; NEPC will continue to evolve… we [just] want to do it in a way where our DNA, our values, our culture, don’t change.”
Samuels, who has spent the past seven years overseeing NEPC’s private and public markets and hedge funds as head of investment manager selection, explained to II that this leadership transition will provide opportunities for growth within the company. “We’re going to maintain the strength of the investment team [and] enable our people to stretch and grow,” Samuels said.
