LPs

University of California PE director Cucullu leaves system

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University of California, pension fund, private equity, Michele Cucullu, Bayshore Global Management, Sergey Brin, Google
University of California at Berkeley, California. Photo courtesy Peter Burnett/iStock/Getty Images
  • Cucullu worked on private equity at UC since 2007
  • System invests billions in PE and venture capital
  • Cucullu previously worked on investments at Caltech

Michele Cucullu, director of private equity at the University of California, has left the system, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The person said Cucullu is joining Bayshore Global Management, the family office of Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin. That could not be confirmed.

Cucullu is no longer listed on the staff chart on the UC Regents website. A UC Regents spokeswoman said she doesn’t comment on personnel matters. Cucullu did not respond to a LinkedIn connection request.

Cucullu joined the university in 2007. Previously, she was an investment associate at the investment office at the California Institute of Technology. Before that, she was a consultant at consulting firm Exeter Group.

In the office of the university’s chief investment officer, Cucullu invested the system’s $107.2 billion portfolio. This includes a $59.7 billion pension, a $21.7 billion retirement-savings program, a $10.4 billion endowment and a working-capital pool of $14.5 billion, according to investment documents from UC.  The investment team also manages UC’s insurance assets of about $900 million.

The system had about $2.7 billion in global PE and VC investments across primaries, secondaries, co-investments and direct investments, according to UC documents.

The system’s AUM grew $18.7 billion over three years, primarily due to gains in public equities, a news release from March says.

Action Item: Check out the UC Regents PE performance here: http://bit.ly/22mEKDU

The University of California at Berkeley. Photo courtesy Peter Burnett/iStock/Getty Images