James Del Gaudio is Managing Director and Head of Private Markets at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), where he oversees the system’s Private Markets program, representing approximately 30% of PSERS’ more than $85 billion in total plan assets across private equity, private credit, private real estate, and infrastructure.
Since joining PSERS in 2015, Mr. Del Gaudio has held senior investment leadership roles spanning private credit and private equity. In early 2024, he was appointed Head of Private Markets, where he leads an integrated platform across strategies and plays a central role in the system’s investment management across asset allocation, underwriting, implementation, and portfolio construction.
Prior to PSERS, he served as a senior investment officer at the New York City Comptrollers’ Bureau of Asset Management. He holds an MBA from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business. Originally trained as a musician, Mr. Del Gaudio is an accomplished bassoonist and holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the Manhattan School of Music. He credits his liberal arts background with fostering the creative and analytical thinking that underpins his investment approach. He began his investment career at Wachovia Securities in wealth management.
