Episode summary
Where investors are leaning in, with CIO Jeb Burns, Mich.MERS
Summary
Jeb Burns says Michigan MERS is managing about $20 billion and has found its strongest five-year returns in infrastructure, liquid natural resources, and emerging market small caps rather than the obvious U.S. large-cap trade. His broader message is that diversification and long-term portfolio construction matter more than chasing what has already run. He argues that markets can stay expensive longer than expected, but over time the next tailwind often comes from an unexpected place.
A major theme is breaking down silos inside a small, 11-person investment team. Burns says the team still needs specialized expertise, but it also has to cross-pollinate ideas across public and private markets to find the best risk-adjusted opportunities. He describes a recent energy project where public-market research led the team to conclude the private side was the better way to get exposure.
Burns is also bullish on technology, especially AI, but he treats it as an accelerator rather than a replacement for human judgment. He expects AI to speed up research, reporting, and decision-making, while also forcing a rethink of governance, due diligence, and approval processes. He thinks the next few years will be about building cleaner workflows and using that capacity to lean into tailwinds, not herd behavior.
Key takeaways
- Burns says Michigan MERS is at about $20 billion AUM and has recently gotten the biggest five-year lift from infrastructure, liquid natural resources, and emerging market small caps.
- He argues that the investment team needs both specialization and cross-pollination, because a small staff cannot afford to work in isolated silos.
- Burns expects AI to materially speed up research and portfolio work, but he says humans still need to apply deeper risk judgment.
- He sees commodities, energy, and related assets as having a long-term tailwind from nearshoring, onshoring, and rising energy demand.
- Burns says private markets may see lower forward returns after years of fundraising, even though he still expects them to outperform public markets over time.
Notable quotes
“So the takeaway there is diversification sneaks up and helps you when you least expect it”
“I think independent critical thinking and research”
“So this is one of these the answers to this is it's both”
“the real opportunity is they'll will make the right allocation decision”
“AI is something that is very real and it is going to make it's going to dramatically expand the capabilities of an office like mine”
How the episode opens
Hi, I'm Christine Jerdano with Markets Group. Unsiloing a portfolio is often a common discussion amongst institutional investment teams. Often times those teams are petitioned as each person and each team handles a different aspect of asset classes and it's known as the siloed effect.
An individual team members hard one research and due diligence and discoveries can be quite valuable to the rest of the team as a whole. In this interview, we'll talk about how one chief investment officer with a team of 11 people is breaking down those partitions in order for the whole team to benefit from the shared knowledge. Jeb Burns is the first and only chief investment officer Michigan Municipal Employees Retirement System has ever known.
Dubbed Michigan, Jeb in essence has been carving out and defining his own role and the functions of the investment team for more than two decades since 2001. Known as a forward thinker as the industry explores the concept of the total portfolio approach or TPA, Jeb Burns is changing the approach of his own investment team to break down the isolated silos so that knowledge can be shared across the entire portfolio. Welcome Jeb.
Christine, good to see you again. — You too. So let's start with a little bit about your fund. Let's put it all into perspective. It's miday of 2026. What's your AUM? — So, I like to round up. So, we are at $20 billion.
Makes sense. Have you had some top investments over the past 5 years? — You know, I I I looked at You gave me this question beforehand. I want to ask you a question. What would you bet the top investment would be over the last 5 years if you had to bet?
Might have taken a peek in your portfolio and I might say commodities.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- cross-pollination investment teams
- intentional collaboration
- ai and technology in investing
- market trends and risks
- humans vs ai
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Michigan MERS
Watch the episode
Watch “Where investors are leaning in, with CIO Jeb Burns, Mich.MERS” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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