Jon Glidden, the CIO of Delta Airlines' $16 billion pension fund, has successfully turned around a severely underfunded plan. His approach revolves around four main strategies: utilizing portable alpha through market-neutral hedge funds, tapping into private markets like private equity and real assets, enhancing returns via derivatives in portfolio construction, and ensuring strong governance with executive support. Even in the face of market challenges, including the 2020 COVID crisis, his disciplined strategy and careful risk management led to impressive results, boosting the plan's funded status from 42% to over 102% and surpassing initial return goals. The keys to his success included strong partnerships, a clear plan, and a robust governance framework.
