Brett Schlemovitz, President of StepStone Private Wealth, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, at iCapital Connect 2026 to discuss the firm’s multi-manager model and the growing opportunity in private markets across secondaries and co-investments.
StepStone Private Wealth focuses exclusively on private markets, investing across private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, real estate, and private credit. The firm places an emphasis on secondaries, co-investments, and multi-manager models.
Schlemovitz emphasizes the importance of manager selection within private markets, noting the performance dispersion among private equity managers. He cites data from the last 20 years showing top-performing managers generated about 25% IRRs, while median managers produced around 15% IRRs, and bottom-quartile managers generated closer to 7%. While all three outcomes represent positive returns, Schlemovitz notes that investors locking up capital for extended periods desire managers capable of delivering the highest returns possible. To support that effort, StepStone maintains a global research team of about 400 professionals and only invests in areas where the firm has people physically on the ground evaluating opportunities and meeting with managers directly.
From a portfolio construction perspective, Schlemovitz highlights that the firm’s multi-manager model provides the resources needed to tilt client portfolios and enable customization. For example, he explains that investors may seek exposure to a private equity portfolio with small- to mid-caps rather than large-caps or pursue targeted strategies such as a renewable energy infrastructure secondary portfolio, which StepStone can deliver. He adds that the firm constructs portfolios designed to address factors such as return volatility and liquidity correlation.
Schlemovitz points to secondaries and co-investments as compelling opportunities in private markets. He explains that the secondary market has grown significantly over the last 10 years and anticipates continued growth over the coming 10 years as investors use secondaries as a rebalancing tool, to deploy capital quickly, and for shorter-duration investments. In regard to co-investments, Schlemovitz notes that investors typically avoid paying fees from the underlying managers. He adds that StepSton reviews a high volume of co-investments annually and provides the scale to build highly diversified co-investment funds.
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