Cliffwater, a leading private markets interval fund manager with $44.5 billion in net assets across its platform as of March 31, 2026, has appointed Sean Murray to its distribution team as Head of Retirement Solutions.
In the role, Murray will lead the expansion of the firm’s dedicated retirement channel capabilities, working to deepen Cliffwater’s relationships with plan sponsors, recordkeepers, and retirement-focused advisors as the defined contribution market increasingly looks to private markets for yield and diversification. The hire signals a deliberate effort by Cliffwater to build out the institutional infrastructure needed to serve one of the largest and fastest-evolving channels in asset management.
Murray brings more than 30 years of experience in the retirement industry, a tenure that spans multiple market cycles and the sweeping structural changes that have reshaped how retirement assets are allocated and managed. Most recently, he served as Head of Strategic Partnerships Workplace Solutions at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on retirement and workplace offerings and played a meaningful role in driving the inclusion of private markets in defined contribution plans — an effort that has gained significant momentum following regulatory guidance that has made it easier for plan fiduciaries to consider alternative asset classes within target-date funds and other DC vehicles. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Murray held senior leadership positions at PIMCO, BlackRock, and Envestnet, giving him broad exposure to both the asset management and financial technology dimensions of the retirement ecosystem.
Murray’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the private markets industry’s push into defined contribution. For decades, private equity, private credit, and other alternative asset classes were largely the domain of defined benefit pension plans and institutional endowments, with DC plans remaining almost entirely allocated to publicly traded securities. That dynamic is shifting as plan sponsors seek to enhance return potential for participants, regulators have clarified pathways for inclusion, and asset managers have developed interval fund structures and other vehicles specifically designed to accommodate the liquidity constraints of the DC environment. Cliffwater, with its established expertise in private credit and multi-alternative interval funds, is positioned to benefit directly from this structural shift — and Murray’s hire suggests the firm intends to compete aggressively for that opportunity.
With $44.5 billion in net assets and a track record built on institutional-grade private markets access, Cliffwater has already established itself as a credible and innovative player in the interval fund space. Adding a distribution leader with Murray’s depth of retirement-specific relationships and cross-platform experience equips the firm to translate that investment capability into meaningful market share within the retirement channel — a segment that controls trillions of dollars in assets and represents one of the most significant growth frontiers in alternative asset management.
KEY QUOTE:
“I’m excited to continue increasing the role of private markets in retirement plans alongside an innovator in the space like Cliffwater and believe the firm is uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of this evolution.”
Sean Murray, Head of Retirement Solutions, Cliffwater
