Michelin North America

Cliff Moore serves as Chief Investment Officer for the defined-benefit pension plans at Michelin North America. He is the named portfolio manager for the fund and reports through the corporate finance function in Greenville. Day-to-day allocation, manager selection, and direct investment underwriting run through his team.

The plan is sponsored by the US subsidiary of Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin, but operates as a legally distinct, ERISA-governed entity. Its investment function leverages Michelin's industrial relationships and supply-chain intelligence without commingling pension assets with corporate treasury. The fund does not take direction from the parent on specific investments but benefits from access to operational insights, particularly in manufacturing and mobility sectors.

The fund executes both fund commitments and direct co-investments — a dual posture that is consistent across many large corporate plans. The buyout tag in their stated strategy indicates a preference for direct equity exposure alongside partner GPs. They have not publicly disclosed a separate direct-deal team, suggesting co-investments are likely sourced through fund-manager relationships rather than a standalone origination engine.

The plan focuses on private equity buyouts, real estate, and infrastructure. Buyout preference signals mature, cash-flowing companies; real assets and infrastructure align with Michelin's industrial DNA. The fund does not publicly participate in venture capital or early-stage technology, and avoids strategies without a hard-asset or control-oriented thesis.

Michelin operates two distinct non-investment vehicles: Michelin Development North America, which provides small-business lending in communities where Michelin has operations, and the Michelin North America Foundation, a grant-making charity. Both are legally and operationally separated from the defined-benefit pension plan, with no commingling of assets, staff, or investment mandates.

The investment team sits within Michelin North America's headquarters at 1 Parkway South in Greenville, South Carolina. The firm does not publicly disclose the team's headcount or the number of investment professionals dedicated to the pension portfolio. Greenville's concentration of Michelin manufacturing, research, and corporate functions suggests a small, centralized team operating with lean internal staffing and heavy reliance on external managers.

The fund actively participates in co-investments, a posture consistent with a buyout-oriented strategy seeking fee mitigation and control over deployment pacing. Because Michelin does not disclose its co-investment pipeline, the scale of this activity is opaque — but the structural incentive for a plan of its size to negotiate GP-led co-investment rights is high, particularly given the parent company's direct operating expertise in industrial sectors.