StepStone Group

Last week, our Summer Series continued with a conversation on the practical use of AI in the workplace, led by Managing Director Yasmine Uzmez. The session explored how AI can improve quality, efficiency, and clarity at work, while underscoring the importance of judgment, accuracy, transparency, and responsible use. Interns had the opportunity to ask questions, share perspectives, and discuss where AI can add value, and where human expertise remains essential. Many thanks to Yasmine for sharing her time and perspective!

StepStone is proud to sponsor TIDE Spark 2026, bringing together leaders from across the alternatives industry for discussions on the evolving private markets landscape. Be sure to catch sessions featuring StepStone's Tom Hester, Tod Trabocco, Janice Ince, and Erin Driscoll. We look forward to the conversations and connections this week.

StepStone Partner Andrew Callahan will be joining a panel at Pension Bridge Private Equity Exclusive in Chicago on July 14. His session, "Constructing venture capital portfolios for a world without easy exits," examines how the current environment is reshaping the way LPs approach venture—including shifts in portfolio construction, pacing, and liquidity planning.

Jeff Giller, Partner and Head of StepStone Real Estate, Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions, and Elizabeth Ptacek, Principal, Market Research, recently authored an article for PENSION REAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION (PREA) on the increasing integration of real estate, private equity, and infrastructure within private markets investments. They discuss why evolving investor demands and more complex investment structures are driving the need for multidisciplinary expertise across underwriting, operations, and value creation. Read the full article below.

Around the world and across the firm, we’re growing. Join a team where ambition is matched by access—to ideas, experience and opportunities to learn. Explore open positions: stepstonegroup.com/current-opport…

Private markets have long struggled with benchmarking, but the challenge goes beyond data—it’s about credibility and comparability. In our latest episode of RPM, Tyler Johnson, StepStone Partner and Chief Technology Officer, and Paul Santarelli, Chief Solutions Officer at PitchBook, join co-host Michael Venne to discuss how deal-level benchmarking can help separate alpha from beta and bring greater transparency to manager evaluation. The conversation explores what a more data-driven future could mean for GPs, LPs, and the broader private markets ecosystem. Listen here: bit.ly/4wmEl7T 📢 Now live: SPI Deal Benchmarking, the deal-level benchmarking solution from StepStone and PitchBook, is available now. Learn more: bit.ly/4xQTboB

StepStone hosted a Thought Leadership Forum last week in Geneva, bringing together a small group for a focused discussion on small and mid‑market private equity. The conversation centered around how shifting capital flows, policy dynamics, and geopolitical changes are shaping opportunity across Europe and the United States. Partners Michael Elio and Panos Tegos shared perspectives from their respective markets, highlighting where regional differences are becoming more pronounced and where underlying fundamentals remain aligned, bringing together perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic on a key segment of the market.

Colleagues across StepStone recently gathered in New York for Leadership Week, a week of development programming and team building. The week brought together the latest cohort of StepStone’s sponsorship program, which pairs high-performing employees with partner sponsors and executive coaches, developing talent and building leaders within the firm. The week closed out with a company-wide town hall hosted by CEO Scott Hart and Co-COOs Jason Ment and Jose Fernandez, followed by a day of professional development sessions, and an in-office volunteer event assembling shower kits for Part of the Solution, a nonprofit serving the Bronx. Congratulations to our new sponsorship class, and thanks to Scott, Jason, Jose, and everyone who was able to join us in New York!

Members of StepStone's Zurich team recently represented the firm at PK Messe, connecting with stakeholders and the Swiss pension fund community. Switzerland’s largest pension fund conference, PK Messe draws a wide range of participants and serves as an important point of connection for the sector. Thank you to Adnan Ahmad, Simon Geldreich and Marc Wehrli for attending on behalf of StepStone!

Last week we kicked off our intern speaker series with John Weng, a VP on our Venture Capital team who’s grown his career at StepStone. He shared a candid look at how expectations evolve early in your career, from building your skillset to taking on more ownership and figuring out how to stand out in a fast‑moving environment. Interns got a firsthand account of what that progression actually looks like in practice, with a focus on the habits and decisions that matter early on. A big thank you to John for sharing his time and perspective, follow along for more highlights from our Summer Internship Program!

StepStone and @PitchBook have launched SPI Deal Benchmarking, now generally available within the PitchBook platform. As part of the partnership, StepStone’s deal-level benchmarks are accessible through both PitchBook and SPI by StepStone, helping investors analyze performance drivers with greater precision across private equity buyout, venture capital, growth equity, and infrastructure. The combined offering brings together aggregated, anonymized data to support more consistent benchmarking, enhance transparency, and enable more robust analysis across private markets. View the full press release here: bit.ly/4uLvVFU

StepStone Managing Director Alesia Dawidowicz, CFA will be speaking on a panel at the upcoming Institutional Investor DACH Summit on June 18 in Zurich. The panel, “Cockroaches in the Coalmine?”, will examine how to read stress in private credit markets, looking at when defaults are noise, when they signal risk, and how manager approach is becoming a key differentiator. If you'll be attending, be sure to listen in and connect with Alesia while you're there.

Where is buyout alpha coming from? StepStone Partner Aditya Fontana-Raina will join the panel "Alpha, Engineering, and Alignment: Buyouts After the Peak" at the Boston Private Markets Meeting on June 12 to examine what’s driving buyout returns today. Be sure connect with Aditya if you'll be attending.

StepStone’s 2026 summer internship class has arrived! This week marked the start of our U.S. summer internship program, with teams welcoming our newest group of interns. Selected from more than 22K applications, this year’s class includes 78 interns from 49 universities, joining teams across 4 asset classes and 8 departments in 7 offices. Over the coming weeks, they'll gain real-world experience in private markets and have the chance to make meaningful contributions to the work we do. Welcome to StepStone, we’re excited to have you here!

Germany is Europe’s largest economy, but its private equity market has consistently rewarded precision over broad-based exposure. Returns have concentrated in specific pockets: software, IT services, insurance brokerage, and education, backed by locally-rooted, sector-specialist managers with deep Mittelstand relationships. In our latest paper, we look beneath the headline numbers to show where German private equity has delivered, and why selectivity is critical. Read the paper to learn more: bit.ly/4dPjtP0

StepStone Managing Director Colin Donnelly will be speaking on the panel “The rise of industrial” at the Real Estate Midwest Forum in Chicago on June 4. Industrial real estate continues to gain momentum as logistics, manufacturing, and data centers expand. This panel will explore how these asset classes are shaping portfolios today, where investors are seeing opportunity, and the role of technology and infrastructure in supporting continued growth.

Join Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions, and members of SRE's research team for StepStone's House Views Webinar on Tuesday, June 2 at 11am ET, where they will discuss insights from StepStone Real Estate’s Spring 2026 House Views report. The conversation will focus on current market conditions, the role of income in real estate returns, and how selectivity across assets, strategies, and managers is influencing today’s real estate landscape. Register here: bit.ly/4a5xoiz Read the full report here: bit.ly/3S3RF1O

StepStone Group reported results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026. Visit our shareholder page to listen to the replay ▶️ bit.ly/3AWPanE

We are heading to SuperReturn International in Berlin, 8–12 June 2026. On Monday, 8 June 2026, Carlos Sahuquillo will present “Reviving the giant: Germany's Private Equity renaissance” and moderate the panel “Overcoming fundraising difficulties in a changing landscape.” Also on Monday, 8 June 2026, Hans‑Jörg Baumann will moderate the panel “Private credit: a new continuum — meeting the challenges of an altered investing era” and interview Jon Pruzan, Co‑President of Pretium, during the session “The expanding role of Private Credit in Residential Markets.” On Tuesday, 9 June 2026, Philippe Ferneini will join the panel “GP-led transactions: Balancing liquidity, transparency, and long-term value creation,” a discussion focused on how GPs are approaching liquidity needs while staying aligned with LP expectations over the long term. On Friday, 12 June 2026, Bernard De Backer will speak on “What are the key drivers for private equity co-investments in 2026?” looking at what’s shaping demand and decision-making in today’s co-investment market. Michael McGuire, CFA, Anthony Giambrone, and several other members of the StepStone team will also be in attendance, be sure to connect with them if you’ll be at the conference.