Pension and endowment chiefs had a busy start to spring 2017. A public pension chief investment officer changed job. A longtime investment chief at a leading university endowment was selected for an unusual position by Pope Francis.
Two large asset management firms on the East Coast tapped top legal officials from investment banks and government agencies, and an emerging venture capital fund in Asia hired a corporate veteran to lead fintech efforts.
Here are the top institutional investment job changes in March and April:
LP:
Jonathan Grabel, former chief investment officer of The Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) of New Mexico, joined the $50 billion Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association (LACERA) as chief investment officer. The appointment ended LACERA’s nearly two-year search since its former chief investment officer David Kushner resigned in May 2015 for undisclosed reasons. Grabel resigned from the $14.7 billion New Mexico PERA on March 31 after three years of service. Deputy chief investment officer Jude Perez took over the position as interim chief investment officer, while the pension actively seeks Grabel’s permanent replacement.
Scott Malpass, the longtime chief investment officer of the University of Notre Dame since 1989, was appointed by Pope Francis as a board member of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), also known as the Vatican Bank. Malpass was appointed along with two other finance gurus, Javier Marín Romano from Spain and Georg Freiherr von Boeselager from Germany. IOR currently has seven board members. Malpass served as an external advisor to the Holy See banking reforms in the early days of Pope Francis’s pontificate.
Pritzker Group Asset Management, the family office of Tony and J.B. Pritzker, appointed Terra Fuller as chief investment officer to lead the firm’s portfolio management across all asset classes. Fuller joined Pritzker Group Asset Management in 2014 as director of research, where she sourced new investments and oversaw analysis, diligence and research processes.
GP:
Citadel Securities, a New York City-based asset management firm, hired Stephen Luparello, a former top official at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as general counsel, leading the firm’s legal matters. Luparello was the director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the SEC and stepped down in January. Luparello is one of the several former regulatory officials Citadel hired in the past year.
AQR Capital Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based quantitative hedge fund, hired Billy Fenrich, the former chief compliance officer at Morgan Stanley, as chief legal officer. Fenrich left Morgan Stanley after just a year on the post. Fenrich joined Morgan Stanley's legal department in 2014 from hedge fund PointState Capital. He was named chief compliance officer in 2016.
Digital Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, appointed Orapong Thien-Ngern, a former general manager of Microsoft Thailand, as chairman of the executive committee. Ngern will lead and grow Digital Ventures’ fintech operations.
Click here to see Trusted Insight’s previous people moves recap.
For questions, comments or story ideas, please contact us at editorial@thetrustedinsight.com