New York Common Pension Fund Looking to Hire Senior Investment Officer

The $242.3 billion New York Common Retirement Fund is looking for a senior investment officer for its emerging managers program. The pension fund is also looking to hire an assistant counsel for investments.

The senior investment officer will be based in New York City and will report to the interim director of emerging managers, according to a job posting from executive search firm EFL Associates.

The NYSCRF’s Emerging Manager Program aims to invest in newer, smaller and diverse investment management firms. This includes new and increased commitments to emerging managers or transactions made directly by the pension fund, as well as new and increased commitments through emerging manager funds-of-funds.

The position’s main responsibilities include working with fund-of-funds and external advisers to source emerging manager opportunities; creating a strategy to build and grow the emerging managers program; and performing due diligence on emerging manager opportunities, including leading the evaluation of the manager’s investment process, portfolio exposures, risk management and performance.

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Other senior investment officer duties include:

Representing the NYSCRF externally to increase the Emerging Managers Program’s recognition and awareness;
Leading internal and external meetings and building advisory relationships with emerging managers, fund-of-funds and advisers;
Creating guidelines and funding strategies that encourage inclusion and support for developing emerging managers;
Working with asset class teams to identify mandates suitable for emerging managers and emerging managers who can fill them; and
Mentoring and developing junior investment staff on investment knowledge and career topics.

The position of assistant counsel, which will also be based at the pension fund’s New York City office, will report to the NYSCRF’s general counsel. Responsibilities of the position include working closely with investment staff to negotiate and manage investments among all asset classes, including public equity, fixed income, real estate, private equity, real assets, credit and opportunistic and absolute return strategies.

The assistant counsel will be expected to actively participate in negotiating and/or drafting all substantive documents regarding investments and review-related legal matters that arise during the management of the portfolio. The role will also be tasked with drafting and negotiating a range of investment-related contracts, such as investment management agreements, adviser and consultant contracts and non-disclosure agreements.

Other duties of the role include:

Reviewing, commenting on and working with outside counsel and investment staff on negotiating alternative investment deals;

Monitoring outside counsel’s work in respect to direct real estate acquisitions and dispositions;
Participating in the structuring of customized investments;
Ensuring contract compliance with NYSCRF investment law and internal policies and procedures;
Advising on fiduciary, investment and policy restrictions or issues; and

Reviewing and advising amendments, consents, major decision requests and other post-closing legal matters for existing investments.

The posted annual salary range for the senior investment officer position is $157,319 to $208,448. A salary range for the assistant counsel position was not mentioned in the posting.

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Tags: New York State Common Retirement Fund, pension fund, NYSCRF, senior investment officer, emerging managers program, EFL Associates.

Tags: EFL Associates, Emerging Managers, New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYCRF), NYSCRF, senior investment officer

If the pace of the transition to a low-carbon economy in the eurozone does not accelerate soon, the financial vulnerability of companies and households will, the European Central Bank warned in a report detailing the results of its second economy-wide climate stress test.

The stress test studied the potential vulnerabilities of the eurozone economy and financial system in a set of three transition scenarios toward a net-zero emissions economy: an “accelerated transition,” a “late-push transition” and a “delayed transition.”

The accelerated transition frontloaded green policies and investment, leading to a reduction in emissions by 2030 in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The late-push transition continued on the current path and did not accelerate until 2026; however, it was enough to meet Paris-aligned emission reductions by 2030. The delayed transition started in 2026 and was not sufficient to reach Paris Agreement goals by 2030.

According to the ECB, the results of the latest test show that the best way to achieve a net-zero economy is for companies, households and banks in the eurozone to accelerate the green transition.

“We need more decisive policies to ensure a speedier transition towards a net-zero economy in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said in a release. “Moving at the current pace will push up risks and costs for the economy and financial system. There is a clear need for speed on the road to Paris.”

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The ECB also noted that its findings align with those of other organizations’ climate stress tests; the Financial Stability Board and the Network for Greening the Financial System have already completed 35 exercises on climate scenario analysis. The report stated that for abrupt transition scenarios in particular, the other exercises have also found that “climate-related risks would be concentrated within sectors, giving rise to large tail risk.”

Although an accelerated transition would initially involve greater investment and higher energy costs, according to the report, the financial risks would decrease significantly in the medium term. Profits and purchasing power would be less negatively affected because the frontloaded investment in renewable energy would pay off earlier and ultimately reduce energy expenses. The ECB stated that in the accelerated transition, green investment by eurozone firms would rise to 2 trillion euros ($2.14 trillion) by 2025, but in the other two scenarios, that figure amounts to only 500 billion euros.

“The earlier the transition happens, the smaller the financial risk, and consequently the less policy support is required to mitigate the costs,” the report said. “Assuming a specific target for emissions’ reduction by 2030, an accelerated transition is preferable to a late-push transition, which would be more sudden and disruptive.”