Alaska’s Willoughby Scores TIFF CIO Role

JayWilloughby_ChrisBuzelli Alaska Permanent Fund’s Jay Willoughby has joined the Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF) as its investment chief.

According to TIFF, Willoughby will begin his new position managing more than $11 billion on October 13, replacing former CIO Larry Lebowitz who resigned in April this year.

“As we have gotten to know Jay, we have been struck by his disciplined, yet highly collaborative approach to building and motivating teams,” said Collette Chilton, TIFF’s board chair, and CEO and interim-CIO Dick Flannery. “We enthusiastically welcome Jay to the TIFF team.”

Flannery also praised Willoughby’s ability to “strategize across investment approaches and styles.”

For more stories like this, sign up for the CIO Alert newsletter. 

Once on board, Willoughby will turn his attention to “an immediate and intense focus” on TIFF’s investments, the outsourced-CIO said.

The CIO also promised to be “laser-focused on investment excellence” in beginning his work with Pennsylvania-based TIFF.

Willoughby spent the past four years as investment chief at the $52 billion Alaska Permanent Fund. The three-time Power 100 member also served as CIO of Merrill Lynch’s private investor group and head of research for equity funds.

He holds an MBA from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Pomona Collage. Willoughby is also a Chartered Financial Analyst holder.

America’s largest pension fund has earned top marks for its adherence to environmental, social, and governance issues.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) released the results of its 2015 Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) Assessment Report Thursday. The $300 billion fund said it received an ‘A+’ for its overarching approach to responsible investment, the highest possible grade offered by PRI.

“A commitment to sustainable investing is ingrained throughout our investment beliefs.”PRI, an initiative backed by the United Nations, scores participating asset owners, investment managers, and professional service partners on their compliance with a set of standards for responsible and sustainable investment.

“We are proud of our exceptional score,” said Ted Eliopoulos, CIO at CalPERS. “A commitment to sustainable investing is ingrained throughout our investment beliefs.”

Never miss a story — sign up for CIO newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest institutional investment industry news. 

In addition to being a PRI signatory, CalPERS is involved with the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). Earlier this month, the pension fund led a coalition of asset owners backing the GRESB’s new infrastructure benchmark.

Anne Simpson, investment director for global governance at CalPERS, said the fund’s PRI scores were indicative of its progress toward sustainable investment activity.

“We know this is an evolving field and there is still much work to be done,” said Simpson.

PRI signatories manage a collective $59 trillion in assets. As of June 2015, 286 asset owners had signed onto the initiative, representing $15.5 trillion in assets under management.

Other signees include the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and the New York City Employees Retirement System. Harvard University became the first endowment to join the organization in April 2014.