LA County Pension Seeks Senior Investment Officer for Real Estate

The $77 billion Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association has created two new investment officer positions, one a senior investment officer for real estate and the other an investment officer for corporate governance and stewardship.

According to an ad posted on LACERA’s and executive search firm EFL Associates’ websites, the senior investment officer “will play a leading role in shaping LACERA’s $5 billion – $8 billion real estate allocation and leading a team through an evolution of the portfolio structure and investment process.”

According to LACERA, its 6% strategic core real estate allocation provides income, inflation-hedging and diversification to its overall portfolio, and the 4% allocation to non-core real estate is intended to provide higher returns for the overall portfolio. The position oversees a six-person team dedicated to real estate investment and reports to the principal investment officer for real assets.

The base annual salary range for the position is approximately $242,000 to $366,000. Some key responsibilities for the position include:

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Implementing an investment management strategy and supervising its development;
Developing and recommending policies, portfolio investment structures and strategies for the real estate asset class to the Board of Investments;
Designing, developing and implementing policies, procedures and guidelines to manage the portfolio;
Supervising the research, analysis, evaluation and recommendation of new investment vehicles and strategies;
Conducting investment manager searches, including evaluating requests for proposals, conducting manager interviews and analyzing portfolio performance;
Monitoring outside investment managers; and
Providing consultation and advice to the CIO, principal investment officer, deputy CIO and Board of Investments members.

Meanwhile, a separate LACERA posting advertises for an investment officer to help develop and implement corporate governance initiatives and to help integrate environmental, social and governance factors throughout the fund’s investment process. The position, with an annual base salary range of approximately $181,000 to $274,000, reports to the principal investment officer for corporate governance and stewardship.

Some of the main duties of the job include:

Developing, implementing and leading engagements with portfolio companies to advance effective governance practices regarding investor rights, corporate disclosures, climate change mitigation strategies and diversity practices;
Evaluating prospective and current external asset managers’ investment processes to consider financially material ESG factors;
Researching and composing formal communications and comment letters on public policies and regulations related to investor rights, proxy voting and corporate governance;
Analyzing research on current corporate governance, ESG and related public policy trends, data and developments;
Accessing, evaluating and interpreting ESG and climate data to inform and guide investment and portfolio decisions.

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Tags: EFL Associates, hire, investment officer, Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA), Pension Funds, Real Estate, senior investment officer

MIT Investment Management Co. recorded losses in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, returning negative 2.9% for the period, representing a decline in assets to $32.28 billion, the fund reported in its annual MIT treasurer’s report.

The loss marks the second consecutive year in which MITIMCo had negative returns, following a negative 5.3% return in fiscal 2022. An increase in costs due to inflation also put pressure on the university.

“The Institute faced a complex and difficult economic environment in fiscal 2023,” the treasurer’s report stated. “In addition to experiencing investment losses, it encountered significant inflationary pressure on a range of costs.”

Endowment assets declined 4.7% as of the end of fiscal 2023 as a result of a net loss on investments and the distribution of gains to support university operations.

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While the endowment had negative returns, MIT still reported a strong year for fundraising, taking in contributions of $553.3 million, a decline from 2022’s record-breaking total of $686.7 million, according to the report.

MIT also reported declines in asset values in its defined benefit pension plans. Plan assets declined $252 million to $5.2 billion. MIT officials attributed the declines to payments made to beneficiaries, as well as negative investment returns. Despite the negative return, the university’s defined benefit pension plan had a funding level of 113.9% as of June 30, up from 107.5% one year earlier.

MITIMCo is the investment management arm of MIT and manages the university’s endowment fund and retirement system.

According to the university’s most recent 15-year letter, released in March 2022, the endowment returned 18.9% over 5 years, 14.5% over 10 years and 11.7% over 15 years, as of June 30, 2021, outperforming the global 70/30 passive benchmark returns of 11.2%, 8.2%, and 6.9%, respectively.

Tags: Endowments, MIT, MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo)