New York State Common Announces Interim CIO

Anastasia Titarchuk will become
interim CIO of New York State
Common Retirement Fund

Deputy Chief Investment Officer Anastasia Titarchuk will replace the retiring Vicki Fuller as interim CIO of the $207.4 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund while it searches for a permanent replacement.

Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, who announced Titarchuk’s appointment, thanked Fuller for her six years with the fund. He said that during her tenure, Fuller helped the pension fund reach “a record annual value and provided annualized investment returns that exceed our target rate.”

During her time at New York State Common, Fuller and her team harvested 8.75% in returns annually. The fund’s assumed rate of return is 7%.

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Fuller, who leaves at the end of the month, thanked DiNapoli for “his trust and support,” and had several parting words for the New York State pension fund’s staff as she passed the torch to Titarchuk.

“I will miss our inspiring and dedicated investment staff, but I am proud to leave the Fund in a strong position and secure in the knowledge that Anastasia is a talented and thoughtful leader,” said Fuller.

The comptroller also praised Titarchuk for her work as deputy CIO, a role she has held since 2015. She joined the fund in 2011 as director of absolute-return strategies. Prior to her time with the fund, Titarchuk worked a variety of Wall Street jobs in equity derivatives at JP Morgan Chase, Barclays Capital/Lehman Brothers, and Bank of America.

The fund will consider a national CIO search later this year.
New York State Common is the third-largest public pension fund in the US.

Tags: New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYCRF), Thomas P. DiNapoli, Vicki Fuller

It’s time again to nominate and celebrate the industry’s most innovative asset owners and managers/servicers. CIO’s ninth annual Industry Innovation Awards will take place December 13 at the New York Public Library, celebrating the most innovative and talented players of institutional investing.

Please nominate asset owners and managers/servicers for this year’s awards via our digital survey or by filling out our 2018 CIO nominations form and emailing your nominations to CIOeditors@strategic-i.com. Nominations will close August 4, and all finalists will be announced in early September.

This year, the CIO editorial team will consult an advisory board of former and current chief investment officers, including Raphael Arndt, CIO of Australia’s Future Fund; Jagdeep Singh Bachher, CIO, vice president of Investments, University of California; Matt Clark, CIO, South Dakota Investment Council; Scott Evans, CIO of the New York City Pension Funds; David Holmgren, CIO of Hartford HealthCare; Tom Joy, CIO, Church of England; Kim Lew, CIO, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Richard Nuzum, president of Mercer’s global wealth business (2017 Consultant of the Year); and Bob Watson, CIO of FCA US. Some categories, such as investment outsourcing, transition management, and corporate investment strategies, will be judged largely on data collected via the CIO survey system.

The lifetime achievement award, which Ashbel C. “Ash” Williams, executive director and CIO of the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA), won last year, will be presented at the dinner. An overall winner from the asset owner categories will also be chosen and awarded CIO of the Year (presented last year to Evans).

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Our Next Generation Award is chosen the evening of the awards dinner, following a panel at the CIO Influential Investors’ Forum.

This year’s asset owner categories include (2017 winners in parentheses):

Foundation (Carnegie Foundation, Kim Lew)

Endowment (Church Commissioners for England, Tom Joy)

Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Plan Below $5 Billion (Computer Sciences – CSRA Inc., Brian Reed)

Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Plan Above $5 Billion (ABB,Elisabeth Bourqui)

Public Defined Benefit Plan Below $15 Billion (South Dakota Investment Council, Matt Clark)

Public Defined Benefit Plan Between $15 Billion and $100 Billion (Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System, Vijoy Chattergy)

Public Defined Benefit Plan Above $100 Billion (NYC Retirement System, Scott Evans)

Sovereign Wealth Fund (Australian Future Fund, Raphael Arndt)

Healthcare Organization (Hartford HealthCare, David Holmgren)

Defined Contribution Plan (Fiat Chrysler FCA US,Bob Watson)

ESG(University of California Regents, Jagdeep Singh Bachher)

Next Generation (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carlos Rangel)
Consulting (Mercer,Rich Nuzum)

*New 2018 Category: Collaboration

Asset management categories include (2017 winners in parentheses; italics indicate altered category):

Fixed Income (Nuveen Asset Management)

Equities (including alternative equity beta) (BlackRock)

Multi-Asset (including risk-balanced strategies) (Neuberger Berman)

Private Equity (Apollo Global Management)

Hedge Funds (Citadel)

Real Assets (AEW Global)

Defined Contribution Strategies (Prudential)

Investment Outsourcing (Russell Investments)

Corporate Investment Strategies (includes the overall criteria to helpcorporate CIOs achieve their goals including positioning for growth, innovation in risk management, and hedging overall portfolios.)

(Legal & General Investment Management America)

Transition Management (BlackRock)

Data & Technology (FactSet)

ESG Investing(Generation Investment Management)

*New 2018 Category: Emerging Markets

*New 2018 Category: Corporate LDI Strategies

Tags: CIO, Innovation Awards