NISA Hires Again for DC Lifetime Income Team

Bill Marshall_NISA Bill Marshall, Director of DC Product Strategy & ImplementationNISA Investment Advisors has invested in more talent for developing defined contribution (DC)-specific income products, CIO has learned.

The firm hired Bill Marshall from AllianceBernstein as director of DC product strategy and implementation. Marshall joined the St. Louis, Missouri-based manager last month, according to his LinkedIn.

“NISA is committed to the defined contribution market and Bill’s hire is another important step for us in bringing default solutions to DC that are focused on managing retirement risks for participants and plan sponsors alike,” David Eichhorn, NISA’s managing director of investment strategies, told CIO.

Marshall is a visionary and a target-date fund veteran, Eichhorn continued, and will help NISA develop its house view on securing retirement income. This includes building out the product’s platform and system, he said.

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NISA’s first DC hire Mark Fortier worked at AllianceBernstein alongside Marshall on United Technologies’ annuity-like option.

Marshall also spent time at Allstate Financial where he created a target-date fund series “with innovative guaranteed income option using deferred annuities”—a first in the market, according to his LinkedIn.

NISA, a liability-driven investing expert, first jumped into DC last year, hiring Fortier also to lead income products.

“We are intellectually curious people,” CEO Jess Yawitz told CIO in March 2015.

“But while we have often explored different product ideas, NISA has rarely acted upon any of those musings,” Yawitz continued. “It goes without saying that the recent investments we have made in people and resources in the custom target-date fund space signifies our commitment to delivering the innovative, yet practical solutions for clients.”

buenrostro A federal court has sentenced the former CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) on charges that he accepted bribes from a former board member and placement agent.

Ex-CEO Fred Buenrostro, who led the $293 billion fund from 2002 to 2008, confessed in 2014 to taking $200,000 in cash and a series of other bribes from Alfred Villalobos, then a placement agent for Apollo Global Management.

He was sentenced Tuesday to four-and-a-half years in prison, according to the Sacramento Bee. Buenrostro was already being held in jail on unrelated charges of committing battery against an ex-girlfriend, the report said.

“This chapter in our history is now behind us, and CalPERS has emerged a stronger, more dynamic organization,” said current CEO Anne Stausboll in a statement. “Over the past seven years, we have built a lasting, principled foundation for future success. More than ever, we’re focused on our service to our members and employers and to ensuring that the CalPERS fund is secure for generations to come.”

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Stausboll, who is retiring this month, had previously condemned the misconduct of Buenrostro and Villalobos, promising in 2012 that CalPERS leaders would “do everything in our power to never allow the system to be compromised by personal gain.”

Since 2009, CalPERS said it has put in place several “critical measures” to strengthen internal controls and risk management, including requiring external managers to disclose placement agent terms and requiring those agents to register as lobbyists. Board members and staff have also been limited to a total of $50 per calendar year in gifts from any one person doing business or seeking to do business with the fund.

“We are stewards of a sacred trust, and it must never be compromised for personal gain,” said CalPERS Board of Administration President Rob Feckner in a statement. “As an organization, we’ve taken meaningful steps to strengthen accountability and transparency throughout CalPERS. We’ll continue to work to make sure these measures are rigorously followed and that we hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards.”