People Moves Roundup | Chief Investment Officer

Hirtle Callaghan Appoints Endowment Veteran Stephen Vaccaro as Director of Private Equity

Hirtle Callaghan announced that Stephen Vaccaro has joined the firm as director of private equity.

Vaccaro is working closely with Hirtle Callaghan’s investment team to oversee private equity investment efforts on behalf of the firm’s family, endowment, foundation, health care, and pension clients. He reports to Dan McCollum, deputy chief investment officer, who leads the firm’s manager selection. Vaccaro also serves as a member of Hirtle Callaghan’s investment policy committee and investment strategy committee.

Vaccaro joins Hirtle Callaghan from the University of Pennsylvania’s office of investments, where he focused for eight years on growing the private equity investment program for the university’s $13 billion endowment and $2 billion pension fund. As a senior team member, Vaccaro played an active role in investment committee discussions across public equity, private equity, real assets, and absolute return strategies.

Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Vaccaro was a senior team member at Princeton University’s $26 billion endowment, where he worked in private investments across buyouts, venture capital, natural resources, and real estate. Vaccaro holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Yale University. He is also a CFA charter holder.

XPS Pensions Group Appoints James Leeming as Head of Investment in Manchester

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XPS Pensions Group (XPS) announced the appointment of James Leeming as partner and head of investment at its Manchester office, driving growth of the firm’s investment consulting services.

Leeming has over 13 years of specialist investment experience helping pension schemes manage their investment risk and deliver to their objectives. Prior to moving into investments, he qualified as an actuary with significant knowledge and expertise in pensions liability risk. Leeming joins from JLT Group, where he was a director within the employee benefits practice.

XPS Pensions Group is the largest pure pensions consultancy in the UK specializing in pensions actuarial, investment consulting, and administration services. Leeming joined XPS August 5.

Zulfiqar Ali joins PGIM Fixed Income as Senior Portfolio Manager

PGIM Fixed Income has hired Zulfiqar Ali as a senior portfolio manager focusing on Latin America hard currency sovereign and quasi-sovereign bond positions across emerging markets strategies. Ali will report to emerging markets co-heads David Bessey and Cathy Hepworth, and will be based in Newark, New Jersey.

Ali was most recently a senior portfolio manager in emerging markets fixed income for Fort Washington Investment Advisors. Prior to Fort Washington, Ali was a policy advisor in emerging markets for SGH Macro Advisors, where he conducted emerging markets sovereign policy research.

“Ali’s knowledge and experience across emerging markets, as well as familiarity with our firm and our team, make him an outstanding addition as we seek to add alpha-generating ideas from Latin American fixed income markets,” said Hepworth.

Ali received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in economics, international relations, and political science from Brown University, and an MBA from Oxford University Said Business School.

Tags: Hirtle Callaghan, People Moves, PGIM, XPS Pensions Group

Ryan Bailey

Ryan Bailey, director of investments at Children’s Health’s $1.8 billion Dallas foundation, is leaving the fund next week, according to Institutional Investor.

Bailey, who has been at the pediatric care system since 2014, will be exiting for an undisclosed job at another organization. Bailey led this year’s class of NextGens, which highlights the best and brightest rising industry professionals. He is also the first of this year’s NextGen cohort to change jobs.

“Ryan’s strong analytical background and extensive experience in institutional investments has led to his success at Children’s Health,” Rich Goode, the organization’s president of corporate services, and chief financial officer told CIO in Bailey’s NextGen profile. “The health care industry is constantly evolving, and Ryan’s commitment to consistently managing our investment strategy amidst these industry changes is what makes him an outstanding leader.”

Bailey is also a frequent nominee for CIO’s annual Industry Innovation Awards in the health care category.

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It is not yet known if Children’s Health Dallas has a successor in place or if it will enlist a search for a new investments head. Bailey’s right-hand woman is fellow 2019 NextGen Christie Hamilton, who is expected to stay at the institution. She was hired in 2015.

“Christie is an intelligent, strong contributor to the investment team at Children’s Health. She is a continuous learner, who works across all asset classes with an intellectual curiosity that is hard to match,” Bailey said in her NextGen profile. “Christie’s resourcefulness and creativity puts no challenge outside of her grasp.”

Bailey said in his NextGen profile that adding private assets, China A-Shares, and Chinese venture capital to Children’s Health’s investment portfolio were the most important strategic allocations of his career. “It is the second-largest economy in the world, but it is underrepresented in world market cap,” he said of China.

Bailey’s last day at Children’s Health will be August 23. Neither he nor Goode could be reached for comment.

Tags: Children’s Health, Health Care, NextGen, People Moves, Ryan Bailey