Voya Investment Management Names Matt Toms First Global CIO

Voya Investment Management has promoted Matt Toms to the newly created position of global chief investment officer to oversee the firm’s $330 billion in assets under management.

Toms has been head of public fixed-income investments at Voya IM for over 13 years, and CIO of fixed income for more than six years. He will lead a team of more than 300 investment professionals, and will continue to report to Voya IM Chief Executive Officer Christine Hurtsellers.

“Now is the right time to shift to a global CIO model, and we are fortunate to have an experienced, successful and well-regarded leader in Matt to oversee our investment teams,” Hurtsellers said in a statement. “In his 28-year career in investment management, Matt has not only gained great experience and insights into various market cycles and trends, but – equally important – he has leveraged this knowledge to develop and manage investment strategies that have delivered strong outcomes for our clients.”

Prior to joining Voya IM, Toms was senior vice president of fixed income at Calamos Investments, where he established and grew its fixed income business. Before he was at Calamos, Toms spent seven years as a portfolio manager at Northern Trust, and before that he was with Lincoln Financial Group for just over six years.

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“I look forward to continuing to work with our investment teams as we leverage our expertise across fixed income, equities and alternatives to help our clients achieve their long-term investment goals,” Toms said.

The fixed-income investment team will continue to report to Toms, who will hold on to his current portfolio management responsibilities, while Chris Lyons will take on an expanded role as head of private fixed income and alternatives. Lyons most recently served as group head of private credit and will continue to report to Toms. The firm also said that Vincent Costa, CIO of equities, and Paul Zemsky, CIO of multi-asset solutions, will continue in their roles, and will both report to Toms.

Voya IM also announced additional changes to its investment teams. It said Jeff Bakalar, CIO of Voya IM’s leveraged credit group, will retire in April and will be succeeded by Mohamed Basma, who has been named head of leveraged credit. Basma most recently served as managing director, head of senior loans and global collateralized loan obligations. Additionally, Michael Pytosh, Costa’s co-CIO overseeing the firm’s equities platform, and portfolio manager Jeffrey Bianchi are both leaving the company at the end of 2022. As a result, Leigh Todd will become lead portfolio manager for the firm’s equities growth strategies effective Jan. 1.