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Indiana PERF CIO also takes reins at Teachers David Cooper, who has been chief investment officer of the $14.2 billion Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund since June, also was named CIO at the $8.5 billion Indiana State Teachers' Retirement Fund, confirmed spokesman Jeff Hutson. At the Indiana Teachers' fund, Mr. Cooper replaces Tim Walsh, who left in July to become director of the New Jersey Division of Investment, Trenton, and as the CIO overseeing the state's seven defined benefit pension plans with a combined $67.6 billion in assets. Mr. Cooper had taken over the PERF CIO duties from Shawn Wischmeier, who was named CIO of the $65.3 billion North Carolina Retirement Systems, Raleigh. The Indiana hiring was the second such dual appointment made by the two funds this year. In May, Steve Russo, executive director of the Indiana Teachers' fund, was also named executive director of the Public Employees' fund. A state statute passed earlier this year requires the boards to appoint a common director for both Indianapolis-based funds and "requires the PERF and TRF boards to cooperate to the extent practicable and feasible in administering and investing the assets of the funds and in hiring investment managers, investment advisers and other service providers," according to an Indiana General Assembly summary statement. According to an Indiana PERF news release, naming a CIO to serve for both PERF and TRF is "an additional step in a cost-savings program which began in May with the appointment of Steve Russo as executive director over both funds." "In the months since we created a single management team, increased cooperation has yielded millions in annual savings for the funds," Mr. Russo said in the news release. "While PERF and TRF remain distinctly separate plans with separate financial accounting, a collaborative investing and management approach has clearly benefited both funds." Brian Roberts, private equity investment officer at the Washington State Investment Board, Olympia, left the board Sept. 2, said spokeswoman Liz Mendizabal. He will rejoin Russell Investments; Mr. Roberts new title could not be learned by press time. Officials at the board, which oversees $52.6 billion in pension fund assets, expect to replace him, but details have not been determined. WSIB has $13.6 billion invested in private equity. New York State Teachers' Retirement System, Albany, is searching for an assistant manager of private equity, according to a posting on the National Council on Teacher Retirement website. The assistant manager will join the existing staff of five that oversee the system's private equity portfolio of more than $12 billion. Minimum qualifications for the position are a bachelor's or master's degree in accounting, business administration, finance or a related field; CFA certification; and at least four years of professional investment experience, two of which must have been in private equity or investment banking. Interested parties should go to http://www.nystrs.org for an employment application and send it to NYSTRS/HR, 10 Corporate Woods Drive, Albany, NY 12211. A phone call to Thomas K. Lee, executive director of the $76.5 billion system, was not returned by press time. Leon Shahinian, senior investment officer overseeing alternative investments for CalPERS, resigned amid a fraud lawsuit at the nation's largest pension fund, Bloomberg reports. Chief Investment Officer Joseph Dear will take over Mr. Shahinian's duties until a replacement is found, according to a statement Aug. 26 from the $206.7 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento. The fund put Mr. Shahinian on administrative leave May 8 after he was identified in a lawsuit by California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Mr. Brown's office brought civil charges in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Frederico Buenrostro Jr., a former CalPERS CEO, and Alfred Villalobos, a former board member. Mr. Villalobos, who worked as an agent placing pension fund money with outside investment advisers, was accused of improperly influencing investment decisions at CalPERS by lavishly entertaining the fund's executives. Mr. Buenrostro was accused of taking gifts from Mr. Villalobos and using the agent's Lake Tahoe mansion for his 2004 wedding. According to the complaint, Mr. Villalobos used a private plane to fly Mr. Shahinian to New York to attend a 2007 event at the Museum of Modern Art honoring his client, Apollo Management founder Leon Black. Mr. Shahinian wasn't accused of wrongdoing in the suit. A call and e-mail to Lance Olson, of Olson Hagel & Fishburn in Sacramento, identified by CalPERS as his lawyer, wasn't immediately returned. Kentucky Retirement Systems is searching for a CIO to oversee its $13 billion in pension and insurance funds, according to a job posting on the website of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. The CIO manages a staff of seven division directors and investment analysts, and reports to the systems' executive director and investment committee. The systems' assets are primarily invested and managed by external managers. The successful candidate will succeed Adam Tosh, who left the system in July to become managing director, investment solutions at Rogerscasey. Brent Aldridge is interim chief investment officer. The job posting is available at http://www.nasra.org/career.htm#ky. Applications can be sent to Elena McCall, EFL Associates assistant vice president, at [email protected]. Mr. Aldridge said a candidate selection is expected by the end of the year. Megan Pham was named chief investment officer of the A$1 billion (US$703.8 billion) Australian Meat Industry Superannuation Trust, Sydney. She is the fund's first CIO, according to a report in I&T News, Sydney. Ms. Pham, a former investment officer at the A$3 billion Non-Government Schools Superannuation Fund, Adelaide, started at AMIST last month. The CEO of AMIST, John Livanas, said the fund is in the midst of a major portfolio review, being assisted by the industry fund's asset consultant, JANA. The CEO of NGS Super, Anthony Rodwell-Ball, was unavailable for comment at press time about whether Ms. Pham would be replaced. Illinois State Universities Retirement System, Champaign, is searching for a general counsel. The $12.2 billion system's previous general counsel, Kelly A. Jenkins, left in March. Information on the reason for his departure or subsequent position was not available, said William E. Mabe, executive director. In the interim, internal and external legal counsel are assuming Mr. Jenkins's former duties. Candidates must have a minimum of five years of experience at a public-sector pension system or practicing law specializing in employee benefit and or investment administration, among other qualifications, according to the job posting at http://www.surs.com. Applications may be sent by mail to Brenda Dunn, Illinois SURS, 1901 Fox Drive, Champaign, IL 61820. The system hopes to fill the position by the end of the year, Mr. Mabe said. If it is unsuccessful in finding good candidates, it would consider hiring an executive recruiting firm, he added. Don Russell, chairman of NSW State Super, Wollongong, Australia, was named investment committee chairman of the A$2.5 billion (US$2.23 billion) Labour Union Co-operative Retirement Fund, Docklands, Australia. Antony Thow, who had been committee chairman, stepped down to run for a Senate seat in Victoria, according to I&T News, Sydney. Once Mr. Thow made his intentions known, the LUCRF board decided to search for its first independent investment committee chair, said Gregory Sword, chief executive. "It's part of a long-term program to have the fund become more self-contained in the investment area," Mr. Sword said. Mr. Sword said the fund had worked with Mr. Russell when he was the investment strategist for the Australian business of BNY Mellon Asset Management. Mr. Russell said that when he was retrenched from that role earlier this year, he had a choice between seeking "another big funds management role" or "a series of interesting cameos ... I was keen to maintain my chairmanship of State Super (his term is due to expire around the end of 2012) so it helped send me in this direction." Michael O'Brien was named global head of J.P. Morgan Asset Management's institutional client group, effective Sept. 27, confirmed company spokeswoman Kristen Chambers. It is a new position, according to a J.P. Morgan news release. He will be based in London and will also serve as a member of the company's executive committee. He will report to Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Mr. O'Brien was managing director and head of BlackRock's institutional investment management business in Europe, Middle East and Africa; he left the firm in June. He was replaced by Charles Prideaux, COO of global fundamental equities at BlackRock. Mark Brandreth was named co-head of research at Schroder Investment Management's quantitative equity products global equity team, spokeswoman Estelle Bibby confirmed. The position is new. He joins David Philpotts as co-head of research. The QEP global equity team managed £10 billion ($15.5 billion) as of July 31, according to Schroder. Mr. Brandreth was managing director of scientific active equities at BlackRock. A BlackRock spokeswoman declined to comment, citing company policy. Harry Morley was named CEO at Armajaro Asset Management. He replaced Richard Gower, who became chairman of the firm, according to a statement from the company. Mr. Morley was group finance director at parent Armajaro Holdings. Armajaro has four hedge funds in commodities and one in emerging markets with combined assets of more than $1.7 billion, the company said. Marie Chandoha will join Charles Schwab Corp. in September as an executive vice president and chief investment officer of Charles Schwab Investment Management, confirmed Schwab spokeswoman Alison Wertheim. She replaces Jeffrey Mortimer, who left the firm, Ms. Wertheim said. She couldn't immediately provide information on Mr. Mortimer's plans. Efforts to reach Mr. Mortimer were unsuccessful. Ms. Chandoha will report to Randall W. Merk, president and CEO of CSIM. She will assume oversight of the Schwab and Laudus mutual funds as well as Schwab's proprietary ETFs, Ms. Wertheim said. Ms. Chandoha was a managing director and head of iShares, index and model-based portfolio management for BlackRock's fixed-income business. Tim Webb, chief investment officer of index and model-based fixed income, assumed her duties. Bruce W. Madding was named president and chief investment officer of investment advisory and asset management firm C.M. Capital, confirmed Merredith Branscombe, C.M. Capital spokeswoman. Mr. Madding replaced Glenn R. Rogers, who retired as president and COO on Dec. 31. Mr. Madding was CFO and CIO for 22 years at the $500 million Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, Calif. Mr. Madding has been replaced as CIO by Koonal Gandhi, said Drew Altman, president and CEO of the foundation. Mr. Gandhi had been a director with Overseas Private Investment Corp. Gavin Hall stepped down as deputy chief investment officer at Sanderson Asset Management, according to a company memo obtained by P&I Daily. "He wants to pursue a range of personal interests outside the investment industry," Tim Sanderson, founder and CIO, said in the memo. "We regret Gavin's decision, of course, and recognize the major contribution that he has made to SAM and to its success." Mr. Hall will stay on as a consultant "to perform research on his companies in our program," according to the memo. He will retain his "significant shareholding" in the firm. The firm will replace Mr. Hall if it can find a suitable person or people, the memo said. Mr. Sanderson and COO Richard Cawdron were out of the office and unavailable for comment. Efforts to reach Mr. Hall were unsuccessful. Lou Simpson, who oversees investments at Berkshire Hathaway's GEICO Corp. car insurance unit, plans to retire at the end of the year, Debbie Bosanek, an assistant to Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg. Mr. Buffett manages investments for Berkshire's other insurance subsidiaries. Responsibility for Mr. Simpson's portfolio will go to Mr. Buffett, according to published reports. Luke Ellis was named head of the multimanager business at Man Group, a spokesman confirmed. Mr. Ellis is non-executive chairman of multimanager business at GLG, which is being acquired by Man, and manager of the GLG Multi-Strategy fund. Mr. Ellis will replace Herbert Item, chief investment officer of Man's multimanager business, who will retire after an "orderly transition," the spokesman said. GLG spokesman David Waller did not respond to requests for further information by press time. Jeffrey C. Bechtel was named a managing member of Mitchell Hartley Advisers, an investment bank specializing in investment management, Mr. Bechtel said. It is a new position, said Richard Chimberg, Mitchell Hartley spokesman. Mr. Bechtel was senior vice president at Jefferies & Co.'s financial institutions group and led that unit's business in the West. Jefferies eliminated the San Francisco-based position in March, Mr. Bechtel said. Blair Pickerell was named head of Asia and global chief marketing officer at Nikko Asset Management Group, confirmed Nikko spokesman Jamie Wynn-Williams. It is a new position, overseeing the company's new Hong Kong-based office, Mr. Wynn-Williams said in a telephone interview. Mr. Pickerell was CEO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management's Asia office; he left the firm in May. Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Erica Platt said in a telephone interview that Navtej Nandra, who joined June 1 as a managing director and head of MSIM International, will oversee the Asia office. Mr. Nandra previously served as the head of diversified financial services and COO of Merrill Lynch's global wealth management division.