New York City Comptroller-elect Brad Lander has launched a nationwide search for a new chief investment officer to oversee the Bureau of Asset Management, which manages New York City’s $274 billion pension portfolio.
Alex Doñé will leave at the end of the year, and current Deputy CIO Michael Haddad will fill the interim position, Lander said in a statement.
Lander, a former City Council member from Brooklyn, will succeed term-limited Scott Stringer as comptroller on Jan. 1.
Lander has proposed “a strategic and integrated approach” to maximizing risk-adjusted market returns, determining and adjusting asset allocations and minimizing fees to outside investment managers. He also advocates a “just” transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy, and investing in local communities.
The bureau coordinates the comptroller’s responsibilities as investment advisor to the five New York City retirement systems, which consist of 700,000 and make up the fourth largest public pension fund in the United States with more than $270 billion in assets.
“The duty to secure a sustainable future for New York City’s teachers, fire fighters, nurses, and countless more public sector workers through responsible fiduciary investing is at the heart of the responsibilities of this office,” Lander said.
Lander praised Doñé for his stewardship of the retirement systems, citing BAM’s superior risk-adjusted returns of 25.8% in fiscal 2021 and a 9.1% return since Stringer began his tenure in January 2014. Doñé also led a divestment from fossil fuels.
Before joining the comptroller’s office in 2016, Haddad worked in financial markets for three decades, including Morgan Stanley as a U.S. Treasury trader, and head of Canadian fixed Income for Caxton Associates.
The five pension funds are the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York, the New York City Police Pension Fund, the New York City Fire Pension Fund and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System.