By David G. Barry
For the second time in the past week, a public pension fund
has filled its chief investment officer position by hiring from within.
Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) said it promoted Bruce
Fink to CIO. Fink has been deputy CIO of the $24.8 billion system since
2013. Elizabeth B.A. Miller retired on July 8 after 11 years as CIO. EFL
Associates oversaw the national search.
Prior to KPERS, Fink was director of investments at Saint Mary’s College in Notre
Dame, Ind. He also spent time at Hufford Financial Advisors and for a short
period was CIO of the Indiana Public Employees Retirement Fund.
KPERS has a team of 10 investment professionals. It provides
retirement, disability and death benefits for Kansas’ state and local public
employees. The system has more than 325,000 members.
Fink’s appointment comes on the heels of the Idaho Public Employee
Retirement System (PERSI) tapping Investment Officer Richelle Sugiyama
to replace the retiring Bob Maynard as CIO.
KPERS joins the joins the growing list of state public pension plans that have
named new CIOs in 2022. In addition to PERSI, the list includes the New
Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS), Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI),
Kentucky Public Pensions Authority (KPPA), the California Public Employees
Retirement System (CalPERS), the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB), the
New Jersey Division of Investment, the State of Rhode Island, the Virginia
Retirement System (VRS), the Public Employees Retirement Association of New
Mexico (PERA), and the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System
(PERS).
Other public pension funds that have opted for a CIO already on staff
includes KPPPA, WSIB, New Jersey Division of
Investment and PERS.
The appointment means the list of state public pension funds actively seeking a
new CIO drops to three: the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’
Retirement System, the Employees’ Retirement System of the
State of Hawaii and the North Dakota State Department
of Trust Lands.