By Christine Giordano

Markets Group has learned that Carol Chan, the deputy chief
investment officer at EY who was with the firm for eight years, has resigned.
Her position
is listed among EY’s hiring positions on the firm’s website, and it urges applicants to apply as soon as possible. The new hire will be working directly with the award winning Chief Investment Officer Walter Kress, who was recently listed on the Elite 100 list of this publication, and became notable for seeing through the COVID-19 storm and presciently rebalancing to invest in fallen angels during the pandemic. But don’t call the CIO directly. Due to the position’s importance, it’s crucial to apply directly through the website listing, and not hassle the executive staff, according to an EY insider. 

Chan told Markets Group she will be joining another firm in
the second quarter of this year as a chief investment officer.

When asked why she is leaving EY, she said, “In general, I
have an aspiration to be a CIO,” but chose to omit  the name of her new firm until the near future. There were a few hints, however. The firm
she will be joining will also be in the corporate pension universe and she will be
managing less than $10 billion, a bit smaller than the $28 billion in assets
she oversees at EY, where she will remain until Q2. As a deputy, she
accumulated generalist knowledge in everything from stakeholder management to
relationship management, which, she said, prepared her for the new role.

Chan was a recent CIO nomination for Markets Group’s NextElite list,
which spotlights up-in-comers who have what it takes to make it to the CIO
seat. She works closely with the Retirement Investment Committee, developing
investment policies, recommending strategies, conducting external manager due
diligence, and managing portfolio construction, liquidity, and risk.

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Prior to joining EY, Chan worked on the Global Manager Research team at Hewitt
Associates, with a focus on investment manager evaluation and due diligence,
and also she served as Director of Trust Investments at Dun & Bradstreet,
managing global pension and defined contribution plan assets. In this role, she
was a member of the Canadian Investment Committee and an advisor to the UK
Trustees, providing strategic oversight on global retirement assets.

Earlier in her career, Chan held various strategic planning and financial
leadership roles in Fortune 500 companies, including serving as Divisional CFO
at Thomson Financial. Her diverse background in corporate finance and
institutional investing has provided her with deep expertise in pension fund
management, investment governance, and risk mitigation.

The opening at EY is located primarily in Stamford, CT.

The job listing, offering a salary between $192k and $382k, is as follows:

Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer (Stamford, CT)

The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer is responsible for the full spectrum of investment related activities for the US firm’s qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, including investment strategy development, portfolio construction, investment manager evaluation and selection, and performance and regulatory reporting.  The firm’s various retirement plans represent approximately $28.2B assets under management as of December 31, 2024, segregated as follows: Partner DBRP – $2.8B; Staff DBP – $2.3B; Inactive DBRP – $2.2B HR10 – $2.5B; Rabbi Trusts – $281M; 401(k) – $18.2

 

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer, (CIO), the position has three primary functions as related to the firm’s investment activities: (1) develops and provides investment strategy recommendations; (2) manages all operational aspects of the investment plans and strategy, including implementing investment structure; and (3) lead two or three direct reports

 

The ideal candidate will be a thought partner to the CIO and a strong strategic planner.  This individual will also have a diverse investment management background, and people management skills.  The Deputy Chief Investment Officer reports to the Chief Investment Officer and assists in developing and implementing investment policies.

 

Your key responsibilities:

The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer will be responsible for analyzing the appropriateness of a broad range of investment opportunities, with consideration of investment objectives and risk tolerance. This individual will:

• Address complex, unique problems specific to pension/retirement plans.  Make certain all operational decisions comply with the internal control framework established by the Retirement Investment Committee (RIC), Americas and Global Independence, and legal requirements established by various regulatory bodies.
• Have a significant level of autonomy in interpreting US pension rules and regulations
• Analyze new legal and regulatory developments impacting EY’s retirement plans/investment strategy.
• Oversee compliance with firm and regulatory policies and rules, with a particular focus on process improvement and policy development regarding investments.
• Review existing policies and procedures as needed, identify areas of weakness or improvement, implement change and share knowledge with the RIC as appropriate.
• Optimizing the investment performance of assets within a framework, taking into consideration benchmarks (i.e. relative performance), risk parameters, asset allocation constraints, and asset/liability matching.
• Managing the review of asset-liability results with the third-party investment consultant and developing asset allocation policy recommendations for RIC approval.
• Lead the tactical asset allocation process, drive change and sophistication into the investment process and managerial support for the CIO Optimizing.
• Continuously seek and lower cost allowable structures for all investment strategies.
• Preparing monthly rebalancing recommendations which incorporate current and future cash flows for approval by the CIO.
• Lead and manage special projects.
• Developing quantitative and qualitative evaluation metrics to conduct initial in-depth due diligence (including operational due diligence) and on-going monitoring of the key service providers.
• Managing risk, including but not limited to total portfolio risk metrics, effectiveness of liability hedging assets, manager exposures, holding exposures, monitoring securities lending program and counterparty risk.
• Working with Americas and Global Independence to make certain all investments and third party service providers are not proscribed and all investments are in compliance with joint investing considerations.
• Managing all performance measurement, including developing policy benchmarks, fund benchmarks, and peer group comparisons.
• Ensure all retirement plans maintain adequate liquidity to meet benefit obligations.

• This position may directly supervise one or two additional staff members in the near term.  Due to the nature of the position, the individual will also help manage the firm’s relationships with the external investment consultants and the myriad of individuals who manage the portfolios/funds in which the firm and its personnel invest.

 

To qualify for the role, you must have

• 10+ years of applicable experience is required.
• The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer should be a subject matter leader with respect to investments. This position requires specialty knowledge on pension accounting, funding regulations, and capital market developments affecting the firm’s retirement plans.
• The Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer should have an in-depth knowledge of applicable SEC, AICPA and Americas/Global Independence rules and policies. The individual also needs detailed in depth knowledge and experience with various analytical tools and leads the development and integration of analytics for traditional and non-traditional investments. The individual should have an acute understanding of the financial markets and various drivers affecting the market.
• An undergraduate degree or equivalent experience in a related field like accounting finance, or economics is required. An MBA and or a CFA are preferred.
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) a plus
• Ability to travel as the position will require 15% to 30% travel as needed for conferences, investment manager reviews and other duties requested by the RIC or CIO.
• Ability to appropriate amount of hours to get the job(s) complete.

• Continuous learning: You’ll develop the mindset and skills to navigate whatever comes next.
• Success as defined by you: We’ll provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way.
• Transformative leadership: We’ll give you the insights, coaching and confidence to be the leader the world needs.
• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs.