By
David G. Barry

The
New Jersey Division of Investment’s head
of private equity and private credit, Jared Speicher, has stepped down from
that position to take a key role with MetLife Investment Management.

Speicher tells Markets Group that he is joining MetLife as a director of
private equity and will head North American buyouts.

Speicher
was with New Jersey for more than six years. In that role, he managed a more
than $19 billion portfolio for the $92 billion New Jersey Pension Fund,
according to data through April. Private equity was valued at $12 billion, or
13% of the fund. Private credit was valued at $6.6 billion, or 7.23% of the
fund.

Speicher
joined New Jersey after five years as a director with Analytical Research,
where he was a consultant to European corporate pension plans invested in
alternatives.

Shoaib Khan, the Division of Investment’s director and chief investment
officer, said at a board meeting that the Division’s alternatives team has
added three new individuals. The Division also is currently seeking a deputy
CIO. Khan was in that role before being elevated in May to CIO. He had served
as acting CIO for essentially a year after the departure of Corey Amon, who left to be CIO of the National
Rural Electric Cooperative Association.