Indian-American woman appointed NYC's first investment advisor By PTI Wednesday, 04 August 2010, 07:38 IST
New York: Indian-American finance expert Ranji H. Nagaswami has been appointed the New York City's first ever Chief Investment Adviser by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the wake of spiralling pension costs. Nagaswami will be the "full-time, central adviser to the Mayor's trustees on the five New York City retirement system boards, the largest municipal public employee retirement system in the country and the New York City Deferred Compensation Plan Board," the Mayor's office said. "We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Ranji's deep experience, talent and record of success in managing major investments across assets classes agree to be our Chief Investment Advisor," said Bloomberg. Nagaswami, with more than 20 years of experience in the private sector, will assume the $175,000 job, working as a advisor to the mayoral appointees to the city's five pension boards. Her job will not include making investment decisions. The city's behemoth pension fund is a fragmented, $100-billion system representing teachers, firefighters, police officers, civil-service employees and school administrators, Wall Street Journal reported. Bloomberg has repeatedly pointed to mounting pension costs as a financial drain on the city. In a radio address on Friday, he noted that the city's pension contributions have grown from $1.1 billion when he took office to $7.6 billion this fiscal year. The decision to create a new job in a domain overseen by City Comptroller John C Liu was an unusual and unprecedented move, but one characterised by both sides as collaborative, the paper said. "The Comptroller's Office looks forward to working with the Mayor's appointee and the Boards of Trustees to help build on the great strides made this year," the office said in a statement. Nagaswami was born in India and came to the U.S. in 1984 to attend business school at Yale University. She most recently worked at AllianceBernstein, where she was chief investment officer, overseeing $100 billion in assets and management. After 10 years at the company she left the job in February 2009. Nagaswami lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, so the administration secured a waiver that will be enable her to work for the city. Nagaswami's experience is limited to the private sector, but she told the newspaper that her clients were almost all public pension funds and central banks. "Governments have been my most important clients in my 23 plus years" in the workforce, she said. -- *Yesterday is a cancelled cheque. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is ready cash — use it profitably. Live this moment.* **வணக்கம் சுப்பு**
