FRANKFORT, KY – The Kentucky Public Pensions Authority has named Steve Willer as its Chief Investment Officer (CIO).
Concurrently, KPPA named Anthony Chiu as Deputy CIO.
Mr. Willer joined KPPA in April 2020 as Fixed Income Division Director. Since then, he has served as Deputy CIO and as Interim CIO. Prior to joining KPPA, Mr. Willer was a senior portfolio manager and Strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where he was responsible for developing and implementing portfolio strategies, asset allocations, and hedging strategies. He also previously worked at Deutsche Investment Management and INVESCO Worldwide Fixed Income.
He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Finance Concentration from the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) Institute Charterholder.
“KPPA is fortunate to have two such highly qualified investors on staff that can step into these extremely important positions,” said David Eager, KPPA Executive Director.
“I want to thank Mr. Eager and the Boards for this opportunity,” said Steve Willer. “I am excited to take on this challenging role and continue to build on the team’s success in delivering strong risk adjusted investment returns for the Plans and participants.”
Mr. Chiu joined KPPA in August 2016 and since then has been Director of Private Equity and Alternative Investments. Prior to KPPA, Mr. Chiu was a Vice President at the Presidio Group, where he was responsible for asset allocation and researching equity, credit, and alternative investment strategies. He also worked as an equity analyst for a long/short hedge fund and as a debt underwriter for leverage buyout transactions across multiple industries at GE Capital.
Mr. Chiu earned his MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics with honors from Stanford University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) Institute Charterholder.
The Louisville-based Office of Investments staff at KPPA also includes Joe Gilbert IV, who is Portfolio Manager, Division of Public Equity, and Investment Research Analyst Jared Crawford.
The Office of Investments oversees $22 billion in assets for the 10 pension and insurance plans overseen by KPPA.
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The Kentucky Public Pensions Authority is responsible for the investment of funds and administration of pension and health insurance benefits for over 401,000 active and retired state and local government employees, state police officers, and nonteaching staff of local school boards and regional universities.
Visit our website at
https://kyret.ky.gov