FRANKFORT, KY (January 7, 2021): Kentucky Retirement Systems has hired Steven M. Herbert as its Executive Director, Office of Investments. The role is equivalent to Chief Investment Officer.
Mr. Herbert began his career in institutional investment management in 1997 at Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting, where he consulted with institutional clients in the Southeastern United States and in South America. Following that, he spent seven years with Mercer, where he was the lead consultant for a number of the firm’s larger retirement fund clients in the U.S. and in Europe. Mr. Herbert later led Mercer’s development of its proprietary investment manager research product, the Global Investment Manager Database (GIMD).
Most recently Mr. Herbert served for nearly three years as Chief Operating Officer of Jacksonville, Florida-based Augustine Asset Management. Prior to that he spent nine-and-a-half years as Director of Institutional Marketing at McKinley Capital Management, where he was responsible for sales, consultant relations, and client service.
David Eager, KRS Executive Director, said, “KRS is very fortunate to be able to attract a person with Steve’s broad experience working with institutional investment managers and large tax-exempt funds like KRS.”
Dave Harris, Chair of the KRS Board of Trustees, said, “On behalf of the KRS Board of Trustees, retirees, beneficiaries, employees, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we look forward to the leadership Steve will provide. Overseeing the investments is critical to the continued improvement of our pension funding ratios, which have ‘turned the tide’ to the good. We interviewed a good number of candidates for the CIO position and Steve was second to none.”
Mr. Herbert will join KRS effective January 16. He will work in the systems’ Louisville-based investments office, overseeing a team that includes Deputy Executive Director Steve Willer, Director of Public Equity Joe Gilbert IV, and Director of Private Equity and Alternative Assets Anthony Chiu.
“It is an honor to lead the KRS investment team at this exciting time and I am delighted to further execute on the vision and strategies pursued by the Investment Committee,” Mr. Herbert said.
The Investments staff oversees $20 billion in assets for KRS’ 10 pension and insurance plans.
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Kentucky Retirement Systems is responsible for the investment of funds and administration of pension and health insurance benefits for over 394,000 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